Steam u-turns on ban for game published by Danganronpa devs and reworks review process

An image of Chaos;Head Noah showing a pink-haired girl spattered with blood
(Image credit: Spike Chunsoft)

Valve has decided, in its inscrutable and mysterious way, to reverse course on a previously-announced ban on the Steam release of Chaos;Head Noah, an anime visual novel and crime against the semicolon published by the developers of Danganronpa. Good timing, too: the game releases today.

Even Valve's laissez-faire 'anything goes' release policy has its exceptions, as developer MAGES discovered when its port of 2009's Chaos;Head Noah (itself a port of 2008's Chaos;Head) was unceremoniously banned from launching on Steam. Neither Valve nor Spike Chunsoft—Chaos;Head's publisher—said which rules the game supposedly violated, the latter only announcing that it wouldn't be making the "guideline-required changes to the game's content" to secure a Steam release.

To be fair, there are several things you could point at. The "Mature Content Description" on Chaos;Head's Steam page reads like its writer thought their job was to just write down everything that could be considered mature content in the world ever. There's knives, strangling, torture, "mangled fingers, dangling entrails," and "exposed brains". Plus, horror of horrors, "partially exposed breasts and buttocks". 

None of that really seems like it would be enough to draw Valve's ire, though: some people point to the game's (let's be honest, pretty creepy) lingerie DLC for its high school characters as a potential point of contention, but all we have is speculation. Either way, Valve has decided that—whatever it was—it's not a problem anymore.

In fact, Valve has "examined the process" that led it to the ban decision and "made some changes to avoid situations like this in the future," so let a hundred senpais bloom. There was a fairly loud campaign from fans to save the game's Steam release, complete with a requisite Change.org petition. Perhaps that caught the attention of Steam employees, or perhaps someone just had a dramatic change of heart in the depths of Valve's offices. That would be pretty anime.

Chaos;Head Noah releases later today. On Steam, no less.

Correction: a previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Chaos;Head Noah was developed by Spike Chunsoft. It is developed by MAGES and published by Spike Chunsoft.

TOPICS
Joshua Wolens
News Writer

One of Josh's first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he's been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He'll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin's Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you're all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.

Read more
A man in Code Violet holding a gun while looking frightened.
Developer behind the Dino Crisis spiritual successor says 'vulgar' mods are the reason we're not getting a PC port
Horny Housewives Booty Call Blackmail screenshot from Steam
Banks in Japan are blocking Steam payments for sex games, leaving Japanese adult game devs cut off from income
Silent Hill f transmission trailer screenshots
Silent Hill f is no longer banned in Australia, but it still sounds pretty messed up
Masked Counter-Terrorist in helmet in forefront with sunglasses and beret-wearing CT in background touching headset
There's hope yet for Classic Offensive after its Steam rejection: The team behind the Counter-Strike 1.6 revival mod is in touch with Valve about its 'concerns'
Masked Counter-Terrorist in helmet in forefront with sunglasses and beret-wearing CT in background touching headset
An ambitious Counter-Strike mod to emulate the OG 1.6 experience in Global Offensive has been rejected by Valve after 8 years of development
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 screenshot - swordfight with man in armor
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 forum rules that banned racism, homophobia, and neo-Nazism walked back by the publisher, which now just asks everyone to please be nice
Latest in Visual Novel
An ominous man holds his finger over a book, eyes closed, while an eye floats above a pyramid behind him.
If you've ever wished Phoenix Wright was a witcher then do I have the game for you
National Park Girls visual novel
A yuri VN about national parks that turn into anime girls is, somehow, the most relatable game I've played in my 20s
A headshot of Akari, your virtual girlfriend.
My date with an 'adorable girl who forgives all your awkwardness' went wrong when I realised I was trapped in digital hell
Three figures, one uniformed, one wearing a suit, and one wearing a Soviet-style suit, stand smugly with their hands on their hips.
A War Of A Madman's Making is a quietly brilliant, totally free political sim where you have to try to survive as a deranged dictator's henchman
Pro Philosopher 2 debate visual novel
Pro Philosopher 2 is Ace Attorney for our stupid election season, and it really did make me feel better
A looming and eerie figure in a red hoodie and pants looms in a dark, all blue hallway. Only its grinning face and red eyes are visible through the hood.
This visual novel about hunting supernatural oddities in urban environments will definitely be one for the Persona crowd
Latest in News
Image of Ronaldo from Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves trailer
It doesn't really make sense that soccer star Ronaldo is now a Fatal Fury character, but if you follow the money you can see how it happened
Junah beginning a battle in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Today's RPG fans are 'very sensitive to feeling like they wasted time' when they die, says Metaphor: ReFantazio battle planner—but Atlus still made combat hard anyway
Image of Cersei Lanniser from Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Steam early access trailer
A new Game of Thrones RPG is coming to Steam today with a cast of 'familiar faces,' which is good because it's really the only way to tell it's a GoT game at all
The new Prime Asset featured in the upcoming update for the Outlast Trials.
The Outlast Trials puts its already paranoid players under surveillance for a time-limited story event
A Viera looking confused in Final Fantasy 14.
Old armor continues to fall victim to Final Fantasy 14's bizarre two-channel dye system, unless you're super into changing the colour of teeny-tiny eyelets: 'Why even bother at this point?'
Starfield: Shattered Space
By the time Bethesda was on Starfield, you'd 'basically get in trouble' for breaking schedule, says former dev: 'A lot of the great stuff within Skyrim came from having the freedom to do what you want'