Gaming platform Steam drops ‘Rape Day’, a video game about sexually assaulting women, from its store after heated debate

Rape Day, a controversial indie video game centred around the committing of sexual violence against women, has been dropped by popular PC gaming platform Steam.

While the game page was viewable in the Steam store for weeks and was scheduled for an April release, the platform now says Rape Day presents “unknown costs and risks” to its business.

In the past, Steam has been vocal about its desire to protect the free speech interests of the developers who release games on the platform. Last year, after pulling a game titled Active Shooter that simulated a school shooting, Steam said it would strive to allow any game on the platform regardless of content, so long as it wasn’t “illegal, or straight up trolling”.

The creator of Rape Day, Desk Plant, said it followed Steam’s policies and disclosed the game’s offensive content before it was listed in the store. Like other games with sexual content, Rape Day was hidden from Steam’s usual search results, but searching the exact title, or the word “rape” alone, would allow users to see and access the game’s Steam listing.

Rape Day’s apparent glorification of sexual violence sparked an immediate backlash from members of the media and the public at large. The game was repeatedly criticised for promoting violence against women and normalising rape. Some outraged Steam users pledged not to buy any more games until Rape Day was removed from the store.