After similar pressure was placed on Steam just last week, another storefront, Itch.io, has followed suit and culled the vast majority of its adult and sexual content. It cites the efforts of the organization Collective Shout, the same group that also went after Steam, as the primary reason for the removal of said games.
Rumblings of these removals picked up late on July 23, when creators started noticing that games with NSFW tags had been "shadowbanned" on the platform, while some others noted that their games had been entirely pulled. In the early hours of July 24, Itch.io shared a statement confirming the removals and clarifying the circumstances that led to the sweeping changes.
The statement begins, "We have 'deindexed' all adult NSFW content from our browse and search pages. We understand this action is sudden and disruptive, and we are truly sorry for the frustration and confusion caused by this change."
It continues, "Recently, we came under scrutiny from our payment processors regarding the nature of some content hosted in Itch.io. Due to a game titled No Mercy, which was temporarily available on Itch.io before being banned back in April, the organization Collective Shout launched a campaign against Steam and Itch.io, directing concerns to our payment processors about the nature of certain content found on both platforms."
In both situations, Collective Shout seemingly organized against the storefronts by pressuring their payment processors. Earlier this month, the group penned an open letter to these companies accusing them of selling games with sexual-abuse material for profit.
Itch.io's statement suggests that the "situation developed rapidly" and that the company could not realistically have provided advanced notice to affected creators. It also goes on to say that the company is undergoing a "comprehensive audit of content" to make sure that the content on the store is in compliance with terms that will now be set by its payment processors. Moving forward, the pages that had been "deindexed" will remain as such throughout this audit and all future content tagged as NSFW on the platform will have to undergo further verification.
These changes come as a blow to Itch.io, which has developed a positive reputation among independent developers in recent years as a bastion for adult and queer content including games and zines. Additionally, the platform has famously implemented a "pay what you want" model that has enabled creators to make more profit and raise money for charity and humanitarian work.
In response to Itch.io's sweeping changes though, many of its creators and loudest proponents are currently scrambling and weighing their futures on the platform, as well as organizing against payment processors to push back on bans they feel are unfairly broad.
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Rumblings of these removals picked up late on July 23, when creators started noticing that games with NSFW tags had been "shadowbanned" on the platform, while some others noted that their games had been entirely pulled. In the early hours of July 24, Itch.io shared a statement confirming the removals and clarifying the circumstances that led to the sweeping changes.
The statement begins, "We have 'deindexed' all adult NSFW content from our browse and search pages. We understand this action is sudden and disruptive, and we are truly sorry for the frustration and confusion caused by this change."
It continues, "Recently, we came under scrutiny from our payment processors regarding the nature of some content hosted in Itch.io. Due to a game titled No Mercy, which was temporarily available on Itch.io before being banned back in April, the organization Collective Shout launched a campaign against Steam and Itch.io, directing concerns to our payment processors about the nature of certain content found on both platforms."
In both situations, Collective Shout seemingly organized against the storefronts by pressuring their payment processors. Earlier this month, the group penned an open letter to these companies accusing them of selling games with sexual-abuse material for profit.
Itch.io's statement suggests that the "situation developed rapidly" and that the company could not realistically have provided advanced notice to affected creators. It also goes on to say that the company is undergoing a "comprehensive audit of content" to make sure that the content on the store is in compliance with terms that will now be set by its payment processors. Moving forward, the pages that had been "deindexed" will remain as such throughout this audit and all future content tagged as NSFW on the platform will have to undergo further verification.
These changes come as a blow to Itch.io, which has developed a positive reputation among independent developers in recent years as a bastion for adult and queer content including games and zines. Additionally, the platform has famously implemented a "pay what you want" model that has enabled creators to make more profit and raise money for charity and humanitarian work.
In response to Itch.io's sweeping changes though, many of its creators and loudest proponents are currently scrambling and weighing their futures on the platform, as well as organizing against payment processors to push back on bans they feel are unfairly broad.
Source