Itch.io Is Returning Free NSFW Games To Its Store

Itch.io, the indie gaming store that recently pulled all NSFW games from its site, is beginning the process of “re-indexing” adult games. At the moment, this is only affecting free games, and the site is still in discussions with payment providers over how it can return paid-for NSFW games without facing penalization.

This all came about after an Australian anti-porn pressure group, Collective Shout, campaigned payment providers to stop working with gaming stores that sold games of which it did not approve. First, Valve removed hundreds of adult games from Steam, while introducing new and incredibly ambiguous rules about what was acceptable. Then soon after, Itch followed suit, but in a far more dramatic fashion, de-listing any game marked as “adult” or “not safe for work” from the store’s searchable pages. In the process, large numbers of games that in no way contravened even the most broad notions of acceptability were caught in the crossfire, and inevitably many of them were representing LGBTQ+ subjects.

Now, itch.io founder Leaf Corcoran has released a statement saying the store is bringing back free NSFW games, but is “still in ongoing discussions with payment processors,” meaning paid games will be reintroduced “slowly.”

To get an NSFW game back on Itch today, developers must check the “No payments” box on their dashboard, making their game not only free, but also unable to accept optional payments from customers. Itch’s excellent systems usually allows customers to pay the asking price for a game, or opt to pay more if they wish. That allows developers to price their games as free but still receive payments from those who want to. That’s currently unavailable for any adult games.

Leaf’s post explains that Itch spoke with its primary payment provider Stripe, with which it’s worked for a decade, and has been told they will “not be able to” take payments for “content designed for sexual gratification.” That ludicrously ambiguous phrase is helpful to precisely no one, given Rule 34 and the infinite reaches of kink. However, Stripe does seem to be making some progressive noises. The company asked Itch to share a statement:

“Stripe is currently unable to support sexually explicit content due to restrictions placed on them by their banking partners, despite card networks generally supporting adult content (with the appropriate registrations). Stripe has indicated that they hope to be able to support adult content in the future.”

Itch says as a result of this it’s now speaking to other payment processors to try to find a company that can cover what Stripe will not. In the meantime, NSFW games that do not violate Stripe’s current definition of unacceptability will be reviewed and possibly re-listed.

The situation, no matter anyone’s opinion on the nature of the games being disallowed, remains deeply concerning. We are seeing multiple stores explaining to customers that their actions are now dependent upon what payment processors will tolerate, given any online store can be held to ransom by these corporations. If you cannot process a payment, you can’t sell a game, and it’s all or nothing. Thanks to the efforts of these ideologically driven pressure groups, companies like Visa, Mastercard, Stripe and the rest fear being associated with controversial adult content, and will simply refuse to work with stores that don’t adhere to their unclear and ever-changing limits. In other words, the moralities of a pressure group dictate the nature of what can be sold on a gaming store, because of the pusillanimous nature of the corporations in the middle.