This week, indie video game marketplace Itch.io announced that it will “non-index” adults and unofficial gaming games will be “non-indexed” and removed from viewing and search pages.
The move responded to a campaign by Collective Shout (previously criticising video games, rap music and Langary commercials), which targeted both Itch.io and Steam to sell “No Mercy,” a game about rape and incest.
In an open letter to executives of PayPal, MasterCard, Visa and other payment processors, Collective Sout said the game “flys in the face of efforts to support sexual abuse of men and torture of women and girls, and to deal with violence against women.”
“We don't understand that promoting payment transactions and extracting financial benefits from these violent and unethical games is consistent with your company's values and mission statement,” the organization added.
The campaign appears to be working, and Steam said earlier this month it would ban games that “may violate rules and standards set by Steam's payment processor, associated card networks, banks or internet network providers.”
Similarly, Itch.io said, “We need to prioritize relationships with payment partners and take immediate steps towards compliance so that we can continue to operate and provide the marketplace for all developers.”
He also said that “temporarily available on itch.io before it is banned in April” and that “quickly act on the platform's core payments infrastructure” would “urgently act” without providing sophisticated notification to the creators.
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The company said it is currently conducting a “comprehensive audit” to ensure that games available in the market meet “payment processor requirements” and that adult content will remain disabled until the audit is complete. After the audit, ITCH.IO said that the creators of the NSFW game should ensure that content is permitted under the payment processor policy linked to the account.
On social media, users criticizing Itch.io's decision declare that the current terms are that adult content violations “have no chance of appeal,” and the funds in the problem account “does not qualify for payment,” or that one developer “will receive all the money if they violate the rules, and not only will they make money ever.”
This isn't the first time that payment companies seem to be putting more pressure on online platforms than adult content. For example, last year, Gumroad pointed out restrictions from payment processors when it implemented stricter rules on NSFW art.
With over 137,000 verified signatures, the Change.org petition criticizes MasterCard and Visa for its role in determining these types of decisions. Among other things, the petition requires payment companies to “stop censoring legal fictional content complying with law and platform standards” and “rejecting influence from groups of activists who misrepresent moral panic or false fiction as harmful.”