Japanese indie developer Nupuryu just ran into a frustrating wall. Rakuten Bank refused to accept an international payment from the overseas publisher of their game Ruins Seeker — and refused to say why.
The money was coming from Kagura Games, the U.S. publisher handling the international Steam version of the title. Nupuryu went to the bank, submitted the publishing contract, and still got turned down. The official reply was basically: “We’ve decided we can’t accept this transfer. We can’t tell you the reason. The money will be sent back.”
Nupuryu’s take is pretty straightforward. They think Rakuten Bank is simply not interested in handling overseas transfers connected to R18 games. They’re calling it another example of the growing “debanking” problem that adult game creators in Japan keep running into.
This isn’t an isolated case either. Earlier this year other developers reported similar issues. One had a bank reject revenue even from an all-ages Steam version of their game after looking into the content. Another said overseas payments for their adult titles were blocked despite providing paperwork showing everything was legal. Different banks, same pattern.
The bigger picture is that adult content creators in Japan have been dealing with more and more friction from payment processors, storefronts, and now banks. Legal businesses are finding themselves locked out of basic financial services without clear explanations or a real way to appeal.
Nupuryu says they plan to keep documenting what happens next. For now, the money is being returned to the sender, and the developer is left without answers — just another reminder that making adult games in Japan can come with invisible barriers that have nothing to do with the law.