Since Mastercard ceased processing adult content transactions for DMM.com in July 2022, issues surrounding credit card compliance have become more prevalent, leading to a surge in cases where specific credit card brands suspend services for EC platforms handling adult content.
Recently, Japanese indie game developer Takii Noame announced that "Are We Fake Married?" (私たちフェイクマリッジ？), an all-ages yuri game developed by their team and published by Sekai Project, will be delayed. The reason for the postponement is that after the game was listed on Steam, its sales revenue was rejected by domestic Japanese banks, leaving delay as the only option.
"Are We Fake Married?" is a yuri romance adventure game with no adult content. Players take on the role of an "angel" serving a certain character, offering various choices to help connect the in-game characters and facilitate different pairings. It's a romance adventure title with a "matchmaking" element.
Takii Noame stated that scrutiny over international remittances has increased recently, and they were personally asked by SBI Shinsei Bank to submit relevant documents. After providing information related to their Steam-listed games, including some adult-oriented titles, Shinsei Bank identified the presence of games with adult content and subsequently rejected the payment.
In response, the development team requested the publisher to redirect the sales revenue from games without adult content to Yucho Bank (Japan Post Bank). However, Yucho Bank also requested review documents and ultimately rejected the payment as well.
Takii Noame noted that some smaller payments from the publisher have not been rejected, but Steam sales revenue remains inaccessible. A greater concern is that future game releases might face similar payment rejections, making this issue their top priority. They also mentioned in other posts that banks might cite regulations such as "prohibited business transactions" or "funds against public order and morals" as reasons for rejection. However, Yucho Bank's specific reason for rejection has not been publicly disclosed.
As the problem remained unresolved for a month, the game's release has been temporarily postponed for two months, with hopes of finding a solution.
This incident has also drawn the attention of former Diet member Kurishita Yoshiyuki, known for his advocacy for freedom of expression. He commented, "Such 'de-banking' cases may be on the rise recently." He also pointed out that the Japanese government is currently strengthening anti-money laundering measures, which could be impacting these transactions.
However, he believes that "if even legal transactions are hindered, it can only be described as a side effect." He hopes that Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA) will address these issues, stating that blocking even all-ages games affects the rights of many game developers.
In the past, cases of banks rejecting sales revenue from adult games have sparked considerable discussion. However, what makes this case particularly noteworthy is that the rejected game is not an adult title, but an all-ages yuri romance game with no explicit content.
While it cannot be ruled out that this is related to the recent strengthening of anti-money laundering measures, if banks are indeed expanding their scope of content review, it suggests that transaction restrictions on the digital content industry may be more stringent than previously imagined.
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