The latest release from qureate, Maid of the Dead, has been marked Adult Only on Steam despite receiving an M rating from the ESRB. This adds some restrictions to sales of the game. Aside from having to log in to view the title and having your preferences setup to see Adult Only content, the game cannot be sold at all in certain countries like Germany being marked this way.
This isn’t the first time Valve has done this either, Gun Gun Pixies is an Adult Only title according to them as well, and has an M rating. Shiravune’s release of Dungeon Travelers: To Heart 2 in Another World was also forced to take these restrictions to release on the platform. The first two games in this series were banned from Steam outright.
Author’s opinion:
I just find this whole thing very silly when these games are treated this way when there is no full nudity or sex, but things like Cyberpunk 2077, Baldur’s Gate 3 and many other titles can have full nudity and sex but are only required to have a simple age gate. I don’t know why the anime games are treated this way, and some will say this is better than no release at all, but the double standards there need to stop.
You can always purchase the game from the Nintendo eShop if you are in one of the affected countries, since it is up in the EU Store.
