Last week, publisher Spike Chunsoft sadly informed customers that Valve-mandated game changes marked the first official English translation of: Chaos; Head Noah would not launch on Steam as planned. Now the company says the visual novel shall coming to Steam later today, thanks to a change of mind from Valve’s content review team.
In a statement, the publisher said it was told that Steam’s content review team has “re-examined” the game and will now allow it to launch on Steam “as is”. That’s a big turnaround from last week, when Spike Chunsoft quoted “Steam’s directive-required changes to the game’s content” that “wouldn’t allow the game to be released to [the publisher’s] standards.” It also brings Valve more in line with Nintendo, which was already able to launch the ESRB M-rated game on the Switch without any apparent problems.
“We believe this decision is the result of the unwavering support of Science Adventure Series fans and all players eagerly awaiting the release of this title,” Spike Chunsoft said in his statement. “Your voice has been heard. We appreciate your commitment. We look forward to your continued support for Spike Chunsoft and the Science Adventure Series.”
“I think [Valve] felt the heat rise and double back before it became bad optics on more websites,” Andrew Hodgson, PQube Games’ head of localization, told Ars Technica about the rapid reversal.
A new, more indulgent valve?
Intriguingly, Spike Chunsoft also suggested that Valve’s more lenient policies for certain risqué games may extend beyond Chaos; Head Noah. “We also examined the process that led to the previous decision on Chaos; Head Noah and made some changes to prevent this kind of situation in the future,” Valve said in a statement to Spike Chunsoft (as reported by the publisher).
It’s been over four years since Valve introduced its “allow everything on Steam” policy, with exceptions for “things we decide are illegal or just trolling.” Since then, however, many in the visual novel community have noticed an inconsistent pattern of Valve barring many (but not all) anime-style games featuring characters in school uniforms. That goes even for “games that aren’t even remotely lustful,” according to Hodgson, a description he says. Chaos; Head Noah.
Valve has not publicly clarified its stance on what specific content is and is not allowed in these types of games, and has not responded to multiple requests for comment from Ars about it. But Hodgson told Ars he sees this kind of promised change as “basically an admission of wrongdoing within the process itself.”
At the moment, however, Hodgson said he’s not sure “if that’s just a blanket statement to get people off their backs rather than something that actually means something.” Proof, he said, will be whether “another visual novel with similar criteria to those previously banned” will be submitted to Valve and approved for sale on Steam. “Alternatively, developers who were previously rejected can choose to try their luck again,” Hodgson added.
List image by Nintendo
