Bad news regarding Steam
MIST has just been banned from Steam. Despite the page being online for over a month now they just informed me that they have banned the game. I had basically no chance to even get a word in and wasn't asked a thing. In fact they were completely silent until I reached out to them.
The reason for the ban is basically that they feel Mia's age is too ambigious, which is kinda weird. I know that she is petite, but I don't think anyone playing the game would mistake her for a minor, she clearly isn't written like one and her character model is the same as the other ones, only like 20cm shorter and with small boobs. It looks like that is already too much for Steam's policy, which is fine but kinda doesn't sit right with me. I know that I played the fetish of her being "small" but I honestly think I never tried to depict her as underage. As the creator that is always deep inside the game it can be hard to accurately tell how others perceive what I do, so I might have just lost sight of Mia and am actually in the wrong, but personally I have never seen her as a minor and I always simply wanted to lean into the "petite" theme. Maybe I did so too heavily, but I really think that you can't really say she appears to be underage if you've played through the game. The way she carries herself, interacts with the others, her skillset, history, emotions and struggles make me think of an adult and her body is 100% that of an adult woman with wide hips and small breasts. I don't know.
I'm very sorry that I have to say that the Steam sale won't happen. I've been looking forward to this for 3 years now and I'm not even sure what I can say to you. I've written to the Steam support and asked them to rethink their decision but let's be honest, there's veeeeery little chance they'll do that.
For now the final build will release as planned here on Patreon and on Itch.io. I'm sorry about this situation. I never expected it to happen but it's not like it'll change. Let's move on.
Comments (33)
I never thought for a moment she was younger than 18. Pretty rubbish judgement from the Steam folks. They probably just took something out of context and didn't see the entire game/experience because if they did it would be pretty clear this isn't some pedo-kink game.
This might make it harder to sell to an easy American gamer market but many other places to sell the game. DLsite sells many creator games for example. Not as popular to most but still a well known retailer for more adult content. I am sure there are many other options aswell.
A very Euro-American perception since small women are typical in most of the world. And even that comes from media, not reality as the average height for American women is just 162cm. US women in the 150s and even 140s are not uncommon.
Can't you just throw some tattoos on her to imply she is old enough and maybe take out the "your big adult cock inside my barely legal pussy" line and see if that helps
Everything in this game is prerendered. I'd have to remake every single image and animation with her. That would take at least half a year.
NumericGazer creator of Under The Witch had his game banned by steam because the main protagonist looked like a minor but he quietly rereleased it calling it Hero's Journey among "other things" and steam accepted it into the storefront. Do you think you'll be able to rerelease it somehow? Pretty sure steam has a thing about girls in school clothes and Mia seems to be wearing one in the screenshots if i'm not mistaken? Maybe that made them question her age. Was excited to buy this game there but I'll support the final release wherever you see fit. Looks really interesting and great quality and it's a shame if you can't release it on a big platform like steam who houses many adult games.
No, she doesn't wear a school uniform. the problem is that I have no way of taking her out of the game. That would be hundreds of hours of extra work and the game wouldn't make any sense anymore. She is too deeply integrated into the entire game.
Never thought she was underage. Young, yes, but definitely not a minor.
Could always add more to her intro story segment, have her state her age and maybe even have some comment that she looks younger because the mist did something to her. They have games on there where 100 year old elves look 12 just fine, because the game says they are that old.
Completely agree. There are games on steam, which are way more problematic concerning sexualization of "definitely not" minors and girls in general. My better half is in her thirties, actually has similar proportions to Mia and would never be mistaken for a child. So cut that crap! Good work deserves good payment! Became a patrion just now for a year to pay back another way and to say thanks. I had fun and am looking forward to your next project.
What about GOG? They are selling adult games too.
I'll take a look at it.
Then Itchio is fine. let's move on and make a new game that steam will aprove. It is experience of creating porn game but anyway your game is so gooood If he had played this game he would know that Mia is not underage.
I'm sorry to hear that 😔
Have you thought about releasing it on DLSite?
No, actually not... Do western devs sell their games often on DLSite?
itchio is fine. screw steam
I feared this would happen. Steam is very cautious when it comes to that and you're not the first to have that problem. Very sorry to hear it hit you too 😔
Use a different place. Steam is always the big bad.
Sorry to hear mate :/
What a pity.
This happened to Lockheart, too, when he gave players the option of setting Petal's age in A Petal Among Thorns, and they again waited right up until he was done with the game to ban it, and ban his developer account. The only solution for AVNs on Steam is to be *absolutely* explicit with the ages of any girl who looks at all petite, because Puritans and prudes rule the censorship roost in the USA.
if he had played the game he would know
I agree, not one time was she a minor in my mind.
I'm so sorry. I never for a minute thought of her as a minor. If you actually bother to play the game it's obvious that she is an equal member of the group and takes on a lot or adult responsibilities. This is absurd and I can only imagine someone complained. God knows why, but there are a lot of nasty individuals out there.
In hindsight, you should have used an anime art style. That way no one would care even if it was actual CP. /sarcasm
I wouldn't drive yourself crazy with Steam being stupid, let us not forget that there are a TON of games steam lets on it's platform that are either downright broken (as in exe doesn't even work) or just have crazy premises (this is the same site that let you play as a mass serial killer in one game, and a rapist in another game before public outcry had them change their mind). In my opinion it was extremely unprofessional of steam to not have even talked to you first about the situation before banning your game. Also I have always thought Mia was just petite and never once considered her to be underage (and the game clearly shows her as being a young adult character, not underage). Don't blame yourself for the stupidity of others, and while it's sad that you wouldn't be able to market your game to a wider audience through steam there are plenty of other places you can sell your game on. Like you said the healthy thing to do is to just move on.
If steam won't allow the allow the game, how about trying Kagura Games, FAKKU, and JAST USA?
Hi bro!... It may help that there is a description for each character. Be it age, height, date of birth and such... To me Mia seems to be 19 years old and a height of 1.60cm more or less... I don't know what they saw wrong with Mia 😥
Damn. Sad. Whatever happened to the person who allowed Evenicle? Can you like make a new appeal where you just cut all the sex scene out, and make it where the ending is at when they just took the house back? Then anyone, want to finish the true ending, will have to download the patch online.
Steam doesn't waste resources looking at the character personalities, only appearances. However, I never once thought she was underage either.
The weird part is that the page has been up for a long time with literal animations of Mia having sex and it was fine the entire time. The page was even manually approved by Steam. But yes. They do not care.
Clowns