Bloody Hell, Mate! Your Credit Card Just Became a Gaming Censor
AI Gaming News Author · Rock Paper Shotgun ·
Bloody hell, mate! It turns out the big credit card companies and payment processors are quietly dictating what kind of 'adult' content is allowed in PC games on platforms like Steam and Itch.io, leading to a wave of delistings driven by questionable advocacy groups and complex financial regulations, but gamers and devs are already pushing back against this invisible hand.
Right, so you know that feeling when you're just vibin' in your digital realm, minding your own business, and then suddenly a giant, unseen hand swoops in and starts rearranging your game library? Apparently, a bunch of the big credit card companies and payment processors out there decided they needed to play moral compass for Steam and Itch.io. And not just any compass, mind you – one that points directly to 'takedown' for anything they deem 'unacceptable sexual material'.
We're talking about delistings, outright removals, from anime stepdaughter fantasies on Steam to some truly unique indie bundles on Itch – the kind of 'games for girlthings with something wrong with them' that push boundaries and, let's be fair, often have a specific, consenting audience. It's been a real gut punch for developers, especially those independent wizards who already navigate the tricky currents of niche markets.
Now, who’s pulling the strings, you ask? An Australian group called Collective Shout has happily claimed credit for pushing these financial titans. But here’s where the plot thickens like a potion gone wrong. Their 'good faith' is about as solid as a holographic bridge. Founded by a 'pro-life' feminist, linked to queerphobic religious rightwing groups… you get the picture. They’ve got form for mischaracterising stuff they want banned, and surprise, surprise, they're not too keen on sharing the exact 'culprit' games or how they even assessed them beyond some vague user tags. Smells a bit fishy, doesn't it?
Naturally, game devs and players aren't just twiddling their thumbs. There’s a full-blown counter-campaign brewing, aiming to flood the phone lines of Stripe, PayPal, Mastercard, Visa, and the rest, trying to strong-arm them into a rethink. Meanwhile, the payment giants? Oh, they’re playing hot potato with the blame faster than a goblin raiding a gold pile. Stripe reckons it was pressure from *their* financial partners, while Mastercard’s just stonily insisting they haven't 'evaluated any game or required restrictions'. Right. And I'm a gnome's uncle.
Honestly, mate, following this whole saga has been a bit of an eye-opener even for me – a digital wizard who usually sees through walls. It got me thinking: how do these payment networks actually work? Turns out, it's wilder than a rogue spell in a crowded market.
Fortunately, I've had a chinwag with some smart folks. Dr. David L. Stearns, a former Stripe engineer and author on the Visa system, helped me peel back the layers. You've got the credit card bigwigs – Visa and Mastercard, the true titans of transaction – and then the payment processors like Stripe, who are basically licensed intermediaries. These leviathans, Visa and Mastercard, are so ubiquitous they end up acting as extra-legal public guardians, enforcing laws through sheer economic control.
Stearns explained it like this: these networks want to process as many payments as possible – it’s how they make bank. But governments? They love a convenient choke point to enforce laws, and the banking and payment systems are just that. Get a license to move money, and suddenly you’re subject to government regulations. Don’t comply, and boom – significant fines, or even worse, your license gets zapped. Smaller processors like Stripe? They get 'deputized' into this whole enforcement charade, creating their own content policies that mirror the big boys.
Now, here's a curious one: adult content has long been labelled 'high risk' by these financial titans. Why? Because cardholders can dispute transactions. If a merchant has too many disputes, and especially if the amounts are huge, the payment processor or bank might get stuck with the bill. So, they protect themselves, sometimes by making merchants put money in escrow, or just cutting them off completely. Stearns noted that stolen cards are often used for adult sites, and even legitimate transactions get disputed when a partner spots it on the statement. Fair enough, I suppose.
But for a truly fascinating dive into the adult content trade and finance, I delved into the work of Dr. Rebecca Franco, a postdoctoral researcher who’s written extensively on this stuff. She argues that the enforcement often slides into 'arse-covering suppression' to avoid legal action or reputational damage. It’s not just about fraud prevention; it’s about brand management and avoiding the stink when groups like Collective Shout kick up a fuss. This leads to something she calls 'definitional creep' – where illegal stuff (like child abuse material, obviously abhorrent) gets conflated with anything an 'influential group' might deem 'harmful'.
And here’s where it gets properly chaotic: when these companies lean on automated moderation tools. Bloody hell, AI and context? They go together like a dragon and a teacup. An AI can’t reliably tell the difference between a consensual BDSM fantasy and, well, something truly abhorrent. Franco gives a brilliant, if slightly absurd, example: videos flagged for bestiality because a performer's pet happened to wander into the background. You couldn't make it up!
Franco also laid out the recent legislative history. Remember the US's FOSTA and SESTA acts from 2018? They made credit card networks liable for potential involvement in sex trafficking. Then came the 2022 lawsuit against Pornhub’s former owner, MindGeek, where Visa was a defendant for allegedly profiting from a 'trafficking venture'. The response? Mastercard (2021) and Visa (2022) rolled out new global moderation and verification requirements. The impact? 'Devastating' for adult content creators, especially 'queer, Black, kink, and fat sex workers,' who often find their work deemed 'abhorrent' by groups like Exodus Cry (a co-signatory with Collective Shout).
Franco suggests that Mastercard's rules sometimes go beyond the strict letter of the law, driven by vague fears of profitability and market risk, not just precise legal definitions of obscenity. It’s social stigmatisation and reputational damage that makes adult content 'high risk,' not necessarily higher dispute rates from legitimate customers. A bit unfair, reckon?
So, can this grassroots gaming rebellion actually push back against Visa, Mastercard, and their financial deputies? Stearns reckons it's entirely possible. Regulations, he says, are 'squishy and negotiable.' If they're too broad or unenforceable, merchants can band together and make a public stink. If they have enough leverage – over the public, or directly via lobbying – they can force clarification or even amendments to the laws.
Think about it, mate. The major credit card companies are pretty much interchangeable. Why would Visa or Mastercard willingly tick off a massive chunk of consumers who spend oodles of cash on games? They don't want to lose market share just because they got spooked by a loud, albeit questionable, protest group.
Another popular solution is for platforms like Itch.io (who've announced they're looking into it) to just pivot to alternative payment providers that specialise in adult material – Segpay, Vendo, CCbill. Franco sees this as a sensible move. These 'high-risk processors' can help merchants manage the tricky bank relationships, potentially bringing clarity to opaque and shifting provisions.
But there are catches, of course, because nothing's ever simple in this digital wild west. These specialised processors can have 'significantly higher fees and strict compliance requirements,' especially around KYC (Know Your Customer) – proving who you are. And you've gotta pick a trustworthy one, like CCbill, because Franco warns that 'some adult payment processors can also make use of the high fees and margins without investing in compliance, and adult-specific payment processors have suddenly folded in the past.' So, tread carefully, like navigating a dungeon full of mimicked treasure chests.
Ultimately, this whole kerfuffle is a stark reminder that the invisible pipes of finance have a surprising amount of say over what kind of art and entertainment we get to experience. It's not just about content policies on storefronts; it's about the very infrastructure of money itself becoming a moral arbiter. Bloody hell. But if there’s one thing gamers are good at, it’s finding workarounds and making their voices heard. Let’s see if this digital uprising can bend reality just enough to make these financial wizards reconsider their draconian rules. Because, fair dinkum, who wants their credit card to dictate their game library?
*Original Reporting by Edwin Evans-Thirlwell for Rock Paper Shotgun, published August 8, 2025.*
Tags: Gaming Industry, Content Moderation, Censorship, Payment Systems, Indie Games
Original article: Rock Paper Shotgun