After Steam began blocking games on demand from payment systems, and later the indie gaming platform Itch.io began doing the same, gamers began a mass campaign by sending letters to payment companies, including Visa, The Gamer reports.
An email template is circulating online in which players declare that they will stop using Visa services if the company continues to interfere with the operation of gaming platforms.
"Dear Visa Customer Service Team,
I am concerned customer about Visa’s recent efforts to censor adult content on prominent online game retailers, specifically the platforms Steam and Itch.io. As a long-time Visa customer, I see this as a massive overreach into controlling what entirely legal actions/purchases customers are allowed to put their money towards. Visa has no right to dictate my or other consumers' behavior or to pressure free markets to comply with vague, morally-grounded rules enforced by payment processing providers. Unless these Draconian impositions are not reversed, I will have no choice but to stop dealing with Visa and instead swap to competing companies not directly involved in censorship efforts, namely Discover and AmericanExpress," the template reads.
Visa has already sent a response to some users, stating that the company prohibits illegal activity, but also shares a commitment to "protecting legitimate commerce." In particular, the company says that if a transaction is legitimate, it will go through, and that Visa itself does not make any moral judgments about customers' purchases.
Users were outraged by this response and called it an outright lie. Some commentators also say that while the company is demanding that Steam and Itch.io block adult games, it is calmly accepting payments on gambling and betting sites. Whether players will be able to change this situation in any way is currently unclear.