Itch.io, a popular gaming storefront and site for indie developers to get their projects seen by a wider audience, has posted a statement regarding NSFW content on the site. It was confirmed that all NSFW content has been deindexed from Itch.io and will no longer reflect in search results or when browsing the site.
This is a similar action taken by Valve on the Steam storefront in recent weeks, and it’s the work of payment processors questioning the nature of some adult content hosted on these digital stores.
‘A Time Critical Moment’
In the statement posted by the Itch.io team, it was confirmed:
Recently, we came under scrutiny from our payment processors regarding the nature of some content hosted on itch.io.
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.
Recently, Steam’s policies changed to reflect a push from payment providers to start cutting down the volume of NSFW content, or the more extreme NSFW content, hosted on PC-based storefronts.
In the blog post written by the Itch.io team, it was confirmed that future submissions of an NSFW nature will need to undergo a review process to ensure they’re ‘allowable under the policies of respective payment processors linked ot their account’.
Many have dubbed this a kind of financial censorship, but where do you stand on the topic? Let me know on the Insider Gaming forum.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news about EA’s multi-million dollar Battlefield influencer campaign
Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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