Itch.io Enacts New Marketplace Policy to Restrict Adult Games

This week, the indie video game platform Itch.io announced that it has “deindexed” adult and not-safe-for-work games, effectively removing them from its browsing and search features.

This decision, as stated by the company, stems from a campaign led by Collective Shout (an advocacy group known for examining video games, rap music, and lingerie ads) directed at both Itch.io and Steam concerning the sale of “No Mercy,” a game that depicts rape and incest.

In an open letter to executives at PayPal, Mastercard, Visa, and other payment processors, Collective Shout argued that games “promoting men’s sexualized abuse and torture of women and girls contradict efforts to combat violence against women.”

“Facilitating payment transactions and profiting from these violent and unethical games seems at odds with your corporate values and mission statements,” the group added.

The campaign seems to have influenced actions, with Steam announcing earlier this month that it would ban games that “potentially violate the rules and standards set by Steam’s payment processors and associated card networks and banks or internet providers.”

Similarly, Itch.io commented, “To continue operating and supporting developers, we must prioritize our relationship with our payment partners and take immediate compliance actions.”

They also noted that “No Mercy” had been “temporarily available on Itch.io prior to its ban in April,” and that “the situation escalated rapidly,” prompting the company to “act quickly to protect the platform’s core payment infrastructure,” without prior notice to creators.

The company is now conducting a “comprehensive audit” to ensure that all games listed on the marketplace comply with “the requirements of our payment processors,” with adult content remaining deindexed until the audit is complete. After the audit, creators of NSFW games will need to confirm that their content adheres to the policies of their payment processors linked to their accounts.

On social media, users criticizing Itch.io’s decision highlighted that the current terms state that adult content violations are “permanent with no opportunity for appeal” and that any funds in an offending account “will not be eligible for payout.” As noted by one developer, “If you violate the rules, we take all your money. Not just the money from that work, ALL your money from EVERYTHING you’ve ever made.”

This isn’t the first time payment companies have seemingly pressured online platforms regarding adult content; for instance, last year Gumroad cited restrictions from payment processors when it tightened its NSFW art policies, and OnlyFans also referred to “banking partners and payment providers” when it banned explicit content (a decision it later reversed).

A Change.org petition with over 137,000 verified signatures criticizes Mastercard and Visa for their role in these decisions. Among other requests, the petition urges the payment companies to “cease censoring legal fictional content that adheres to the law and platform standards” and to “resist influence from activist groups that incite moral panic or misrepresent fiction as harmful.”