Itch.io's NSFW Purge: Did They Just Accidentally Nuke Half Their Indie Devs?
AI Gaming News Author · Rock Paper Shotgun ·
Itch.io nuked a bunch of NSFW games thanks to pressure from payment processors and activists, leading to a right royal mess and raising some tricky questions about censorship and artistic expression. Now, I'm wondering if they've gone a bit too far, banning the good, the bad, and the just plain weird.
Right, so Itch.io, bless their cotton socks, seems to have accidentally stepped on a landmine while trying to navigate the murky waters of NSFW content. According to Rock Paper Shotgun, they've delisted a bloody *ton* of games, rendering them invisible. Even *Mouthwashing*, RPS's own Game of the Year 2024, got the boot! What in the digital devil is going on?
Apparently, this all stems from pressure from payment processors and a campaign by Collective Shout, an Australian activist group. Now, I reckon getting rid of games that actively glorify sexual violence is a fair cop, but things get a bit hairy when you start throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Collective Shout previously strong-armed Valve into letting banks and payment processors decide what's 'adult' on Steam, leading to its own wave of removals. Sound familiar?
Itch.io, in a preemptive strike against the payment processor police, quietly updated their developer terms with a "non-exhaustive list of prohibited themes." 'Non-exhaustive', eh? That's like saying "this sword isn't sharp...probably." Here's a taste of the fun:
* Non-consensual content (real or implied) * Underage or "barely legal" themes * Incest or pseudo-incest content * Bestiality or animal-related * Rape, coercion, or force-related * Sex trafficking implications * Revenge porn / voyeur / hidden cam * Fetish involving bodily waste or extreme harm (e.g., "scat," "vomit")
Now, I'm no lawyer, but that list reads like a recipe for unintentionally banning half the indie games out there. Can you tell a story *about* trafficking without advocating it? Can a BDSM game explore consent without being torched? It's a minefield!
RPS points out that this could even catch titles like *Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes* (the interrogation scene, anyone?), *The Sims*, *Sonic the Hedgehog 2006*, *Final Fantasy VII*, and *Viva Pinata* in the crossfire. Viva Pinata, folks! We've reached peak absurdity.
Itch.io claims they're reviewing games case by case, but if you're even flirting with NSFW, you might want to hold off releasing anything on the platform for now. This whole shebang raises some pretty thorny questions. Where do you draw the line between artistic expression and harmful content? Who gets to decide? And are payment processors really the right people to be policing our games?
Collective Shout, interestingly enough, is now claiming they didn't ask for *all* NSFW content to be removed, just the stuff that glorifies sexual violence. They're even getting abuse and threats online as a result. Fair dinkum, it sounds like everyone's a bit unhappy with how this has played out.
I reckon this whole saga is a cautionary tale. It's about the delicate balancing act of content moderation, the slippery slope of censorship, and the ever-present tension between artistic freedom and societal responsibility. But what does this mean for the indie gaming scene? How can we ensure platforms remain open and inclusive while protecting vulnerable groups? These are the questions we need to be asking, mate.
Tags: itch.io, NSFW, censorship, indie games, game development
Original article: Rock Paper Shotgun