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Subscribe to the world's #1 PC gaming mag Try a single issue or save on a subscription Issues delivered straight to your door or device From£35.99View Early Prime Day Deals Essential Hardware PC Gaming Show Dune: Awakening Recommended reading Developer of 'non-consensual sex' game withdraws it from Steam after it's banned in the UK, Canada, and Australia: 'We don't intend to fight the whole world' A game claiming the backing of Russia's military just popped up on Steam: 'I understand Ukrainian players don't like us' As fans lose it over sanitised nudity and violence, Ready or Not devs promise they haven't changed their 'creative vision': 'We’ve only made changes where absolutely required' 'The censorship is a step too far': Ready or Not is getting review bombed after developers sanitise the game to adhere to stricter console standards Stellar Blade's director throws down the gauntlet at modders, whose 'firepower is still weak'—all the sexy costumes are cool, he just also wants mods that 'expand the user’s play experience' Nexus Mods decides to allow an Oblivion Remastered mod that changes 'body type' options to male/female, declares it's not 'a battleground for broader cultural or political debates' The mod that aimed to recreate Counter-Strike 1.6 in CS:GO is now officially cancelled following 'abrupt actions by Valve that prevent us from releasing' the project Gaming Industry Mount and Blade: Warband At the request of South Korea, Valve pulled a mod from Steam that glorified the country's military dictatorship Ted Litchfield 7 July 2025 Gross mod, troubling precedent? When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Valve) First reported by Korean gaming website This Is Game, and in English by Automaton, Valve acquiesced to a South Korean government request that it remove an offensive Mount and Blade: Warband mod from Steam last month. Notably, the mod has been blocked from global distribution, not just in South Korea, and this marks the first time to my knowledge that Valve has removed a game or mod from Steam worldwide over a government's objection to its content. The mod itself is a baffling and risible piece of right wing esoterica, converting the medieval sandbox Mount and Blade: Warband to a modern-day setting and presenting a warped version of the events of the 1980 Gwangju Uprising, a pivotal moment in the history of South Korea. Related Articles Developer of 'non-consensual sex' game withdraws it from Steam after it's banned in the UK, Canada, and Australia: 'We don't intend to fight the whole world' A game claiming the backing of Russia's military just popped up on Steam: 'I understand Ukrainian players don't like us' As fans lose it over sanitised nudity and violence, Ready or Not devs promise they haven't changed their 'creative vision': 'We’ve only made changes where absolutely required' The 1980 protests in Gwangju against South Korean military dictator Chun Doo-hwan were violently repressed by the government, provoking an armed uprising that Chun responded to with even greater brutality. Up to 2,300 people were killed by government forces, and after the overthrow of the dictatorship, the Gwangju Uprising has been commemorated with a day of remembrance as a key moment in South Korea's struggle under a string of US-backed dictatorships in the second half of the 20th century. Gwangju Running Man reportedly presented a revisionist narrative of the event popular with South Korea's right wing, one sympathetic to Chun Doo-hwan, slanderous to the memory of the victims and protestors, and justifying the massacres conducted by government forces. This Is Game reported that the South Korean Game Rating and Administration Committee initially blocked the mod's distribution in South Korea before requesting that Valve remove the mod from the Steam Workshop worldwide, a request the company had fulfilled by the June 13 publication of This Is Game's initial story. The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Typically, Valve operates under singularly laissez-faire content moderation guidelines, slow to respond to reports, and rarely removing mods or games from Steam unless they break the law, manipulate the platform in some fashion, or reach a critical threshold of negative attention. A few instructive examples include: No Mercy: A game with "unavoidable non-consensual sex" that was banned from sale in the UK, Canada, and Australia. Was notably only pulled from sale worldwide by the developers themselves. Domina: A gladiator management sim where, several years after launch, the developer began using thin patch notes as an outlet for anti-trans invective. Removed from sale by Valve after multiple warnings. Active Shooter: A "school shooting simulator" seemingly banned by Valve less over its content, and more the developer's "history of customer abuse, publishing copyrighted material, and user review manipulation." Fursan al-Aqsa: The Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque: An FPS where the player controls a Palestinian fighter killing IDF soldiers, including recreations of/references to the October 7 attacks. Banned from sale in the UK, Germany, and Australia. Gwangju Running Man is, to my knowledge, the first time Valve has removed a game or mod from Steam worldwide not over content, breaking a law, or breaking Valve's terms of service, but rather a government's objection to the content in question. Gwangju Running Man seems to have been a juvenile, patently offensive piece of work furthering a right wing misinformation campaign⁠—it couldn't have happened to a better mod⁠—but I find myself troubled to see Valve making such an intervention not through its own internal processes, but because a government requested it do so. Best of the best (Image credit: Larian Studios) 2025 games: Upcoming releases Best PC games: All-time favorites Free PC games: Freebie fest Best FPS games: Finest gunplay Best RPGs: Grand adventures Best co-op games: Better together I'm worried we'll see Valve repeat such a move on a less contemptible target at the behest of a more oppressive government down the line. At the same time, issues like this are nothing new on social media platforms⁠—and Steam is, effectively, one of the world's most influential social media platforms. X, "The Everything App," has been a frequent battleground. In the past, Elon Musk has complied with requests by the government of Turkey to censor dissident accounts on the platform. Musk subsequently got the app temporarily banned in Brazil after refusing to suspend accounts associated with the 8 January 2022 attempted coup by right wing forces against the elected government of President Lula. Gwangju Running Man is a truly bizarre edge case, but I would expect to see more interventions like this by governments into Steam⁠—both sympathetic and nefarious⁠—in the future. Ted Litchfield Social Links Navigation Associate Editor Ted has been thinking about PC games and bothering anyone who would listen with his thoughts on them ever since he booted up his sister's copy of Neverwinter Nights on the family computer. He is obsessed with all things CRPG and CRPG-adjacent, but has also covered esports, modding, and rare game collecting. When he's not playing or writing about games, you can find Ted lifting weights on his back porch. Developer of 'non-consensual sex' game withdraws it from Steam after it's banned in the UK, Canada, and Australia: 'We don't intend to fight the whole world' A game claiming the backing of Russia's military just popped up on Steam: 'I understand Ukrainian players don't like us' As fans lose it over sanitised nudity and violence, Ready or Not devs promise they haven't changed their 'creative vision': 'We’ve only made changes where absolutely required' 'The censorship is a step too far': Ready or Not is getting review bombed after developers sanitise the game to adhere to stricter console standards Stellar Blade's director throws down the gauntlet at modders, whose 'firepower is still weak'—all the sexy costumes are cool, he just also wants mods that 'expand the user’s play experience' Nexus Mods decides to allow an Oblivion Remastered mod that changes 'body type' options to male/female, declares it's not 'a battleground for broader cultural or political debates' Latest in Gaming Industry Arkane Studios founder slams Microsoft for its Game Pass focus: 'At some point reality has to hit' European game publisher group responds to Stop Killing Games, claims 'These proposals would curtail developer choice" In the wake of Perfect Dark's cancellation, Joanna Dark's voice actor urges fans to help save the series: 'Agent Dark doesn’t give up and neither should any of you' Hideo Kojima's mysterious OD reportedly escapes the cancellation axe at Microsoft CWA union derides Microsoft layoffs when ‘the company is prospering’: 'We are living through a moment of profound corporate consolidation and disruption' Valve's reported profit-per-head from Steam commissions is out there, and at $3.5 million per employee it makes Apple and Facebook look like a lemonade stand Latest in News 'The transfer of user data by DeepSeek to China is unlawful': Germany calls for Google and Apple to remove the AI app from their stores Romero Games reportedly met with Microsoft just a day before the publisher pulled funding for the studio, and there was 'no mention' of the decision that put over 100 people out of work 'There are no plans to drop support for SteamOS': The Finals devs commit to Steam Deck and Linux players despite new kernel-level anti-cheat Arkane Studios founder slams Microsoft for its Game Pass focus: 'At some point reality has to hit' Subnautica 2 studio begs rioting fans for benefit of the doubt after leadership axed by owner Krafton: 'The team that has been working on the game day-to-day over the last few years remains completely unchanged' European game publisher group responds to Stop Killing Games, claims 'These proposals would curtail developer choice" HARDWARE BUYING GUIDES LATEST GAME REVIEWS Best graphics cards in 2025: I've tested pretty much every AMD and Nvidia GPU of the past 20 years and these are today's top cards Best gaming laptop in 2025: I've put the best of this new generation head-to-head and we have a winner Best gaming chair in 2025: I've tested a ton of gaming chairs and these are the seats I'd suggest for any PC gamer Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads Best graphics card for laptops in 2025: the mobile GPUs I'd want in my next gaming laptop NZXT N7 Z890 review NZXT N9 X870E review NZXT N9 Z890 review Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 review Razer Joro & Basilisk Mobile review PC Gamer is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. 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