Valve bans all games built on cryptocurrencies and NFTs from Steam

Valve, the parent company of one of the largest video game platforms Steam, has announced a ban on applications built on blockchain technology. In addition, the company will also ban applications that issue or allow an exchange of cryptocurrencies or NFTs.

The decision has been reflected in a recent update for Valve's distribution onboarding guidelines. The new rules for onboarding on the platform are mentioned under the list of games "you shouldn't publish on Steam." The guidelines come as a shock to many, especially considering the company's friendly stance on cryptocurrencies in the past.

Steam supported Bitcoin as a payment option for its digital store at one point. The payment option came into effect on Steam around the middle of 2016. However, Steam took a U-turn on the decision 18 months later and stopped supporting Bitcoin payments in December 2017.

Now, as the popularity of blockchain and NFT gaming rises, Valve has decided to go the other way this time. The company banned such games from Steam as these cryptocurrencies and NFTs have real-world values and the gaming platform cannot allow such items within its games.

That is the possible justification given by Twitter user SpacePirate, who also spotted the decision on Steam's onboarding guidelines. SpacePirate is also the developer of a blockchain game called Age of Rust. Expressing concerns over Steam's decision, SpacePirate wrote on Twitter - "While I'm disappointed for Age of Rust being removed, the point is more to the fact that Blockchain games as whole are going to be removed. This is setback for all."

Valve has not officially commented on the development as yet. However, it is likely that the company is avoiding controversies around the yet-unregularised space by its decision. Since cryptocurrencies and NFTs are yet to gain official recognition by financial and other authorities in most parts of the world, the scope of threat actors abusing them for gains is high.

As The Verge points out, one such scam recently came to light with the Evolved Apes project. An anonymous developer on the project, referred to as Evil Ape, sold NFTs that were supposed to be a part of the Evolved Apes project, an NFT-based player-versus-player fighting game. However, the developer disappeared with the money instead, siphoning off 798 ether ($2.7 million) out of the project's funds in multiple transfers, as reported by Motherboard. It can thus be seen why Valve would be wary of such potential areas of scam for its gamer base.