All adult titles have been completely "deindexed" from itch.io. All impacted games no longer show up when browsing the storefront or in search results on the itch.io website.
According to some estimates, this deindexing resulted in the loss of over 20,000 different games on the storefront. In addition to no longer appearing on the site, users report that games they paid for in the past are now no longer able to be downloaded.
This extremely sudden change at itch.io comes from equally sudden pressure from the storefront's various payment processors. Itch.io issued a statement about the change to NSFW content on the site.
We have “deindexed” all adult NSFW content from our browse and search pages. We understand this action is sudden and disruptive, and we are truly sorry for the frustration and confusion caused by this change.
Recently, we came under scrutiny from our payment processors regarding the nature of some content hosted on itch.io. Due to a game titled No Mercy, which was temporarily available on itch.io before being banned back in April, the organization Collective Shout launched a campaign against Steam and itch.io, directing concerns to our payment processors about the nature of certain content found on both platforms.
Our ability to process payments is critical for every creator on our platform. To ensure that we can continue to operate and provide a marketplace for all developers, we must prioritize our relationship with our payment partners and take immediate steps towards compliance.
This is a time critical moment for itch.io. 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.
Part of this review will see some pages being permanently removed from itch.io. Affected accounts will be notified via their account’s email address from our support address. You can reply to that email if you have any follow up questions.
We ask for your patience and understanding as we navigate this challenging period. I’m sorry we can not share more at this time as we are still getting a full understanding of the situation ourselves. We will post a follow up on our blog if the situation changes.
Thank you.
Recently, we came under scrutiny from our payment processors regarding the nature of some content hosted on itch.io. Due to a game titled No Mercy, which was temporarily available on itch.io before being banned back in April, the organization Collective Shout launched a campaign against Steam and itch.io, directing concerns to our payment processors about the nature of certain content found on both platforms.
Our ability to process payments is critical for every creator on our platform. To ensure that we can continue to operate and provide a marketplace for all developers, we must prioritize our relationship with our payment partners and take immediate steps towards compliance.
This is a time critical moment for itch.io. 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.
Part of this review will see some pages being permanently removed from itch.io. Affected accounts will be notified via their account’s email address from our support address. You can reply to that email if you have any follow up questions.
We ask for your patience and understanding as we navigate this challenging period. I’m sorry we can not share more at this time as we are still getting a full understanding of the situation ourselves. We will post a follow up on our blog if the situation changes.
Thank you.
Oh, sorry. I meant to say that Valve had to remove several adult titles after the anti-porn harassment group in training, Collective Shout, lied to payment processors about the content included in the impacted adult titles in order to get the games they morally objected to removed from Steam.
Unlike when the adult titles were removed from Steam, Collective Shout have yet to publicly boast that today's deindexing from itch.io was a result of their actions. However as itch.io points out, the group targeted both Steam and itch.io in the letters that were sent to payment processors earlier this month and the timing of events points a pretty damning finger at Collective Shout.
It is assumed that the group, whose logo can be viewed as a minimalist version of an asshole, used the same tactics against itch.io that they used against Steam. That is to say, they sent multiple letters full of outright lies to payment processors about the content and subject matter contained in the adult titles that were for sale. Those payment processors then, in turn, applied pressure on the storefronts to remove the games from sale or lose their accounts.
K-16 They'll probably expand their scope on what games they go after. They already target games that are labeled as adult, NSFW, and those that also include LGBTQIA+ tags as it is. They lie and say that the games they target include things like child abuse. The payment processors aren't going to verify or fact check anything.
So once that happens, they'll start going after any game that includes nudity or sex, even if it's not the main focus of the game. This means they can then try to get games removed from Epic, GOG, PlayStation, Xbox, etc. (in addition to more removed from Steam), storefronts that don't typically allow "adult only" games but do allow games that include sex and nudity to lesser degrees.
Damn.
This is presumably their old policy as it certainly is not the one they currently follow, but even if they were to backtrack due to backlash (which would be entirely vocal as its virtually impossible for their finances to be affected thanks to the duopoly) they've already caused serious financial damage to legal businesses, the law still needs to change to prevent this happening again.