Itch.io Removes NSFW Games Due to Payment Processor Pressure

Oh man, where do I even start with this? So, Itch.io, this funky little indie games platform—imagine a digital bazaar for all those quirky games you secretly love—just yanked all their adult NSFW titles. Yeah, you heard me, gone. Why? Well, the payment providers got all jittery after this group, Collective Shout (never heard of ’em before, but they sound intense), decided to wag a finger at both Steam and Itch.io. They took their complaints right to the money folks—classic move, right?

Leaf Corcoran, the brains behind Itch.io, drops some truth in a blog post. Seems like the whole platform’s in a bit of a pickle. They’ve gotta play nice with their payment pals, or else—poof! No more game shopping for anyone. Kinda crucial, seeing as the whole operation hinges on dollars moving around smoothly. Like, can you even imagine what a mess it’d be if they couldn’t process payments?

He mentions they’ve gotta do this content audit thingy and set up some new rules. Which sounds all official and stuff, but hey, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do, right? They’re kinda between a rock and a hard place. Couldn’t even give the creators a heads-up, which, yeah, kinda sucks.

And get this—Steam, that bigshot in gaming, had to scramble and scribble some new, vague rules about what’s cool on their platform too. Thanks to—you guessed it—the same group nudging their payment processors. Wild times, eh? Anyway—wait—was I on point there? Ugh, this whole saga just leaves me with more questions than answers.