PC gaming platform Itch.io is also facing pressure from payment processors, so it is currently conducting a review of all adult-only content on the platform to develop "new compliance measures." During this period, thousands of NSFW (non-safe browsing) games have been “unindexed”—actually equivalent to being blocked by shadows.

Itch.io acknowledged this in a recent blog post, saying it has “removed all adult NSFW content from browsing and search pages”, meaning games with adult tags will no longer appear in the store pages when searching normally. However, this link can still show thousands of games marked with the NSFW tag.

“We understand that this move comes suddenly and causes disruption and we apologize for the troubles and confusion that it has brought about,” the official wrote, explaining that the move was due to “payment processors’ censorship requirements for the nature of certain content hosted on our platform.”

Steam had previously faced similar pressure, and subsequently removed a large number of adult games from its stores. At that time, an organization called Collective Shout claimed responsibility, which complained to the payment platform after a controversial and offensive simulated violence game "No Mercy" caused public opinion. Itch.io said the organization has “expressed concerns about certain content on both platforms to our payment processors”, which has led to the current situation.

"Our ability to process payments is crucial to every creator on the platform. To ensure we can continue to operate and provide markets for all developers, we must prioritize maintaining relationships with payment partners and take immediate compliance measures. This is a critical moment of time for Itch.io. The situation is rapidly evolving and we must act urgently to protect the platform's core payment infrastructure. Unfortunately, this prevents us from notifying creators in advance before changes," Itch.io added.

Currently, the platform is "comprehensive audit of the content to ensure we can meet" the requirements put forward by these unnamed payment processors. During this time, the NSFW page will remain unindexed. After the internal review is completed, Itch.io plans to introduce new compliance measures, requiring developers to confirm whether their games "comply with the policy allowance of the payment processor bound to their account."

Itch.io also said that during the review process, "some pages" will be completely deleted. Some independent developers have spoken online that their games have been removed from the shelves.

Of course, payment processors like Visa and MasterCard have been deeply embedded in the global financial system. This means that even if only one payment institution objectes to a certain type of product, such products are almost impossible to commercialize, especially those that are almost completely digital like PC games.

Nier Automata director Taro Yokoo once said: "This is not only a question of censoring adult content or threatening freedom of speech, but also a security loophole that endangers the democratic system itself."

See more game news

The above is the detailed content of After Valve and Steam, credit card companies spurred by anti-porn group sink their teeth into Itch, forcing countless NSFW games off the indie store under threat of critical payment failure. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!