Steam Adult Game Developer’s PayPal Account Frozen, £80,000 in Earnings Withheld

A Steam game developer has had their PayPal account frozen with around £80,000 in earnings locked away after the payment company said they broke the platform’s rules by working on adult games. The UK-based programmer shared their situation on Reddit while looking for legal help. PayPal refused to release any payments the developer received for their work after deciding the game was adult content. The developer says their game was made legally and doesn’t break any UK laws.

What makes this case unusual is that the actual game sales don’t go through PayPal. This means none of the frozen money came directly from customers buying adult content. Even so, PayPal still claims this breaks their terms of service. PayPal’s user policy doesn’t allow their service to be used for deals involving “certain sexually oriented materials or services.” While some physical adult products are allowed in the US, digital adult content is banned worldwide on the platform.

This freeze happened around the same time PayPal stopped processing payments in some currencies on Steam. In July 2025, PayPal told Valve that their bank partner was ending all Steam-related transactions in certain currencies. No clear reasons were given for this sudden change. Many users think PayPal’s actions are connected to the recent increase in restrictions on adult games across digital platforms, with Steam being hit the hardest.

This isn’t the first time the programmer has faced payment problems. They say major banks and digital banking apps like Wise and Revolut have closed their business accounts multiple times because of the type of content they create. The developer chose PayPal originally to avoid getting “debanked” again, but now they’re looking for new payment solutions after PayPal has held their money for over a month.

The case highlights the ongoing challenges adult game developers face in finding reliable payment processing, even when their content is legal in their home countries.

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