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Why did my SFW games got de-indexed?

A topic by ukigumosama created Jul 24, 2025 Views: 1,018 Replies: 7
Viewing posts 1 to 3
(+4)

I have 3 visual novels on itch.io, all of which are SFW. One was mistakenly put as NSFW automatically, because it had a monster girls tag, so after the NSFW games de-indexing, I erased the tag, and unchecked the  "has sensitive content". This game is now visible. What I don't understand is why my two other games that were never marked as NSFW were de-indexed as well, and how could they become searchable again?

Moderator

Your games might have been caught in the crossfire. Given the circumstances, it may be best to wait.

(+7)

So even SFW games can get randomly shadowbanned from the store for absolutely no reason? What a disaster. It gives me so much confidence that Itch io and its mods will be really careful and reasonable and helpful when it comes to "auditing" the nsfw games. What a joke.

(+5)

HAHA "Wait?" That seems like the lamest non-explanation to give a developer~! Considering that their game DID (not "might have," but DID) get added to the draconic, spineless shadowban for no reason at all, it makes me SERIOSLY WONDER  how many completely harmless games with horror, psychological, or other non-sexual adult content this site has decided to shadowban for "reasons." Fucking pathetic and unacceptable to not fight back against censorship on a site that was made for indie game developers. What this site has done is completely unfair, unjust and downright Orwellian. You're favoring stupid censorship groups and corporations over your own creators, which is absolutely disgusting and uncalled-for.

Can you list what tags you used for your SFW games that got delisted?

(+1)

Well, they are back again, but I don't think that besides the one that had "monster girl" tag, the others have any that were particularly suspicious.

One is: 

Genre

Visual Novel

Tags

Comedy, Fangame, Funny, Indie, Parody, Ren'Py, Singleplayer, Spooky, Voice Acting

Other one is:

Genre

Visual Novel

Tags

Anime, Dark Humor, Funny, Indie, Ren'Py, Short, Vampire, Voice Acting


(+4)

Thank you. I am waiting to see if there are more SFW games that get de-indexed for unstated reasons & the potential pattern between them.

The same thing has happened to me. I recently published a game page that never showed up on the site. I also posted a devlog yesterday and it is also not showing up. I've recently learned that several of my games have been de-indexed for no reason, including an entire mystery game series and the first game that I created that has absolutely nothing NSFW in it.  None of my games have NSFW content. Most of my games are tagged as interactive fictions, visual novels, or text adventures.  I reached out about this issue days ago and have heard nothing. I reached out again yesterday, and I have yet to hear back from them. 

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