Molleindustria, the developer behind an open-world indie game that Valve has flagged as adult-only despite its teen rating, is still trying to figure out what’s going on.
“We are currently at Gamescom in Cologne,” Molleindustria wrote on Bluesky, “everyone is asking us why they can’t see the PAGE of a Teen rated game.”
The game, Future? No Thanks!, is far from an adult game, but currently can’t be seen by a majority of users and is completely unavailable in Germany due to a law requiring age verification for games of that type.
Molleindustria has been tracking the game’s extended approval process for about a month on Bluesky. In July, Valve determined that it contains “sexual content that is explicit or graphic and is intended for adults only” and “frequent nudity or sexual content,” which the developer said was not true. Valve also determined an achievement called “Have Sex One Last Time” had an inappropriate title or icon.
After removing a mild sex scene and resubmitting the game, Valve has still not removed the pornography label, grouping the game up with all the other adult games on Steam.
“This has been the most humiliating and surreal experience in 20+ years of gaming making,” the developer wrote. “I’m desperately looking for anybody who knows anybody at Valve that can at least tell me what’s going on.”
Valve’s stance on sexual content in games has been historically vague and inconsistent, forcing developers to go back and forth with it or be forced to publish games elsewhere. It’s not a good look for the biggest digital platform on PC to make it a gamble on whether or not it’ll bury your game in a category most people won’t see.
Future? No Thanks! is indeed a game with darker themes, focusing on the final days of a conservative man in a leftist utopia. It does not, however, contain anything close to what actual adult games do on Steam. The Steam page specifically calls out that it has things like drug and tobacco references and sexual innuendo, but nothing explicit.
Like a lot of these situations where Valve puts its stamp on a game without much explanation, Molleindustria will just have to wait and see if the company decides to change its mind.