All NSFW games on Itch are now hidden by default.

[Derek in a Bush]

Dude. Do you not know how to read? That was not implied nor explicated. Holy fucking shit.

• Itch had rules for 10+ years.
• During those 10+ years they did not enforce them, for whatever reason.
• When Patreon decided to enforce their rules 8 years ago, adult game developers who wanted to use content Patreon didn't allow found that while Itch had similar rules, it wasn't enforcing them.
• They went to places including Itch, Subscribestar, and Steam.
• All three of which have similar rules or use similar/same payment processors who have those rules. Rules for how and who they want to do business with. Rules, whether you agree with what they choose or not, that are legal and they have the right to be able to use. Just like developers have the right to put whatever they want into their games.
• Again, the developers knew that Itch, Subscribestar, and Steam had similar rules and/or similar/same processors - but went there anyway, agreeing with the creator terms of those sites that their content would not violate the rules.
• And they posted content that broke the rules anyway.
• And they got away with it for years.
• Then, yes, someone (or several someones) reminded Itch and Steam of their rules and that they should enforce their rules. Payment Processors agreed - especially when Itch and Steam agreed to follow the rules of their contract with the payment processors and so the processors were enforcing their own rules, as well.
• Now, everything is coming to a head because:
  • companies didn't enforce their own rules, for whatever reason
  • developers knowingly posted content against the rules, because they knew they weren't being enforced

And now everyone is bitching about it because they got caught. It was going to come crashing down sooner or later. We've been talking about this day for YEARS on this site between developers, fans, and randos. We all knew it would come. But at the same time, developers mostly kept pushing their worry about it down the line.

Look - again, I am not saying I agree or disagree with what payment processors choose to accept or not for business transactions. But they do have the right to do so as long as what they choose to accept or not is a legal decision. And it is - it's within the law. It's legal.

Now, People can whine, cry, complain, bitch all they want on this site --- but that ain't going to do shit to change what people may consider is legal, but at the same time the same people thinking it is wrong to do.

And in this political climate where heads of state are getting shows cancelled and removing funding for public broadcasting and advocating on social media to pull licenses of commercial broadcasting corporations simply because they don't like what they say about their administrations and their dealings --- it's going to be awfully tough to get anything changed regarding porn and adult games with payment processors. Porn and sex are political third-rails.

You want to fight it? Good. Do it. But know it's not going to change overnight. It's going to take many years....

And worse than someone being an opponent of this kind of movement (which, I am NOT an opponent) - is someone who is completely misinformed, misguided, mistaken (or all three) intentionally or innocently who puts forth bullshit. Because the opponent will eat that shit for breakfast and use it against the entire movement, undermining any shred of credibility it may have.

It will go from a free speech/privacy/anti-trust movement to one presented to the public as a bunch of pedophiles and perverts trying to make porn more available for kids (they're putting PORN IN VIDEO GAMES! OH NOES!) in order to groom them for their own purposes. Payment processors have lobbyists. They have MILLIONS to spend on ads for people to watch pre-roll on YouTube and other sites - they will control the messaging against you. So yes --- know your shit, make sure you cover your ass, and make sure you are on message. Make sure you are honest about the history, where it stands, why it is important (for more than just being able to goon/coom to your favorite content) ... and most of all, make sure you have all the facts and your ducks in a row before you go off half-cocked and blow any chance of advancement for progress because you couldn't keep the blood rushing from your brain to your penis.

A misstep today could delay any advancement for longer than it will take summertime saga to be completed.

Great post, good read. I agree with most what you said, keep in mind that these censorships come and go, yes this day was expected but that doesn't mean that this will endure forever. That being said i still feel for affected creators & their projects

 

[Count Morado]

Those "rules" did not exist, until last few years, agreements are changing monthly, they changed everything once again like they do this every few months.

You are wrong.

I have posted screenshots in this thread and others.
Yes, this has been on Itch for at least 2 years (and only updated after they deindexed games this month) - to emphasize which was already not allowed due to payment processor rules:

And the rule about abiding by payment processor rules has been in place since at least September 2015:

And it's been known since at least 2017, if not since 2015, about what things payment processors do not allow their services to be used for when it comes to adult content. It's one of the reasons why Patreon started enforcing their rules in 2017-2018 and increasing enforcement in 2023-2024 when they nixed even a couple of top-20 adult game developers for violating those rules.

And we have been talking about this shit for years... Here's a quote from me over a year ago talking about this:

The guidelines found on Patreon can also be found with similar language on Subscribestar (

You must be registered to see the links

and

You must be registered to see the links

),

You must be registered to see the links

,

You must be registered to see the links

, and more. Currently, they are just not as dedicated to enforcing their prohibitions - but that could change any day, depending upon the forces at play (government, commerce, society, etc). Simply because a site does not allow your choice of genre does not mean it is not a place for adult games. None of the sites are getting rid of all the adult games - just content which is found to be in violation of the contractual agreement between the creator of the content and the site.

And here is just one of quite a few discussions about Patreon enforcing their rules, this one from the end of 2017, that also includes discussion about what payment processors allow/disallow.

Again, I am NOT against you. I am pointing out that your misinformation is going to sink the ship you are on.

If you can't handle that in a "friendly" forum - you're fucked out in the real world.

Know your shit.
Get it together.
Be honest.
Admit past errors.
Stay on message.

As for the rest of your blather - suck it up.

 

[arkublai]

So is it +10 old rules, since 2017 that was never enforced? Oh it actualy not their rules its payment rules that was changed recently? Once again, no rules were broken, untill recently, when rules changed. I dunno why you want to portrait this instant violation of personal choice as something that was in order decade ago but never happened BECAUSE SOME MAGICAL REASONS but good luck to you. If they changed their mind so quickly and radicaly , it means that they can change it back if there will be push against it.

Yeah we got it, we just have to be silent and one day change will come, just wait another decade of censorship and black lists, fuck yourself.

 

[Specific360]

Again, I am NOT against you. I am pointing out that your misinformation is going to sink the ship you are on.

I can appreciate trying to stop misinformation, but despite being someone who says they aren't against us, you've literally done nothing but defend the other side in every post I've seen of yours in this thread.
Around 80% of all NSFW games on itch have been de-indexed and all you've been doing is trying to convince people its not that big of a deal and that the devs who got de-indexed just had it coming. Do you seriously believe that over 20,000 games actually went against their TOS?
Maybe if you acted less like a stick in the mud for the puritanical authoritarians that are behind this, people would actually take you seriously instead of smacking that ignore button the moment they get fed up with you. Change your tune dude, it had already gotten old 40 pages ago.

 

[BETiLose34]

Dude. Do you not know how to read? That was not implied nor explicated. Holy fucking shit.

You may not be correct on your stance that its the dev's fault

from itch.io tos before the change and after - "Content glorifying sexual violence is not permitted." This is what they say if you plan to upload your game to itch.

and this is what they say if you plan to monetize using the respective payment processors
" If you plan to collect money for your content, then you must adhere to the acceptable use policy of all respective payment processors that your account utilizes"

this seems to imply atleast to me that itch wouldn't ban your game aslong it doesn't glorify sexual violence. While atm I can't seem to find a list of which games are actually banned and which are delisted it will be interesting to see what they qualify as "glorifying" anyway my point is they didn't really have these rules for 10 years they've had some rules that they didn't enforce and are vague like glorifying and it's 100% on them for the confusion that this has created not the dev's.....don't believe me feel free to look up company policies and why multiple sites talk about it's importance of being consistent and being clear with policies and how failure to do so will create confusion and distrust among the employees.

The sad part that I sadly do have to agree with is that itch is an american company which means it's "at-will" employment and even though the devs arn't employeed I imagine they too will be under the same rules which allow itch to terminate employement without cause. So even though I disagree with you that it's the dev's fault itch for sure can just decide to terminate any connection they have with whatever devs they want.

as for what visa and mastercard doing not being illegal you again might not be correct here...

anti trust laws - They protect consumer rights by ensuring that no single supplier can dictate prices or conditions

"Duopolies can limit consumer choice by controlling the market and potentially engaging in practices like collusion, which can lead to higher prices and fewer options. However, such actions may violate antitrust laws designed to promote competition and protect consumer interests."

and also Andrew Ferguson, the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission is implementing a new approach to antitrust enforcement known as "MAGA antitrust" Chair Ferguson and AAG Slater have articulated a guiding antitrust enforcement philosophy that considers the threat that Big Monopoly poses to competition, free markets, and “individual liberty” to be on par with the perceived dangers wrought by Big Government. While I won't hold my breath that republicians would stand up for porn it's possible that in their pursuit to go after monopolies like google and meta they might also open up arguements on how payment processors have hurt a part of the free market aka porn and that their complete blockage of access to porn is restricting individual liberty....like I said im not gonna hold my breath

but you saying they have every right to do what they are doing isn't completely right because it can easily be argued that what they are doing is anti-trust by nature as others have pointed out already. Atm the government is staying quiet on this issue which we all knew they would and sadly I havn't seen any big challanges against what they are doing so whether or not they are abusing anti-trust or not may not be decided on for years to come if even at all.

But as you would say the law already states the rules duopolies need to follow and even if they arn't enforcing it on the payment proccessors currently it doesn't mean they won't

 

[taiki_wata]

I can appreciate trying to stop misinformation, but despite being someone who says they aren't against us, you've literally done nothing but defend the other side in every post I've seen of yours in this thread.
Around 80% of all NSFW games on itch have been de-indexed and all you've been doing is trying to convince people its not that big of a deal and that the devs who got de-indexed just had it coming. Do you seriously believe that over 20,000 games actually went against their TOS?
Maybe if you acted less like a stick in the mud for the puritanical authoritarians that are behind this, people would actually take you seriously instead of smacking that ignore button the moment they get fed up with you. Change your tune dude, it had already gotten old 40 pages ago.

I'll answer you!

De-index isn't shadowban. If it's shadowban, it's not a big deal. If it is a big deal, it's the dev's fault. These games should have been sha- I mean de-indexed since 2017 if not 2015. You're actually making the situation worse somehow by saying it's payment processors' fault. I'm so right and you're so wrong. Stop spreading misinformation!

 

[Wyrtt1]

Uk already passed a law that require ID for internet and censors political news. USA has similiar bill and Australia is passing same one as UK right now.
They are all doing it as same time. You still think its just about gooner games and Visa?

 

[DarkEnchanter]

I'll answer you!

De-index isn't shadowban. If it's shadowban, it's not a big deal. If it is a big deal, it's the dev's fault. These games should have been sha- I mean de-indexed since 2017 if not 2015. You're actually making the situation worse somehow by saying it's payment processors' fault. I'm so right and you're so wrong. Stop spreading misinformation!

There is another reason it is not shadowban (at least not with all games) which is that games which used the incest-tag on Itch.io (it does not matter if this tag was used elsewhere) got fully suspended.

Even on the developer´s sub-website these games have gone almost completely, you can notice it because even the thumbnail-picture was deleted.

So it is an open ban (shadowban = secret ban), at least for some games.

Example: the game "Therapy" https://f95zone.to/threads/therapy-part-6-1-roxorxl.169555/ which is a very nice game in my opinion, not mind-shattering extrem IMO.

On itch.io you get this -->

You must be registered to see the links

only because the developer made the mistake using an "evil" tag.

 

[Count Morado]

Around 80% of all NSFW games on itch have been de-indexed and all you've been doing is trying to convince people its not that big of a deal and that the devs who got de-indexed just had it coming. Do you seriously believe that over 20,000 games actually went against their TOS?

No, and I never said they went against TOS. In the post you replied to, I only stated that the current rules got updated AFTER they deindexed games. I never said anything more - nor implied what you are saying.

However, in the past I have said:

Spoiler: Several exact quotes

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

To be clear - this is what I have stated, implied, explicated, etc:

As Itch

You must be registered to see the links

(after the fact) - they deindexed ALL adult games while they are being reviewed. They didn't say they all broke TOS. They need to be reviewed. Once the games are reviewed, the ones that do not violate TOS will be reindexed ---

We have “deindexed” all adult NSFW content from our browse and search pages.... The situation developed rapidly, and we had to act urgently to protect the platform’s core payment infrastructure. Unfortunately, this meant it was not realistic to provide creators with advance notice before making this change. We know this is not ideal, and we apologize for the abruptness of this change. We are currently conducting a comprehensive audit of content to ensure we can meet the requirements of our payment processors. Pages will remain deindexed as we complete our review. Once this review is complete, we will introduce new compliance measures. For NSFW pages, this will include a new step where creators must confirm that their content is allowable under the policies of the respective payment processors linked to their account.

I hope this clears it up.

(it won't - there will still be people who will twist what I am saying, but Hey, that's life, right?)​

--------------------------------------------------------

Example: the game "Therapy" https://f95zone.to/threads/therapy-part-6-1-roxorxl.169555/ which is a very nice game in my opinion, not mind-shattering extrem IMO.

On itch.io you get this -->

You must be registered to see the links

only because the developer made the mistake using an "evil" tag.

No, that game was removed for the following three reasons:

Not just "incest", but also "rape" and "sleep sex" (which is nonconsensual sex)

It doesn't have to be "mind-shattering extreme" just in violation. Also, "mind control" depending upon the situation is also nonconsensual. If it has to do with sex, that is a fourth reason.

 

[DarkEnchanter]

Yeah, and what can we learn from it? Don´t use such tags on Itch.io, it only gets you attention you don´t want.

There are still games active on Itch.io which have "incest", "rape" and others inside the games, but the developers were cautious/prudent enough not to use these tags on Itch.io, so Itch.io knows nothing of it.

It therefore proves that Itch.io only look at the tags on their own platform, because they don´t have the time to personally play every game from start to end to look for themselves what is inside of each game, and also no time to look at the tags for each game at several other websites.

 

[Insanatee]

Paypal just announced they're now accepting crypto. What a coincidence!

 

[DarkEnchanter]

Paypal just announced they're now accepting crypto. What a coincidence!

Does that mean they will be able to put their censorship on games buyed with crypto-payments in the near future as well?

 

[Anteron]

I had thought a good idea would be if someone would start something like those sites, but for adult games. And have it blocked in Australia - between these cunts and the government there thinking pixels are people. People have been arrested there for a t shirt of Bart and Lisa Simpson fucking.

 

[Count Morado]

Does that mean they will be able to put their censorship on games buyed with crypto-payments in the near future as well?

PayPal's rules won't change. If you want to use crypto through PayPal, you'll still need to follow their rules.

 

[beerpig]

Do I read correctly that the people behind CollectiveShout were offended by some game, and instead of taking it up with the developer, decided to ruin the lives of thousands of people who did nothing wrong?

If so, I suggest that the supporters of CollectiveShout should 'collectively' choke on a goat's penis. While their throat is burning and their eyes tearing up, they can consider the evil they did to so many people, and how they would feel if someone did that to them.

As for the people who control Payment Processing companies, I don't believe they are redeemable. They sooner they keel over, the better for the rest of the human race. Of course, the system that led to this situation in the first place needs to be reformed as well so the next bully doesn't just step up.

Kind of.
The game in question (No Mercy) is just an excuse to crusade against porn. Their real motivations is dumb religious shit.
Full agree about the payment processing companies.

 

[Detective Cancer]

Kind of.
The game in question (No Mercy) is just an excuse to crusade against porn. Their real motivations is dumb religious shit.
Full agree about the payment processing companies.

Right now we have Mouthwashing, one of the best most interesting games on itch and Steam delisted because it contains allusions to sexual assault. It is never seen, only implied, the game is about the person who did it and the kind of manipulative and fucked up things they do justified with "I can fix it." It's a dive into their head and the heads of the people around them as they deal with horrible circumstances. It's treated seriously and with respect through the lens of a "horror" game. *Corrected below.
As always it starts with porn because "who's gonna defend gooners lol?" but now we have the UK on full Orwellian mode with no plans to repeal the act that allows them to censor and hide protests. The activists are just useful idiots, and religious zealots are always useful. By the time they realise they can also be in the firing line it's too late. What surprises me is how quickly the world is devolving into surveillance states globally. Ironically, these people may be Jimmy themselves. Ruining lives and then dismissing it as "for the greater good."

 

[prpa]

Right now we have Mouthwashing, one of the best most interesting games on itch and Steam delisted because it contains allusions to sexual assault. It is never seen, only implied, the game is about the person who did it and the kind of manipulative and fucked up things they do justified with "I can fix it." It's a dive into their head and the heads of the people around them as they deal with horrible circumstances. It's treated seriously and with respect through the lens of a "horror" game.
As always it starts with porn because "who's gonna defend gooners lol?" but now we have the UK on full Orwellian mode with no plans to repeal the act that allows them to censor and hide protests. The activists are just useful idiots, and religious zealots are always useful. By the time they realise they can also be in the firing line it's too late. What surprises me is how quickly the world is devolving into surveillance states globally. Ironically, these people may be Jimmy themselves. Ruining lives and then dismissing it as "for the greater good."

I'm completely against all forms of censorship, but the information about Mouthwashing is totally wrong, even I fell for it.

 

[Detective Cancer]

I'm completely against all forms of censorship, but the information about Mouthwashing is totally wrong, even I fell for it.

I stand corrected, then.
I shall cross that out on my post just in case.

 

[beerpig]

As always it starts with porn because "who's gonna defend gooners lol?"

Yup. It exploits how short-sighted most people are: they always support censorship mechanisms that are going to be used against them, as long as the first target of those mechanisms is something they consider immoral. And since a lot of people have superstitious/religious/folkloric issues with porn...

 

[imgurrrr]

the latest updates section seems to have less and less updates recently, does the nsfw ban have anything to do with that ?