"The future of adult entertainment is photo-realistic adult stars in virtual reality," say the developers of Holodexxx, who bring scanned 3D models based on porn stars "to life using the latest chatbot technology. "Holodexxx s developers explain in a recent blog post, they gave up trying to sell their vision of "the future of adult entertainment" on Steam after being rejected three times in the last year.

First, Holodexxx submitted a "PG-13 experience" without nudity. In this experience, a virtual model of actor Riley Reid "performs a sensual dance" while videos of other scanned models dancing play in the background. This was rejected with the "canned explanation that video pornography is not allowed on Steam." Next, Holodexxx submitted "Meet Marley," which allowed users to view a naked 3D model of adult performer Marley Brinx. After this was rejected, they asked for further clarification from Valve's submission team, requesting "a brief overview of what is allowed on Steam given our content"; Valve was told that they would "make a decision when we receive the next app."

Finally, Holodexxx submitted Holodexxx Home. Believing that perhaps the problem was that "adult content on Steam requires story and gameplay," Holodexxx Home included an interactive element. Players converse with a character named Lady Euphoria, played by Marley Brinx, using a chatbot dialogue system, ultimately leading to a demonstration of Holodexxx's sexual content: "Euphoria, through a series of VR interactions She is undressed by the player and torments herself until she climaxes.

After weeks of waiting and submitting multiple help tickets, Holodexxx's latest bid was also rejected.

Earlier this year, Valve rejected an application to sell pickup artist training tool Super Seducer 3 on Steam; the Holodexxx developer said, "Our hunch is that Steam does not like the idea of nude models based on photogrammetric scans, but for their own reasons, they They do not wish to declare it."

However, games like House Party have added real people without being removed; YouTuber and model LetyDoesStuff was added to the House Party cast two years ago and is still available on Steam.

Valve has avoided nailing down or explaining its decisions regarding adult content, which has caused confusion among developers. Games like the RPG "Battlefield Whorehouse," which includes sex scenes, are sold on Steam without complaint, as are hentai puzzle games, but the virtual sex in Holodexxx clearly goes too far.

Steam's official rules and guidelines include a list of what should not be published on the storefront. A look at the same page using the Wayback Machine shows that these rules were added last year. The same page using the Wayback Machine shows that these rules were added last year. They appear in the snapshot of the November page, but the same page in October did not list any of these items, although there is a one word item, "pornography."

As the Holodexxx developer explains, "After numerous back and forths with the review team, we were unable to understand what Steam's policy was regarding 'pornography' or even how they defined pornography." The gist of it was that reviewers "know porn when they see it" and made no further attempt to define the nature of their decision-making process."[17

Holodexxx software is still available on itch. io, along with many other products recently referred to as being filled with "offensive and sexual content" by attorneys representing Apple, are products of this kind.

We have asked Valve for clarification on the Holodexxx rejection and will update if we receive a reply.