“In early July 2025, PayPal notified Valve that their acquiring bank for payment transactions in certain currencies was immediately terminating the processing of any transactions related to Steam. This affects Steam purchases using PayPal in currencies other than EUR, CAD, GBP, JPY, AUD and USD.”
Watching this from afar, I'm deeply confused about the recent trend of payment processors determining what types of vice can be accessed using their payment systems. I understand legal compliance, and cases where legal compliance is ambiguous (marijuana transactions in the US). However why are payment processors collectively policing what is acceptable in video games?
Is it Fiserv? I notice Mastercard invested into PayPal and Fiserv just a couple months ago, and PayPal was already in business with Fiserv via Fastlane.
First they came for the porn, and I did not speak out - because, officially I do not watch porn.
Then they came for cryptocurrency, and I did not speak out - because I am not a crypto bro.
Then they came for the games, and I am a gamer...
but there was no one left to speak for me,
because payment processors had already "ethically" deplatformed everyone else.
I kinda question the validity of the NSFW explanation news articles are bringing up because it’s signalling out foreign assets more than anything. Maybe a ploy in trying to keep the reign of the US currency, G7, and debt holders over BRICS plus outspoken critics? Just a quick look at the nations and currencies it seems more plausible. As a bank you don’t want that target on your back nor do you want to be excluded from SWIFT. But I guess this is way over the heads of the average gamer so blame corn.
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[ 4.0 ms ] story [ 32.2 ms ] threadThen they came for cryptocurrency, and I did not speak out - because I am not a crypto bro.
Then they came for the games, and I am a gamer... but there was no one left to speak for me, because payment processors had already "ethically" deplatformed everyone else.