Major PC gaming platforms, including Steam and Itch.io, have begun removing or hiding adult-only games from their marketplaces, citing pressure from payment processors, threatening the availability of NSFW content on two of the largest digital game stores.
Last week, Steam purged a number of NSFW games and updated its policies to disallow content that violates the rules of payment processors like Visa and Mastercard. Following this, the indie platform Itch.io announced it has “deindexed” adult content, preventing it from appearing in search results or browse pages.
In a blog post, Itch.io creator Leaf Corcoran explained that the sudden change, made without warning to developers, was a direct result of scrutiny from the platform’s payment partners. He stated that the ability to process payments is “critical” for the marketplace’s creators. Itch.io will now conduct a full audit of its content, which will result in new compliance measures and the permanent removal of some games.
The actions also follow a campaign by Collective Shout, an Australian organization that called on credit card companies to stop processing payments for adult-themed games. This type of pressure is not new, as financial institutions have previously refused services to platforms like OnlyFans over “reputational risk.” The sudden changes on Steam and Itch.io have been met with criticism online, with some users condemning the moves as censorship and drawing comparisons to Tumblr’s 2018 ban on adult content.
