Computer gaming giant Valve has censored content on its Steam platform at the direction of the Russian government.
Flick Games Report by Video Game Industry Memo reported that Roskomnadzor asked the company to remove the name of the Flick Solitaire card due to its LGBTQ+ content.
The body sent formal notices to Flick demanding that the project be removed from the App Store, Google Play and Steam, saying that a series of deck designs featuring LGBTQ+ imagery violated the 2006 Federal Law on “propaganda of non-traditional sexuality.” According to VGIM, the request combined LGBTQ+ content with pedophilia. These platforms received the same notice: Apple and Google allegedly ignored Roskomnadzor's demand to remove Flick Solitaire from their services.
Only Valve capitulated by removing the game from the Russian version of Steam. The company also placed blame on Flick Games, saying it violated its rules that require games on Steam to be played according to the rules of the countries in which they are available.
“[Flick Games] have promised Valve, as part of the Steam distribution agreement, that your game complies with all applicable laws,” the Steam giant wrote.
Valve did not respond to VGIM's request for comment. GamesIndustry.biz also contacted the company and will update this story with any response.
Flick Solitaire has been available in Russia on the App Store and Google Play since 2020, but it wasn't until the game launched on Steam in October 2025 that the Russian government began to take notice. The territory is home to the game's second-largest player base, according to the company.
Flick Games founder Ian Masters said it is “extremely important” that companies like Valve protect LGBTQ+ content.
“This is not 'wokeness', this is basic human rights and equality, nothing more,” he said.
“If Steam can't support the free speech of LGBTQ+ people, then at least they should be transparent about it.”
This isn't the first time Valve has come under fire for its content moderation strategy. Back in 2018, the company announced that it would allow anything to be hosted on the Steam platform. “except for things that we consider illegal or outright trolling”.
Previously in 2025 the company drew the ire of the UK government for hosting Zerat Games No Mercywhich featured “images of sex and violence, strong language, nudity and images [sex acts]”, as well as “inevitable non-consensual sex.” This game was eventually removed from Steam, but it was the developer who did it, not Valve.
More recently, Valve has come under fire for the opposite issue: ceasing to release a game on the Steam platform due to concerns about its content. In 2023 The company has informed Italian developer Santa Ragione that it will not distribute the horror game Horses.; The studio said the decision could lead to bankruptcy.
