Valve will no longer remove games from its Steam game marketplace unless they are “illegal, or straight up trolling,” according to a statement from the Bellevue, Wash.-based gaming company posted today.

The announcement comes a week after Valve removed a controversial game that simulated school shootings, following a nationwide outcry to ban the title. Last month it also issued warnings to developers about adult content in games.

In its blog post, Valve executive Erik Johnson writes that “Valve shouldn’t be the ones deciding this.”

“If you’re a player, we shouldn’t be choosing for you what content you can or can’t buy,” it reads. “If you’re a developer, we shouldn’t be choosing what content you’re allowed to create. Those choices should be yours to make. Our role should be to provide systems and tools to support your efforts to make these choices for yourself, and to help you do it in a way that makes you feel comfortable.”

Valve said it will create tools to let users “override our recommendation algorithms and hide games containing the topics you’re not interested in.”

“And it’s not just players that need better tools either - developers who build controversial content shouldn’t have to deal with harassment because their game exists, and we’ll be building tools and options to support them too,” Johnson wrote.

geekwire.com