If you didn’t know, Itch.io is one of the biggest sites for indie games outside of the usual placed like Steam. Many games are uploaded to the site every single day, and recently because of pressure from credit card and payment companies they have had to de-list a large amount of their games that contain adult or general NSFW content in order to comply.
It’s a difficult situation. On the one hand this is blatant censorship and shouldn’t be encouraged as many games that don’t even contain explicit material, such as the excellent indie game ‘Mouthwash’, has been caught in the crossfire for this de-listing and is a slippery slope to just not allowing certain games to exist, such as those that tackle LGBT issues.
On the other hand, Itch.io and the creators that upload to it need to make money, and if the biggest digital payment distributers just refuse to work with them it could lead to an incredible amount of work and people being left in the cold because some prudes who fear sexual exploitation in video games overstep their boundaries to not do business with them. Ultimately, the blame for this lay in the payment distributors, not Itch.io, as they’re just following the rules that ensure that people get the money for their work they deserve. It’s a terrible situation, and this combining with the recent NSFW content ban in the UK under the pretense of protecting children makes me nervous about the future and the internet. I hope this situation gets resolved, but we will see how this plays out for now.
That’s all for now, and as always. It’s not just a game, It’s a Life.