Steam Labels Nighthawks Adult Days Before Release, Delists It In Some Regions
The Nighthawks case shows that Valve's adult-content review can pull a store page and pause sales in some countries within days of a scheduled release, leaving the developer to argue publicly about content that the build itself describes as frequent.
Reporting from 1 source: Game Spark.
Valve classified the vampire RPG Nighthawks as an adult game days before its September 23 Steam release. Publisher Wadjet Eye Games says the game has been excluded from searches and delisted in some countries, with age verification and card entry required in some regions. Writer Richard Cobbett says the nudity is mild, and sex scenes fade out after a date. Nighthawks is also listed for GOG.com.
The classification landed while the store page was already live. In some countries the page now asks for age verification and a credit card number, and the game no longer appears in default Steam search results. Wadjet Eye Games co-developed Nighthawks with writer and designer Richard Cobbett, whose credits include Sunless Sea and Sunless Skies. The project was funded on Kickstarter in 2018.
Cobbett told PC Gamer the nudity and sexual elements are mild and mostly comedic, and that sex scenes cut away after characters go on a date. The Steam page carries a notice about frequent nudity and sexual content.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.