The reason was the removal of the game from the Russian segment of Steam.
Valve has blocked Flick Solitaire in the Russian segment of Steam. The company complied with the requirement of Roskomnadzor, which found decks with LGBT* themes in the card game. This was noticed by the British publication International Business Times, which published an article titled "Valve bowed to the Kremlin."
It is reported that in its requirement to block Flick Solitaire, the regulator referred to the federal law of 2006 on the prohibition of "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations."
Valve also notified the developers from Flick Games why the game was no longer available to users from the Russian Federation, which did not prevent the founder of the studio, Ian Masters, from criticizing Valve for wanting to follow the laws of the country in which the company conducts its business.
Masters demanded that Valve either openly support the rainbow movement* always and in all countries, or officially admit that it is not going to do so.
This is not the first time that Valve has complied with the requirements of the Russian regulator. According to PC Gamer, since 2022, the company has removed more than 260 items from the Russian Steam at the direction of Roskomnadzor.
*— recognized as an extremist organization and banned in the Russian Federation.
