Valve accused of pulling LBGTQ+ game from Steam at request of Russian government

PC games giant Valve has reportedly censored content on its Steam platform at the behest of the Russian government.

A report on Flick Games by Video Games Industry Memo revealed that the company was asked by the country’s media censorship body, Roskomnadzor, to remove card title Flick Solitaire due to its LGBTQ+ content.

The body sent official notices to Flick demanding the project’s removal from the App Store, Google Play and Steam, saying a series of deck designs featuring LGBTQ+ artwork contravened a 2006 Federal Law “promoting non-traditional sexualities.” The request conflated LGBTQ+ content with paedophilia, according to VGIM’s reporting. These platforms received the same notification, with Apple and Google allegedly ignoring Roskomnadzor’s demand to pull Flick Solitaire from their services.

Only Valve has capitulated, removing the game from the Russian version of Steam. Furthermore, the company put the blame on Flick Games, saying that it was in violation of its rules, which say that titles on Steam need to play by the rules of the countries it is available.

“[Flick Games] promised Valve under the Steam Distribution Agreement that your game complies with all applicable laws,” the Steam giant wrote.

Valve did not reply to VGIM’s request for comment. GamesIndustry.biz has also contacted the company, and will update this story with any response.

Flick Solitaire had been available in Russia on the App Store and Google Play since 2020, but it was only when the game came to Steam in October 2025 that the Russian government started to pay attention. The territory had the game’s second-largest player base, the company said.

Flick Games founder Ian Masters has said that it is “massively important” that companies like Valve protect LGBTQ+ content.

“This isn’t ‘wokeness’, it’s basic human rights and equality and nothing more,” he said.

“If Steam can’t support free speech of LGBTQ+ people, then at the very least they should be transparent about this.”

This isn’t the first time that Valve has come under fire for its content moderation strategy. Back in 2018, the company announced that it would allow anything onto the Steam platform, “except for things that we decide are illegal, or straight up trolling”.

Earlier in 2025, the company drew the ire of the UK government for hosting Zerat Games’ No Mercy, which featured “graphic sex and violence, mature language, nudity, and graphic [sex acts],” in addition to “unavoidable non-consensual sex.” That game was eventually pulled from Steam, but this was done by the developer, not by Valve.

More recently, Valve has come under criticism for the opposite issue: stopping a game from releasing on its Steam platform due to concerns about its content. In 2023, the company told Italian developer Santa Ragione that it would not be distributing its horror title Horses; the studio has said that this decision could put it out of business.