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Valve bows to Kremlin: LGBTQ+ solitaire game [Flick Solitaire] pulled from russian Steam [cited a 2006 federal law prohibiting the "promotion of non-traditional sexualities"] (www.player.one)

submitted 2 months ago by alessandro@lemmy.ca to c/pcgaming@lemmy.ca

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[-] jaselle@lemmy.ca 61 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

'This isn't "wokeness", it's basic human rights and equality and nothing more,' he added. 'If Steam can't support free speech of LGBTQ+ people, then at the very least they should be transparent about this.'

What a bizarre response. Neither Roskomnadzor nor Valve claimed this had anything to do with "'wokeness,'" and Steam was in fact transparent about this.

I don't really get what anyone expects Valve to do here other than comply with the law. Still, I'm surprised they're even able to operate in Russia given all the sanctions.

[-] frongt@lemmy.zip 78 points 2 months ago

Pulling out of Russia entirely is an option. It's not like they're relying on them to stay in business.

[-] jaselle@lemmy.ca 55 points 2 months ago

Well, given the sanctions, this ought to be a given. I don't understand how valve can operate in Russia at all tbh.

[-] makyo@lemmy.world 22 points 2 months ago

Right? That was my question, why are they operating there at all right now

[-] Honse@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 2 months ago

Valve had a big piracy problem in russia and it was ofc because of service issues. While I obviously don't agree with this censorship and would prefer valve to entirely pull out of russia, I can see why they are absolutely not doing that. They want to provide the best PC gaming store service across the world, and they don't want competitors or piracy to eat into their sales

[-] PonyOfWar@pawb.social 19 points 2 months ago

The sanctions did impact Steam's operations in Russia. Russian users currently can't use any payment methods to buy games aside from Steam Wallet funds.

[-] jaselle@lemmy.ca 15 points 2 months ago

Then yeah, I'm surprised valve is cooperating. I suppose they are planning for the future, should the sanctions end.

[-] TheObviousSolution@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

It is, but the alternative is that everything would get pirated instead. And like Trump, Russia is fishing for a "woke" escape goat to continue to come up with excuses to shut down exposure outside of the state controlled media, which Steam provides.

If Steam goes out of Russia, there will be a state sanctioned pirate streaming service for games, and it will include spyware. Steam isn't just one entity, it is an entity for every country it decides to operate in.

Still, I'm not going to complete defend Valve on this, but at least they aren't pulling a "many gamers complained about this and we listened" card. They also didn't remove the game from the store in its entirely just because Russia was complaining, but limited access to it locally.

Maybe Valve should get out of Russia, but I don't see this negatively affecting Russians as much as it will make the bubble they live in even more closed off. VPNs would be an alternative if Russia wasn't criminalizing them.

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[-] ahornsirup@feddit.org 11 points 2 months ago

They could just not comply? What's Russia gonna do, nuke Gaben's yacht?

[-] dukemirage@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

They ignored (legitimate) youth protection laws long enough, they could ignore this one, too.

[-] Jarix@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

? Curious, any good places to look into this?

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[-] ramble81@lemmy.zip 47 points 2 months ago

“Non-traditional”? Homosexuality has been around and recorded since the Romans and even prior. 2000+ years isn’t traditional? That’s just as long as Christianity.

[-] Valmond@lemmy.world 43 points 2 months ago

It's a dictatorship. It's not logic. Fuck the Kremlin.

[-] BCsven@lemmy.ca 10 points 2 months ago

It was illegal in the UK till the mid 60s, Russia is still holding out

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[-] ImminentOrbit@lemmy.world 42 points 2 months ago

Your choice as Valve here is to either delist or not be in Russia. It is easy for me, as someone not in Russia, to cheer Valve to fight the good fight. But, it would suck if I were in Russia and suddenly lost access to my games.

[-] popcar2@piefed.ca 17 points 2 months ago

This is the most sane take I've seen. It's honestly weird how ignorant this thread is, regional censorship is not new. Australia has a habit of banning violent games. The Middle East and China have a habit of censoring all sorts of things. Many countries have their own laws of what is and isn't okay and they fluctuate all the time. My friend in Germany couldn't play Wolfenstein because any games with Nazi imagery were illegal until relatively recently.

Literally every company that operates in those countries also censor their stuff. The only reason this article exists is because [thing but Russia] gets more clicks and outrage compared to [thing in fifty other countries]. You're free to hate Steam for it but this isn't weird or exclusive behavior. They're running a business.

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[-] flippinfreebird@lemmy.today 10 points 2 months ago

Yeah, I don't know why it's news at all. It happens in every other country with any amount of censorship, US included.

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[-] jazzkoalapaws@ttrpg.network 9 points 2 months ago

But, it would suck if I were in Russia and suddenly lost access to my games.

Another reason not to rely on steam as a central point of failure.

[-] Senal@programming.dev 6 points 2 months ago

Not a defense, but aren't a lot of the steam games at least runnable without the front end?

Not as much as GOG obviously, but some ?

[-] BillyTheKid2@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 months ago

Lots of indie games yes, but not so many of the AAAs

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[-] lvxferre@mander.xyz 35 points 2 months ago

When "the right thing to do" enters in conflict with "what maximises profits", businesses almost always pick the later.

[-] SabinStargem@lemmy.today 28 points 2 months ago

This sucks.

However, I think it is important for Steam to continue operating in Russia: by seeing the living standards of other people across the world, younger Russians will develop those same expectations. Everyday things like furnishings, food, how people treat each other, and so forth. When the Russia we know dies, it will be important for the Russians of the future to have ideas and desires to drive them forward. Also, Russian authorities won't be able to fully inspect ALL media for LGBTQ+, which means that people will see something that they "shouldn't".

In the long run, the media that people consume will determine how they feel their nation should become. It is my hope that Putin's Russia will die in the coming years, and a better nation born from the ashes.

[-] Agent_Karyo@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

This is a very naive and ignorant take. In the major cities, quality of life is on part with EU for many.

Furthermore, even with demographic splits (e.g. russians aged 18-24, urban russians), all major demographic groups show at least strong majority support for chauvinism, authoritarianism and genocidal imperialism.

There are some variations of course. But it's more along the lines of overwhelming/near absolute majority support (e.g 50+) or strong majority support (18-34). You also find interesting variantions where "middle age" segments tend to be less supportive (on a relative basis, the segment as whole still shows strong majority support) of genocidal imperialism than young adults/early middle age (18-34); likely because they have more to lose.

Russians have the capability to build a better future for themselves (without invasions), they just don't want to because they haven't gotten a taste of their own medicine (where they are treated like they treat others).

EU is massive in enabling this attitude. Consider the fact that Merkel, even from retirement, is promoting russian genocidal imperialism by claiming that Poland and the Baltic nation are responsible for the full scale invasion:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/10/06/angela-merkel-poland-baltics-blame-ukraine-war/

When it's the russians and putin (a symptom, with the cause being russians) who are to blame for their own invasion.

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[-] victorz@lemmy.world 25 points 2 months ago

What's the alternative? They have to obey the law, right? What should they have done? How is this "bowing to Kremlin" as if they're kneeling, waiting to suck their dick or something.

Genuinely curious about these questions.

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[-] veniasilente@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 2 months ago

I wonder if the same people who say Steam should pull out of Russia would agree that Steam should also pull out from the US. I mean, that's what should happen given the basis of the arguments being used, right?

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[-] hayvan@feddit.nl 12 points 2 months ago

It's called "complying with the law".

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[-] slykethephoxenix@lemmy.ca 11 points 2 months ago

I mean, if you want to operate in a country, you follow their laws when in the country?

[-] purplerabbit@piefed.blahaj.zone 24 points 2 months ago

How about having some fucking backbone?

[-] DebatableRaccoon@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 months ago

That's how to cease operating in a country.

[-] athatet@lemmy.zip 27 points 2 months ago

Valve should cease operating in Russia.

[-] warm@kbin.earth 7 points 2 months ago

Also, Valve with every other company should already have been ordered to stop operating in Russia by their respective countries.

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[-] purplerabbit@piefed.blahaj.zone 11 points 2 months ago

So?

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[-] frongt@lemmy.zip 11 points 2 months ago

Generally yes, but legality is not ethics.

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[-] wampus@lemmy.ca 9 points 2 months ago

So, human rights stuff aside, how/why the fuck do we need a genderised solitaire?

[-] driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br 20 points 2 months ago

Because the dev wanted to make it and other people wanted to play it.

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[-] onehundredsixtynine@sh.itjust.works 8 points 2 months ago

These comments are shit. Who said that you should comply with Russia's laws???

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[-] Flames5123@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 months ago

Surprised to not see it linked. Warning: despite being free, recent reviews point out how they’re pushing a monthly subscription to get all the cosmetics.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3690460/FLICK_SOLITAIRE/

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this post was submitted on 29 Nov 2025

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