Funds Frozen: PayPal Takes Action Against Steam Game Programmer
A programmer from the Steam gaming platform has reported that PayPal has seized all funds, totaling approximately £80,000 GBP, alleging a breach of the financial service’s terms of service. The freeze appears to stem from the programmer’s association with the development of adult-oriented games, as highlighted by Game*Spark.
In the preceding month, numerous users on Steam disclosed that PayPal payments in select currencies were suspended. According to an official notice on the Steam Support page, PayPal contacted Valve in July 2025, asserting that its banking partner was terminating its processing of transactions associated with Steam in certain currencies.
Although specific justifications for this abrupt halt were not disclosed, speculation among users suggests that PayPal’s actions may indeed correlate with ongoing crackdowns on adult content across various digital distribution platforms, notably impacting Steam.
Faced with these escalating restrictions, a programmer based in the UK sought legal counsel via Reddit. They reported that all assets accrued from game development had been frozen by PayPal due to the game’s adult theme. In their post, the programmer argued that the game was developed legally and contains no elements that contravene UK laws.
Moreover, they emphasized that the sales of the game were not conducted via PayPal, thus none of their revenue originated from customer purchases of the adult content. Nevertheless, PayPal contended that this represented a violation of their terms of service.
According to PayPal’s Acceptable Use Policy, the platform prohibits transactions involving “certain sexually oriented materials or services.” While some transactions for specific physical sexually oriented goods are permissible only within the United States, PayPal’s policy regarding sexual goods and services categorically forbids transactions for digital goods or content delivered via digital mediums globally.
Additionally, an associated clause details the criteria upon which PayPal determines what constitutes “sexually oriented goods and services,” suggesting that their decisions regarding content restrictions are made on a discretionary basis.
Ironically, this incident is not the programmer’s first encounter with legal challenges from payment processors. In a comment on Reddit, they indicated that they have faced business closures repeatedly due to the nature of their content, having been denied services by major banks as well as various alternative banking solutions like Wise and Revolut.
The decision to utilize PayPal for transactions was initially driven by a desire to mitigate the risk of being debanked. However, with PayPal withholding their assets for over a month, the programmer is now actively seeking alternative solutions.
Source link: Automaton-media.com.
