Release planning after Itch.io changes – looking for dev strategies

[Chronoromancer]

Hello, I am kind of new to F95zone, I'm started to get acquainted here now that the game I've been working on for months is almost ready to be released. There are a lot of forums to sift through here, and I’ve been following the recent discussions about Itch.io / Steam / processor changes. What I haven’t really seen much of are current release strategies from devs who are launching right now. My game is almost ready for release, and this news came just as I’m planning where/how to launch. I feel a bit blindsided — I’ve spent a long time building this project, and I don’t want to make a misstep with platforms or payments when it goes live.

So I wanted to ask:

• For devs who released in the past few months, where did you go?
• Are you relying on Patreon/Subscribestar only? Using Gumroad, Pixiv, etc.?
• How are you handling discoverability/marketing if some storefronts are off the table?

I’d really value hearing practical or firsthand experiences from people navigating release strategy right now. Is marketing here enough?

Thanks in advance — I think this is something a lot of us in the dev community are trying to figure out.

 

[anne O'nymous]

[...] I’ve been following the recent discussions about Itch.io / Steam / processor changes.

Therefore, you know that, as long as your game do not contain bestiality, incest, loli or none consensual sex, you can release it there, and that, anyway, if it contain one of those, you can't release it anywhere else since even SubscribeStar ban this content (yet they don't actively goes against banned content... for far).

And it happen that knowing this is all there's to know.

 

[Chronoromancer]

Ya .. my game isnt like that. But, nonetheless, every decision I make now, has me worry about that stuff. I mean, part of the game is a fantasy themed, RPG NSFW game, and I had sequences like a naked fairy chained up by an evil demon - likely wanting to do bad things to her - and of course, as the hero, the player can run in and rescue etc ... So..now what.. my NSFW game needs a clothed fairy and the demon feeding her tea and biscuits ? And the reality is .. because the lines are so vague, and seem now to be defined by a group of feminists ... it taints everything.
My game isn't 'THAT' kind of game, even though i dont have a problem with it. it is a very rich, story driven game. But, I did go back through the game, and soften everything. It really was sad, but I dont want the risk it. But it doesn't change my question really.
Is what you are saying, I do the same things as before . put it on Itch.io for free, run Patreon / Subscribe star.. and try hard to market it where I can?

 

[uwuwoof]

• For devs who released in the past few months, where did you go?

For full release: Steam. But with prior wishlist gathering. For "In-Development" release: Itch.

• Are you relying on Patreon/Subscribestar only? Using Gumroad, Pixiv, etc.?

Yes, Patreon/SS is the best choice when you are currently developing a game and need support.

• How are you handling discoverability/marketing if some storefronts are off the table?

Itch and regular updates. "No payment" option gets you indexed.

Therefore, you know that, as long as your game do not contain bestiality, incest, loli or none consensual sex, you can release it there, and that, anyway, if it contain one of those, you can't release it anywhere else since even SubscribeStar ban this content (yet they don't actively goes against banned content... for far).

I personally suggest to not mind the TOS. Everyone writes it down there for the payment processors. Just don't promote the more spicy things obviously and consider the current ban likelihood.

Patreon: Low
Steam: Very low
Itch: Extremely Low
SS: Extremely Super Duper Low

But it is more complicated then that. Realistic looking stuff made in DAZ for example is more likely to get banned when they break the TOS on Patreon then anime themed rpg's.

 

[Chronoromancer]

Thank you. That is what I thought.. but it is nice to have some confirmation from others on here. I appreciate it!

 

[Goeffel]

I'm in agood mood, so here some free advice:

and seem now to be defined by a group of feminists

Stop spilling your political agenda/ignorance around where you publish your game. You only insta-lose potential customers who read this.

feminists have NOTHING to do with this. Even if they wanted, they really have other & more pressing things on hands.

good luck anyways

 

[Chronoromancer]

This site itself seems full of political views… so I don’t see much point in pretending games exist outside of that. If someone doesn’t like what I have to say, they probably won’t enjoy my game either.

As for the influence part, you’re free to disagree — but I personally feel it has shaped what many of us creators deal with, and it’s affected me profoundly.

Thanks for the advice, though — I do appreciate you taking the time.

 

[Count Morado]

Thank you. That is what I thought.. but it is nice to have some confirmation from others on here. I appreciate it!

You took the word of an absolutely new member that created an account 20 minutes before posting here who has no fucking clue what they are talking about over a person who has witnessed developers getting banned from Patreon, Subscribestar, Steam, and Itch for violating TOS... as well as games causing developers to get arrested in their countries?

Either you created that alt account to support your skewed world view bias (which would be sad, on its own) or you're the prime example of a sucker (which is even more sad).

Yeah, Good luck.

 

[Chronoromancer]

I didn’t mean to take one person’s word over another — I felt the responses were along the same lines. I do want to hear as much advice as possible, because I know I don’t have all the answers.

I’ve read stories from devs whose games were removed and never restored, even after contacting support. I was following Corrupted Kingdoms, which got banned from Patreon and then delisted on Itch, and the dev lost half their income and stopped updating. Situations like that really worry me.

That’s why I’m not taking this lightly. I’ve put a lot of time and resources into developing my game, and I want to get it right. I’ve already gone back through the narrative and reluctantly tamed scenes to try to stay within this “invisible boundary” — even though no one seems to know exactly where it is.

So all I can really do is listen to whatever advice people here are willing to share, weigh it all together, and make my own decisions from there. Overall, my sense is that this issue has a deeper impact than people are willing to admit right now. So I'm glad you are pointing it out.

 

[Count Morado]

I didn’t mean to take one person’s word over another — I felt the responses were along the same lines. I do want to hear as much advice as possible, because I know I don’t have all the answers.

I’ve read stories from devs whose games were removed and never restored, even after contacting support. I was following Corrupted Kingdoms, which got banned from Patreon and then delisted on Itch, and the dev lost half their income and stopped updating. Situations like that really worry me.

That’s why I’m not taking this lightly. I’ve put a lot of time and resources into developing my game, and I want to get it right. I’ve already gone back through the narrative and reluctantly tamed scenes to try to stay within this “invisible boundary” — even though no one seems to know exactly where it is.

So all I can really do is listen to whatever advice people here are willing to share, weigh it all together, and make my own decisions from there. Overall, my sense is that this issue has a deeper impact than people are willing to admit right now. So I'm glad you are pointing it out.

If you understand the difference between content for narrative development and content for sexual gratification - and you ask the platform about areas where you have questions BEFORE you put it into your game... and then SAVE all the correspondence in case there are issues down the line - it's not that difficult. You can even put in content which other games would get banned for --- if you aren't focused on the sexual thrill of it, but rather for lines of tension purposes and building character motivation, etc. But always be honest and upfront with the site and ask them directly.

 

[Winterfire]

Hello, I am kind of new to F95zone, I'm started to get acquainted here now that the game I've been working on for months is almost ready to be released. There are a lot of forums to sift through here, and I’ve been following the recent discussions about Itch.io / Steam / processor changes. What I haven’t really seen much of are current release strategies from devs who are launching right now. My game is almost ready for release, and this news came just as I’m planning where/how to launch. I feel a bit blindsided — I’ve spent a long time building this project, and I don’t want to make a misstep with platforms or payments when it goes live.

So I wanted to ask:

• For devs who released in the past few months, where did you go?
• Are you relying on Patreon/Subscribestar only? Using Gumroad, Pixiv, etc.?
• How are you handling discoverability/marketing if some storefronts are off the table?

I’d really value hearing practical or firsthand experiences from people navigating release strategy right now. Is marketing here enough?

Thanks in advance — I think this is something a lot of us in the dev community are trying to figure out.

You're seeing no "strategy talk" because everything is currently fine.

I'll dare guess you're not a game developer since I don't see any signs that hint you may have a game, but if you had a project you want to launch, you'll go... Everywhere. There are no specific places, you post the game everywhere that allows it.
The biggest platforms would be F95Zone, Itch.io, Newgrounds, etc.

When it comes to Itch.io, they no longer allow the sale of NSFW games (For now?) but it's not that big of a loss as they never were a really good shop imho. Many issues way before the whole censorship thingie. However, they're still amazing for visibility, and as long as you set your game to "No payment", it'll work just fine.



You can use Patreon, SS, or any other platform you want, as long as your project abides to the rules of the platform - just like it has always been. For many that want Game Development to be a job, they aim for Steam.



As for discoverability/Marketing, you handle it the same way as it has always been. Why do you think it's any different now? What do you mean storefronts are off the table? They're not. You can even wishlist my game on steam right now (Pls do, link in the signature, that'll prove my point, it's totally not a cheap advertisement )

 

[Chronoromancer]

If you understand the difference between content for narrative development and content for sexual gratification - and you ask the platform about areas where you have questions BEFORE you put it into your game... and then SAVE all the correspondence in case there are issues down the line - it's not that difficult. You can even put in content which other games would get banned for --- if you aren't focused on the sexual thrill of it, but rather for lines of tension purposes and building character motivation, etc. But always be honest and upfront with the site and ask them directly.

Thank you for the response . I guess as many NSFW games go, there is both story driven content, and sexual thrill. I can't really pretend there isn't. You do make a point, I will try reaching out to the sites in advance. I guess if sites are willing to take on these kinds of projects, I need to obey their policies - and I'm willing to of course. So what you are saying makes sense - make sure I reach out and get it right, before I share the game. thank you

 

[Chronoromancer]

You're seeing no "strategy talk" because everything is currently fine.

I'll dare guess you're not a game developer since I don't see any signs that hint you may have a game, but if you had a project you want to launch, you'll go... Everywhere. There are no specific places, you post the game everywhere that allows it.
The biggest platforms would be F95Zone, Itch.io, Newgrounds, etc.

When it comes to Itch.io, they no longer allow the sale of NSFW games (For now?) but it's not that big of a loss as they never were a really good shop imho. Many issues way before the whole censorship thingie. However, they're still amazing for visibility, and as long as you set your game to "No payment", it'll work just fine.



You can use Patreon, SS, or any other platform you want, as long as your project abides to the rules of the platform - just like it has always been. For many that want Game Development to be a job, they aim for Steam.



As for discoverability/Marketing, you handle it the same way as it has always been. Why do you think it's any different now? What do you mean storefronts are off the table? They're not. You can even wishlist my game on steam right now (Pls do, link in the signature, that'll prove my point, it's totally not a cheap advertisement )

Well, for starters, I’d say it is different now. I’m a developer with a game that’s almost ready to launch, and the discovery landscape has shifted. Four months ago, my plan was simple: release on Itch.io, set up Patreon/Subscribestar, and update regularly. That was the tried-and-true path. Then, suddenly, poof. Itch.io changed, and I realized my entire strategy needed a rethink. Until then, I didn’t even know F95Zone existed — now it’s clearly a central hub.

I checked out your game Entwined Roots on Steam and wishlisted it — looks fun! And even that gave me a new idea: maybe I should also prepare a Steam promo page, even if I wasn’t originally planning to sell there. Your “post everywhere” point makes sense, and I’m here looking for advice and perspectives to refine my own launch strategy.

As for me: I’m strong on the dev side (coding, graphics, music, design), but I know I need to step up on the marketing/social side. Honestly, that’s probably just as important as making a good game. I even asked an AI to help me throw together a basic landing page just to have something online — not perfect, but it’s proof the project exists:

You must be registered to see the links

.

Thank you for the advice .. at this point, I find everything helpful.

 

[uwuwoof]

You took the word of an absolutely new member that created an account 20 minutes before posting here who has no fucking clue

How rude.

You can even put in content which other games would get banned for --- if you aren't focused on the sexual thrill of it

Talking about no clue. It has not been that long since I read a thread in the dev-forum of F95 where someone asked Patreon if an attempted rape scene with no actual sexual visualizing is okay, and it got rejected.

my plan was simple: release on Itch.io, set up Patreon/Subscribestar, and update regularly. That was the tried-and-true path. Then, suddenly, poof. Itch.io changed, and I realized my entire strategy needed a rethink.

And why? Nothing has changed which might make this plan obsolete.

 

[Count Morado]

Talking about no clue. It has not been that long since I read a thread in the dev-forum of F95 where someone asked Patreon if an attempted rape scene with no actual sexual visualizing is okay, and it got rejected.

Okay, so you are an alt account of someone... suspicious you wouldn't just use your actual account. But hey, you do you "uwu".

Which is why -- in my full quote, which you conveniently didn't include --- I say:

If you understand the difference between content for narrative development and content for sexual gratification - and you ask the platform about areas where you have questions BEFORE you put it into your game... and then SAVE all the correspondence in case there are issues down the line - it's not that difficult.

And your example supports my quote.

As for the scene in question -- You and I don't know what was in that scene. You and I don't know how it was presented. You and I don't know the narrative and the dialogue included along with the imagery. You and I don't know jack, except for what the person supposedly said to Patreon and what they supposedly replied. If we had the chance to view it ourselves, we may agree or we may disagree, even then.

As is stated on their Guidelines page:

And that is why I say ask first because what one person may think doesn't glorify sexual violence, may to another. Or the glorification is a thread throughout the storyline - not specifically encapsulated in that scene. And when someone does get a green light - they do need to be sure to save that correspondence --- in case someone comes back later with a different response due to a report or simply doing spot-checks.

 

[Chronoromancer]

How rude.



Talking about no clue. It has not been that long since I read a thread in the dev-forum of F95 where someone asked Patreon if an attempted rape scene with no actual sexual visualizing is okay, and it got rejected.



And why? Nothing has changed which might make this plan obsolete.

Ya, these are great points. What you said about the Patreon rejection — even for a non-visual “attempted rape” scene — is exactly the kind of thing I’m trying to understand. That’s a situation that happens in movies all the time, usually with the hero stepping in, yet in games it risks getting your income stream shut down. And it 'did happen in my game too, until i removed it - to be acceptable.

For me, that’s what has changed: it’s no longer just “release on Itch + Patreon and update regularly.” Now it feels like a constant tradeoff between creativity and profit. Patreon is stricter, Itch has already kicked people off, and suddenly the safe path isn’t so safe anymore. I don’t think my game is extreme, but even small details — like a wizard’s apprentice in a skirt and socks — make me second-guess if I’ll get flagged.

And honestly, ignoring the change is scary too. Itch admitted outright they’re too small to risk pushing back against payment providers, so they folded. If we tell ourselves “nothing’s really different,” then there’s no pushback — and without pushback, the groups that want NSFW gone entirely just take the next step. That’s the slippery slope I’m worried about.

So the real question is: do we conform and sand everything down to PG-14, or do we look harder for alternative platforms where adult games can exist without moving goalposts?

 

[Winterfire]

Well, for starters, I’d say it is different now. I’m a developer with a game that’s almost ready to launch, and the discovery landscape has shifted. Four months ago, my plan was simple: release on Itch.io, set up Patreon/Subscribestar, and update regularly. That was the tried-and-true path. Then, suddenly, poof. Itch.io changed, and I realized my entire strategy needed a rethink. Until then, I didn’t even know F95Zone existed — now it’s clearly a central hub.

Average plan, and it still works. Except, aside from Itch.io, you should add newgrounds, F95Zone, etc.
In my signature, at the end of the "How to make a game" tutorial, I have a list of subreddits (around 100) which you can advertise in (although at this point the list is outdated), and Bloo's guide has other places where you can post your game: https://f95zone.to/threads/the-bloo-guide-2020-10-13.1636/

The only difference now is that Itch.io won't automatically index your project if it's your first one.
I could make a new game right now, post it on itch.io, and it'd be automatically indexed and work just like it did before... However, for a new developer, you'll have to make a ticket and they're very slow at responding, so you'll have to ping them in their discord server daily, and beg them to look at your ticket. Not ideal, I know.

 

[Chronoromancer]

Thank you!. That is very useful information.. and exactly what I was hoping to find
I think self promotion is the way to go, and these links are exactly what I need. I appreciate it. And I'm looking forward to supporting Entwined Roots when it is ready.

 

[allanl9020142]

none-the-less

Hey, man. Hope your game works out and hope you figure out a solution to your problem.

But I just wanted to point out that "nonetheless" isn't spelled like that.

 

[Chronoromancer]

Hey, man. Hope your game works out and hope you figure out a solution to your problem.

But I just wanted to point out that "nonetheless" isn't spelled like that.

edited .. apricate it