Steam and itch.io gaming censorship and content removal

[dhaabi]

Over the last week, there has been critical consumer backlash against the recent censorship rulings against adult games listed on Steam and now itch.io. While these games have been, for years, perfectly fine to publish on these platforms in accordance to these sites' own guidelines, this sort of content is now becoming inaccessible, being removed, and even being deleted from buyer's libraries without refunds. However, these games are not being targeted because site guidelines have changed—no, they are instead being removed due to anti-porn groups voicing their influence by targeting payment processors like credit card companies and Paypal.

Whether you yourself play these kinds of games or not, this sort of third-party overreach does not favor the consumer by any means. This also comes at a critical moment in modern times as certain movements denounce any LGBT content and themes on a general level to be pornographic, meaning games with that content are also being affected by these changes. And if certain groups can target games with this kind of content, what is stopping them or others from doing the same with other content they do not approve of? Also, let it be clear that it is not Steam nor itch.io themselves enforcing these rules (though they are entirely complicit as they bow down to this pressure from payment processors themselves being pressured by anti-pornography groups.) Whether you agree with the morality of some of these games or not, the issue instead lies with how these new guidelines are being forced by indirect entities. If these storefronts themselves have no issue with hosting this kind of content and doing what they can to prevent it from being targeted toward children, then people should be free to decide themselves what they want to interact with, pay for, and play.

Here is Steam's updated guidelines on what sort of content shouldn't be published on the platform. See item 15 under Rules and Guidelines. And here is itch.io's recent statement on NSFW content.

Below are several articles which provide an overview on the matter:
https://www.pcgamer.com/software/platforms/steam-introduces-new-rule-prohibiting-certain-kinds-of-adult-content-that-might-make-visa-or-mastercard-unhappy-financial-deplatforming-in-action/
https://www.pcgamer.com/software/platforms/valve-confirms-credit-card-companies-pressured-it-to-delist-certain-adult-games-from-steam/
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/australian-anti-porn-group-claims-responsibility-for-steams-new-censorship-rules-in-victory-against-porn-sick-brain-rotted-pedo-gamer-fetishists-and-things-only-get-weirder-from-there/
https://www.thegamer.com/itch-steam-censorship-payment-processors-collective-shout-delist-deindex/
https://twistedvoxel.com/itch-io-removes-adult-games-books-no-longer-downloadable/

[weirdfeline]

Valve giving in and not fighting this is so cowardly and damaging. GTA V has a full strip club but of course that wasn't targeted because no one would put up with that for a second so they just sacrifice a bunch of indie games instead.

Steam's revenue was estimated to be $10.8 billion for 2024. You really think payment processors are going to listen to some small outcry over several billion dollars?

[kamikazekeeg]

It sucks, but it's not unexpected.  The payment processors have been doing this for years with other websites, forcing them to change and its dumb.  I wish something could be done to stop the payment processors, to keep them from having such control over platforms they don't have any actual involvement with, but I don't think anything will ever happen to change this.

[sworddude]

this sort of content is now becoming inaccessible, being removed, and even being deleted from buyer's libraries without refunds.

Digital gaming baby, ye love to see it



Especially on pc just sail the seven seas it's so ez with hardly any barriers of entry, if buying isn't owning piracy isn't stealing.

[dhaabi]

It sucks, but it's not unexpected.  The payment processors have been doing this for years with other websites, forcing them to change and its dumb.  I wish something could be done to stop the payment processors, to keep them from having such control over platforms they don't have any actual involvement with, but I don't think anything will ever happen to change this.

To be honest, I was not aware of how reoccurring this issue has been across various commerce outlets, and for so long too. However, I think one major difference in this particular situation is that for an overwhelming majority of the items being affected, they only exist on digital platforms with no other means to access them.

[dhaabi]

this sort of content is now becoming inaccessible, being removed, and even being deleted from buyer's libraries without refunds.

Digital gaming baby, ye love to see it

Especially on pc just sail the seven seas it's so ez with hardly any barriers of entry, if buying isn't owning piracy isn't stealing.

I agree, though that sentiment does not really apply here. By far and large, the games being targeted now are ones created by smaller, independent developers who publish all their games to one or both of the aforementioned storefronts. In general, unless there is some third-party service to host their games at all, it's likely that few if any people would be exposed to them simply because modern-day internet congregates to such a small number of sites. To clarify, I would argue that a majority of these affected games have been played by a double- or even a single-digit number of players, and there are certainly some affected games which, in all likelihood, haven't been played by any consumer and possibly haven't even been backed up or are now lost for whatever reason. Somehow being able to pirate these games also completely dismisses the principle of supporting indie creators. To some people, they may not care about that, but I feel as if a fair number of digital pirates focus on targeting AAA offerings exclusively while maintaining support for smaller developers.

Regardless, this signals to both consumers and developers that these storefronts are not in favor of their users. Any informed developer will realize that these storefronts can remove their products without notice and without paying them, while informed consumers will realize that those same products they purchased can just as equally be taken away without repercussion. Whether or not the games in question are NSFW or SFW, this only signals to all users that if everything isn't protected, then nothing is as what is being targeted can and will change as certain entities will do everything in their power to have what they disagree with be censored. What developers and consumers do afterward, I don't know.

I'm also curious how this may affect home console marketplaces in the immediate future.