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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Itch.io is the latest marketplace to crack down on adult games
Indie video game marketplace announced this week that it has 'deindexed' adult and not-safe-for-work games, removing them from its browse and search pages. The move, the company said, was in response to a campaign by Collective Shout (an advocacy group that has previously criticized video games, rap music, and lingerie commercials) targeting both and Steam for selling 'No Mercy,' a game that depicts rape and incest. In an open letter addressed to executives at PayPal, Mastercard, Visa, and other payment processors, Collective Shout said that games 'endorsing men's sexualised abuse and torture of women and girls fly in the face of efforts to address violence against women.' 'We do not see how facilitating payment transactions and deriving financial benefit from these violent and unethical games, is consistent with your corporate values and mission statements,' the organization added. The campaign appears to have worked, with Steam saying earlier this month that it would ban games that 'may violate the rules and standards set forth by Steam's payment processors and related card networks and banks, or internet network providers.' Similarly, said, 'To ensure that we can continue to operate and provide a marketplace for all developers, we must prioritize our relationship with our payment partners and take immediate steps towards compliance.' It also said that 'No Mercy' had been 'temporarily available on before being banned back in April,' and that 'the situation developed rapidly,' forcing the company to 'act urgently to protect the platform's core payment infrastructure,' without providing advanced notice to creators. The company said it's now conducting a 'comprehensive audit' to ensure that games available on the marketplace meet 'the requirements of our payment processors,' with adult content remaining deindexed until the audit is complete. After the audit, said NSFW game creators will be required to confirm that their content is allowed under the policies of their payment processors linked to their account. On social media, users criticizing decision noted that its current terms declare that adult content violations are 'permanent with no chance of appeal' and that any funds in an offending account 'will not be eligible for payout' — or as one developer put it, 'If you violate the rules, we take all your money. Not just the money from that work, ALL your money from EVERYTHING you've ever made.' This is far from the first time that payment companies appear to have pressured online platforms over adult content — for example, last year Gumroad pointed to restrictions from payment processors when it implemented stricter rules around NSFW art, and OnlyFans also blamed 'banking partners and payment providers' when it banned explicit content (a decision that it subsequently reversed). A petition with more than 137,000 verified signatures criticizes Mastercard and Visa for their role in these types of decisions. Among other things, the petition demands that the payment companies 'stop censoring legal fictional content that complies with the law and platform standards' and 'reject influence from activist groups that promote moral panic or misrepresent fiction as harm.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
TechCrunch
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- TechCrunch
Itch.io is the latest marketplace to crack down on adult games
Indie video game marketplace announced this week that it has 'deindexed' adult and not-safe-for-work games, removing them from its browse and search pages. The move, the company said, was in response to a campaign by Collective Shout (an advocacy group that has previously criticized video games, rap music, and lingerie commercials) targeting both and Steam for selling 'No Mercy,' a game that depicts rape and incest. In an open letter addressed to executives at PayPal, Mastercard, Visa, and other payment processors, Collective Shout said that games 'endorsing men's sexualised abuse and torture of women and girls fly in the face of efforts to address violence against women.' 'We do not see how facilitating payment transactions and deriving financial benefit from these violent and unethical games, is consistent with your corporate values and mission statements,' the organization added. The campaign appears to have worked, with Steam saying earlier this month that it would ban games that 'may violate the rules and standards set forth by Steam's payment processors and related card networks and banks, or internet network providers.' Similarly, said, 'To ensure that we can continue to operate and provide a marketplace for all developers, we must prioritize our relationship with our payment partners and take immediate steps towards compliance.' It also said that 'No Mercy' had been 'temporarily available on before being banned back in April,' and that 'the situation developed rapidly,' forcing the company to 'act urgently to protect the platform's core payment infrastructure,' without providing advanced notice to creators. Techcrunch event Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They're here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don't miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $675 before prices rise. Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They're here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don't miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $675 before prices rise. San Francisco | REGISTER NOW The company said it's now conducting a 'comprehensive audit' to ensure that games available on the marketplace meet 'the requirements of our payment processors,' with adult content remaining deindexed until the audit is complete. After the audit, said NSFW game creators will be required to confirm that their content is allowed under the policies of their payment processors linked to their account. On social media, users criticizing decision noted that its current terms declare that adult content violations are 'permanent with no chance of appeal' and that any funds in an offending account 'will not be eligible for payout' — or as one developer put it, 'If you violate the rules, we take all your money. Not just the money from that work, ALL your money from EVERYTHING you've ever made.' This is far from the first time that payment companies appear to have pressured online platforms over adult content — for example, last year Gumroad pointed to restrictions from payment processors when it implemented stricter rules around NSFW art, and OnlyFans also blamed 'banking partners and payment providers' when it banned explicit content (a decision that it subsequently reversed). A petition with more than 137,000 verified signatures criticizes Mastercard and Visa for their role in these types of decisions. Among other things, the petition demands that the payment companies 'stop censoring legal fictional content that complies with the law and platform standards' and 'reject influence from activist groups that promote moral panic or misrepresent fiction as harm.'
The Verge
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Verge
Itch.io follows Steam in removing adult games
The indie-focused open gaming marketplace has abruptly deindexed adult content from its browse and search pages, warning that some games will be permanently removed from the platform. In a blog post on Thursday, creator Leaf Corcoran said that the update was due to concerns that the website's payment processors had 'about the nature of certain content' hosted on the platform, following similar scrutiny against Steam. 'Our ability to process payments is critical for every creator on our platform,' said Corcoran. 'To ensure that we can continue to operate and provide a marketplace for all developers, we must prioritize our relationship with our payment partners and take immediate steps towards compliance.' While hosts a variety of gaming content, adult and pornographic titles are often among the top-sellers on the platform. Content creators who host their work on were given no warning ahead of the decision. 'We know this is not ideal, and we apologize for the abruptness of this change,' said Corcoran. It's unclear if customers are currently able to access games and visual novels that they had paid for prior to the update. We've reached out to for clarification. Credit card companies like Visa and Mastercard have rules that restrict some kinds of illegal and NSFW content. Steam similarly purged some adult titles last week after quietly changing its policy guidelines to ban any content that might violate rules set by the platform's payment providers and card networks. Backlash against both gaming platforms online has likened the situation to Tumblr banning pornographic content in 2018, a decision that Matt Mullenweg, CEO of Tumblr's parent company, Automattic, attributed to pressure from credit card companies, and is widely believed to have driven many users away from the platform. has yet to provide full guidance for creators that outlines the content that will be permitted on the platform following this change, but notes that creators will be required to confirm that their NSFW content abides by any rules set by their account's payment processors. That is, of course, providing that this doesn't cause a Tumblr-esque mass exodus of users who may now be looking for an alternative service to host, sell, and buy NSFW games. 'We are currently conducting a comprehensive audit of content to ensure we can meet the requirements of our payment processors,' said Corcoran. 'Pages will remain deindexed as we complete our review. Once this review is complete, we will introduce new compliance measures.' Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All by Jess Weatherbed Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Culture Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Entertainment Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Gaming Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Internet Culture Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All News Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Tech
The Verge
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Verge
Playdate's second season sucked me back into the little yellow handheld
The Playdate is easy to forget about. It's colorful and weird, but it's also tiny. Like the Game Boy Micro before it, sometimes I toss it in a bag and then can't remember where I put it. But over the past few weeks, the yellow handheld has been in constant rotation in my house, despite being up against big distractions like Mario Kart World and Death Stranding 2, thanks to the Playdate's now-complete second season of games. The seasonal structure is one of the unique aspects of the Playdate. When the handheld first launched in 2022, owners got access to a curated selection of 24 games that were released over time. It was a great introduction to the device and its unique features — the crank, the little display, the black-and-white graphics — but it wasn't until earlier this year that a second season kicked off. (I should note that this doesn't mean there weren't any new games for the Playdate, as a digital shop launched in 2023, and there are plenty of titles to sideload from marketplaces like Season 2 kicked off in May, and while it's smaller — you get 12 games for $39, plus whatever the heck the FMV-based Blippo Plus is — it also got off to a very good start. And since then it's expanded with quite a variety of games. There's a post-apocalyptic adventure called The Whiteout, and a point-and-click exploration game called Shadowgate PD, which is actually a remake of a game from the '80s. The dozen titles in season 2 do a solid job of showing off the range of possibilities on the Playdate. But what has struck me most are the games that make clever use of the handheld's signature feature: its crank. For instance, Tiny Turnip is a climbing game where you play as a turnip with arms. Getting around means using the face buttons for grabbing on to things, and then moving your body around with the crank. It felt a little awkward at first, probably because I hadn't played anything quite like it before, but eventually I was able to get into a solid rhythm of cranking my way across perilous terrain. It's really satisfying smoothly moving your way through the world by twisting a crank around. Taria & Como offers something similar within a more typical side-scrolling platformer. You can move and jump through a pixel art world, but in order to navigate the most perilous areas, you're aided by a sort of drone / grappling hook that's aimed with the crank. You fire it off and then swing yourself where you need to be. You can also use the crank to pull yourself up or down. Taria & Como is a relatively slow-paced physics-based platformer with some challenging puzzles, and the inclusion of the crank adds a satisfying layer of tactility to the experience. Perhaps my favorite game is also arguably the strangest. It's called Long Puppy, and it's almost like a spiritual successor to Noby Noby Boy (albeit one not developed by Keita Takahashi, who is off doing his own weird stuff). The goal is simple: you are a dog who needs to fetch a ball. But it always seems to be in some hard-to-reach spot, and the only way to get to it is to stretch. In order to stretch longer, you need to eat lots of food. And so each level becomes a race to eat as much as you can so you can get to the ball before a weirdly angry ghost dog shows up. Naturally, you use the crank to both grow and shrink, so even though Long Puppy is a game about a pup, you move more like a caterpillar inching its way through the levels to gobble up everything they can quickly. Again, it takes some getting used to, but the time limits forced me to get really good at stretching and it was a blast. Also, at the end of each level you use the crank to go poo. Of course, these games would've still been enjoyable if I stumbled across them in the Catalog store. But there's something exciting about the big moment the Playdate seasons create. Each week I anticipate something new, and am never really sure what it will actually be. It could be more channels for a bizarre fictional television service, or it could be the most challenging (and adorable) game of fetch I've ever played. That steady cadence of weird and fun makes the Playdate much harder to forget about.
