this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2025
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Are they in breach right now?
Evidently no...
But the entire problem at this point is that no one actually knows what the actual, specific guidelines even are.
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MC + Visa get pressured from Aussie Puritans.
MC + Visa basically have a Zoom call with Steam and Itch, and tap on the gigantic sign in the backdrop, at one specific rule... which is actually pretty vague.
Steam and Itch then do their best to interperet that as broadly as possible, update their own policies.
Gamers revolt, blow up MC + Visas phones and emails.
MC and Visa backpedal, claim that well actually, Step 2 didn't go down like that, they were actually pressured by... all their other partner client banks, whom they also largely lord over with an extreme power imbalance?
New local laws, which are not specified at all?
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The entire problem is that MC and Visa just thought they could swing their dick around, make vague threats, leave Steam and Itch to ... figure out all the details... and then that blew up in their faces.
Had they actually done a legitimate amount of research, such that they could actually give much more specific guidelines, you know maybe involving Steam and Itch in the process, in a mutually collaborative way, instead of an authoritarian way?
Well then this mess would not have happened.
And now, actually doing this is the only way to fix the situation.
... They could have just done this from the get go, and not have caused mass confusion and a huge consumer revolt.
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So this all isn't me disagreeing with you, its basically me agreeing, yes-anding, just expanding on how the entire fucking problem didn't even need to exist, the problem is the utter lack of clarity and specificity, was borne out of total hubris on the part of MC + Visa.
I just think, if it went to court, Valve would eat MC's lunch. So I'm not sure they should be worried about being in breach of terms (that they haven't even breached).
I hear you, but I wouldn't go that far.
You think Steam is a money printing machine?
MC and Visa are payment processors.
Literally every credit or debit transaction that involves them?
Oh yeah, they shave a penny or two or sometimes more off of that transaction, the business and actual banks involved usually eat it, not too long ago it would be much more common for retailers to pass some of it to the consumer as well.
Its the Office Space scam, but actually legit, at a muuuch grander scale.
Thats a fucking money printing machine, they unironically have at least 10,000x more money to throw at lawyers than Valve does.
It doesn't matter how many lawyers you have, when Valve is literally simply not in violation of the terms of their contract.
And it is the legal system that determines whether or not a contract has or has not been breached.
Just like it is also the legal system that determines whether or not a company is a harfmul monopoly.
Your opinion is one I agree with, but that isn't how things work, there has to be an official arbiter that agrees with or disagrees with that, and those arbiters are called courts, which are full of lawyers making arguments, and the best lawyers tend to cost the most money.
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Also... what, is Valve going to sue Visa and MC for... Visa and MC choosing not to do business with them?
There is no legal mechanism that forces Visa and MC to do business with Valve, that punishes Visa and MC should they choose not to.
This is like suing a person at a farmer's market for not buying an apple.
Or, that is roughly what Visa and MC's lawyers would argue.
I don't think Valve would sue MC. They would just ignore the demands that conflict with their agreement (i.e. removing games that aren't illegal), and the honus would be on MC to sue Valve.
Which they probably wouldn't, unless I'm mistaken about the terms of the contract. Which is certainly possible.
Minor nitpick:
It's just onus, no h. English is inconsistent.
Herb, lol.
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But anyway... so, this has yet to go to court.
If Valve just... does their own intepretation, unbans some games, Visa and MC can just say welp you violated the partner rules, no more payments for you.
Now, Valve has to do a prolonged legal battle to prove wrongful termination of contract ... while also having their money printing machine offline.
And also, all that would do is possibly award them compensatory damages.
A court cannot compel a business transaction (an ongoing partnership) or partnership anywhere near as much as it can compel people, corporations have more rights than people.
If it could, well then we have turned the economy on its head, now judges run businesses, not CEOs.
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Maybe there is some kind of wrongful termination / non renewal of contract clause, but:
1 - I doubt it
2 - Well you'd be having lawyers argue the validity of that anyway.
Valve and MC + Visa both currently do not want to take this to an actual lawsuit because it would be extremely costly in financial / reputational terms for each of them.
Visa and MC and Valve would all massively lose financially if their agreements fell apart, Visa and MC and Valve as well could also suffer massive reputational damage depending on how exactly the public narrative forms around the lawsuit... and lawyers are quite expensive.
Nobody actually wants to pull the trigger, because its akin to a MAD scenario with nukes.
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That is why we are getting this weird tap unfolding basically PR war, where both sides are angling snd making essentislly veiled threats... but not actually seeming to do much beyond posturing.
This kind of shit happens all the time between corporations, its usually just that it stays internal to the involved companies, you read about it two decades later in an autobiography named 'My life as a corporate big shot' or whatever.