I don't think so.
Adult entertainment is a huge, HUGE industry, and has been for quite a long time. I don't know the exact numbers, but it's safe to say it's a significant chunk of revenue.
Now, logically, why would *any* company, willingly give up a revenue stream? My conclusion is that a bigger revenue stream is being threatened. And "coincidentally" we have this sudden, laser focused interest from governments in protecting the children, right after Gislaine Maxwell was interviewed by the DOJ.
I'm just pointing to the dog that is not barking, and that is a pretty big dog.
You don't know the exact numbers - but many of them are out there for you to look before you make wild claims. 5 minutes of research:
The entire adult industry is estimated at around
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to
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annually. Funding platforms get 5%-30% of that. Payment processors get a small fee per transaction of that. Credit Card companies get a few percentage points of that.
The adult gaming industry - the things that are getting banned/retired/reviewed -- aren't even 1% of the entire adult industry revenue / 1% pf the entire gaming industry. Estimated
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. That means credit card companies are putting their multi-trillion dollar business at risk - from their stockholders, customers, gov't regulators, etc - for maybe a hundred thousand dollars or a little more from the games in question if they don't enforce some of their own rules about what content they will or will not accept. For Payment Processors such as PayPal or Stripe - they would be putting their multi-billion dollar business at risk for no more than several hundred thousand, if that..
And Steam and itch would be risking over
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dollars of revenue for themselves and the other 99%+ of games hosted on their sites if they sided with the games in question over the credit card companies and payment processors - risking about $3-4 billion of their own share of sales for maybe a couple of million of dollars at most. They both have the most to lose - both in $$$$ and in losing the ability to process payments depending upon which side they choose. But again, that's less than 1% of their revenue. So guess which side they will choose.
So, no. you are incorrect.
Not all the games listed on Steam and itch are in violation of the rules. In fact, last reported only a few hundred have been removed/retired/banned so far. Even if it is a couple of thousand --- there's still tens of thousands of NSFW adult games left on Steam and itch. So they aren't putting a billion, let alone billions, on the line with these actions. Hell, it's barely a couple of million dollars no longer being received for the platforms, processors, and credit card companies.
Also none of this is sudden. It's been in play for more than a decade. Just because you haven't been paying attention doesn't mean it hasn't been happening. Look at Patreon. Look at Gumroad. Look at Pixiv. Look at dlsite. Look at PayPal. Look at Stripe. Look at "Operation Choke Point" from 2011-2014. Look at FOSTA-SESTA 2018. Look at Free Speech Coalition v. Paxon from SCOTUS. The UK OSA 2023. Hell, look at Collective Shout going after No Mercy! in May of this year....
ALLLLLLL of this is WAY before Ghislaine Maxwell's interview with the DOJ. ALLL of this was WAYYYYYYY before the current US Administration flipped their tune on Epstein.
Company decisions are based upon maximizing revenue while minimizing risk. That is where these decisions are being made. It's not a conspiracy. It's Business Econ 101.
You're stringing together pins that don't have connections.
