Itch.io is the latest store site that limits the sale of adult content and “NSFW” on its platform due to the pressure of payment processors such as Visa and Mastercard. From Thursday, the focused platform has indexed content for adults so that it is no longer evident or searched on the site. Some pages for adult games will be “permanently removed from itch.io”, say the owners.
“The situation developed quickly and we had to act urgently to protect the basic platform payment infrastructure,” wrote itch.io Creator Leaf Corcoran in a blog post. “Unfortunately, this meant that before making this change it was not realistic to provide the creators in advance. We know that this is not perfect and we apologize for insisting this change.”
The itch.io movement appears on a vast platform of games on PC Steam, it also began repression with erotic games that caused the removal of hundreds of titles. The valve representative tells Polygon that Steam introduced these changes due to payment processors, and the company was fulfilled because “the loss of payment methods would prevent customers from other titles and the content of the game on Steam.” Itch.io similarly stated in his announcement that although the decision to stop selling adult games is sudden, she quickly passed to “protect the basic platform payment infrastructure.”
Currently, Itch.io undergoes a comprehensive audit to examine potentially offensive games to make sure that they meet the requirements specified by payment processors. Neither Valve nor ITCH.IO made any details about what exactly these requirements are – and the lack of clarity turned out to be controversial for both game and fans creators. In the future, NSFW game developers will have to confirm that their games follow the vaguely defined means of compliance with the payment processor before they can sell games on the platform.
In social mediaThe problem of adult games has become corrosive, because observers are afraid of potential long -term consequences of allowing the third to dictate what is and is not acceptable on the platform. Outraged also spilled over the knowledge that many of these games removal are happening because of a campaign imposed by a conservative Australian group Collective scream. In April, Collective wrote an open letter for payment processors, claiming that platforms such as Steam “derive profits from rape games, incestness + use of children.” The letter lists a number of management staff of these companies by name and title.
The main argument of Collective Shout against the sale of games with topics for adults is the existence of a game entitled Without mercywhich allowed players to assault sexually because they consider it appropriate. However, Without mercy He was pulled out of the pair The day before writing an open letter. While some games affect the topics listed in the open letter, many games are not – but games influenced the same.
For some, the sale of games with distasteful items does not seem to be a hill that is worth dying. In this case, the sensation is powered by the knowledge that collective shouts are not only against games Without mercy. It also conducted a campaign against such titles Detroit: become humanQuantic Dream adventure game, which is definitely not a game of “adults”, and titles such as hentai puzzle/dating Hunypop. He is worried that through pressure on groups such as the Collective Shout platforms such as Steam will pave the way for more extreme censorship.
“These are very fucking slippery slopes and a very fast slope for the right -wing religious group, which goes from” without sex games “to” without games with any LGBTQ+topics, ” Reads one Reddit commentary on controversy. The slippery argument caught the trailers showed contempt for games like Grand Theft Auto 5Which, although controversial, is not comparable to the game designed only for the purpose of simulation of the assault. Observers are afraid that the group will go to other purposes, which simply contain sex in one form or another after a successful lobby against focused games primarily on sex.
Another aspect that added fuel to the fire is that platforms such as Steam and Itch.io, which removed content for adults, already had consequences outside the field of shop windows. Vice Gaming Pionintical Waypoint included this topic at the beginning of this week, just to see his article about Collective Shout pulled by the management. The author of the original article, along with a handful of other freelancers, gave up rebellion.
Elsewhere, players begin to mobilize against a collective scream. Attention to the bill is paid This proposes a limitation in which payment processors can interfere with business decisions based on political or reputational problems. Fans call for others to contact representatives of the local government to express their fears. Petition against payment processors has collected 48,000 votes at change.And there are incorrect discussions about the start of movement, just like this will stop killing games.
Whether these activities will be important in the sale of adult games is unclear, but discussions on this subject have brought an existential return. Platforms such as Itch.io were celebrated because of their willingness to sell games that could not exist on other store sites, and adult games creators were one of the platform’s greatest masters. Immediate giving parties with sick intentions weakened the value of good will of these platforms, if it has not broken the illusion that the computer is an emancipated space compared to a more button landscape of consoles. For others, pressure from payment processors is discouraged from their identity.
The creator of Itch.io says that in the future he will share additional information about what is allowed on the platform. For now, however, he apologizes for this return of events.
“I’m sorry that we can’t share more at the moment because we still understand the situation ourselves,” he wrote.
