preventing further arguments
Now that itch.io is starting to mass censor and mass ban games (it’s not going to stop at NSFW, the same group behind this got Detroit: Become Human and the GTA games banned in Australia under the same premises), what alternatives are there to itch.io? I’m already seeing reports of people having their purchases being removed from their accounts as well, so back up those files while you still can!
There aren't, because it will inevitably hit everyone, itch.io was just big enough to be noticed. It's better to try advocate for a change since nothing is safe if biggest gaming platform like Steam and known indie store like Itch can just be smacked like that and forced to change their policies completely or they won't earn money at all.
advocate for change and drag Itch along with the people launching the attack.
There was 0 reason for them to try and stealthily do what they did, they chose the method that would take the longest but also, hopefully, not be noticed... They only respsonded and gave us a blog post when we noticed.
Then they hid behind "were small uwu" like that holds weight [it shouldn't if you're smart]
Only NOW are they trying to court new payment processors after shit hit the fan and they pissed off the people they allegedly championed... But yknow, aren't
There isn't really one.
The thing you're missing is that this isn't itch's choice. This is a decision caused by the payment processors, who were in turn pressured by puritanical cults such as collective shout.
The only fix is to make it so payment processors don't get to make decisions about what things are allowed to be bought and sold using them.
Any platform that doesn't want to deal with the market interference of from Visa or Master card will have to use cryptocurrency. I don't see any other way around it, but even that can be taken down. This is just censorship and it will most likely get worse with the direction politics have been going in the west at least.
The thing is that itch isn't the first and it isn't going to be the last until someone stands up and says no. If ALL the platforms that have been affected stood up together to give Visa and Mastercard the middle finger, then something might change because Visa and Mastercard wouldn't want to give up that much revenue. Until the corporations we are unfortunately beholden to stand up together, we are just going to keep getting screwed over and having to move from platform to platform.
Itch fighting this here would mean ALL creators here get fucked.
You're not wrong but it does go a bit deeper than that.
Intentionally or not, Itch are now saying that they heavily favour safe content. And that the definition of "safe" can change at any time, depending on who can bully the flow of money at any given time. Which doesn't quite sound like the open marketplace for independent digital creators with a focus on independent video games that Itch still claims to be.
That precedent kinda already existed. It already happened to a much larger degree with Tumblr and even fucking OnlyFans - a site whose sole purpose is sexual content.
Leave itch if you want, since I won't blame you for this leaving a fairly nasty taste in your mouth, but the same problem of payment processors getting to suppress whatever they don't like will keep occurring elsewhere until something is actually done about it. And companies ain't gonna do that, because they either can't afford it or just have no interest in dealing with it.
And look at what happened to Tumblr. They sold it off… and it was worthless. It got sold again and again for less money each time, and I can’t even remember the last time I saw anyone seriously use the service.
Folding might save Itch in the short-term, but you only have to look to Tumblr to find an example of the long-term effects, and since Itch is so much more specialized, I’d expect it to have a much harder time shambling forward.
Itch fighting here, and actually trying not rolling the fuck over instanatly, would mean they actually champion the "open marketplace for independent digital creators with a focus on independent video games" thing they claim to be.
They're victims, yes, but by no means are they blameless. Attribute blame to them, hold them accountable too
Fine, go ahead. List how they could actually fight.
Please, elaborate, o wise one, as to how they would not just instantly be fucked over, along with ALL creators on the platform, sfw and nsfw, if they told the payment processors (i.e. how payments are actually made on the platform) to fuck off.
Itch ain't got the funds to last for months while looking for a new processor with zero income.
alternative to stripe exist, they just aren't popular due to monopolization and ease of access [and probly favorable teams due to monopoly status.]
3thix reachsd out in email and in the forums, a payment processor happy to do stuff with nsfw. Oh hey look! An alternative that always existed and could've been taken all along! Waow it's almost like Itch didn't try
Event if they were pressured by puritanical cults such as collective shout they shouldn't bend . The reality is that they were just waiting for a occasion to try censoring some website. Master card and Visa are just to big for Collective Shout to put pressure on. They agreed to see if they can threaten other website in the future. Everything happening right now is just a big experiment.
what was itch's choice is the following.
Try to hide the censoring by deindexing and telling nobody. They only told us after we raised a fuss about it and demanded answers.
Removing games that aren't at all related to porn, like Mouthwashing, a game about consent [no porn, period] and some random lgbt stuff [also no porn]
Hiding behind "were small and no other payment processors exist!" [They do. 3thix reached out to them not long ago in fact]
They aren't blameless, don't act like they are
1 is nonsense, they had to remove it on the spot and nobody was "told" about it because people instantly noticed.
2 is literally shit the processors have pushed. They don't care about removing porn, they care about eradicating queer people.
3.1 is objectively true
3.2 is not quite as true but isn't something you state outright until you actually have something lined up.
Keep in mind that with literally all of this they have to balance out the fact that the processors may lash out at literally anything they think itch does wrong.
1 is nonsense... From you. Great job, bet you lickc e621s boots as well when their responses to the grilling eventually gave rise to the fact they were lying frorm go! Itch already has a tortious interference case if they gave a shit [they dont], if it truly was "DO IT NOW NOW" no warning... Wow, buddy, you're so blunt a stoner would try to smoke you
2. Nope. They wanted nsfw explicitly gone. Nothing about Mouthwashing. Nothing about the game about consent. Nothing about random lgbt games with no porn.
3 is just trust fullstop. If the payment processors want to lash out unjust, tortious interference laws. Read up my dood.
I don't mean this in a harsh way, but you genuinely do not know what you're talking about.
You're welcome to provide any proof that itch was lying, though.
Also, the point of these puritanical cults has literally always been the eradication of queer people. It's why these same cults try to push the idea that being queer is inherently sexual.
Sign this petition if you are in the US: https://action.aclu.org/petition/mastercard-sex-work-work-end-your-unjust-policy
It's the same regulations that they are applying to X rated games, but there is also another petition here you can sign: https://www.change.org/p/tell-mastercard-visa-activist-groups-stop-controlling-w...
yeah, but what if we had a website that treated it like a "library" not a "gamestore"
this library would have file links to google drive files that are shared by developers, and on the actual page, just show images of the game.
for paid content, however, I don't really have much to say there, you might as well just upload it to the dark web lol
Patreon was struck in previous year by Mastercard. It forced all creators to sign documents about being 18+ and all works on their page to be consensual. Yes, it is "light" struck compared to what Visa do now, but I am almost sure Patreon will fall soon too. As a developer I absolutely dont like Patreon, but there is no good alternatives. Subscribestar support dont answer me for several year and dont approve my account. And even if they do, they will fall the same as Itch.
SubscribeStar is a fascist website.
SubscribeStar Website Lets Extremists Profit From Hate
SubscribeStar is listed on Wikipedia's Alt Tech page
Or you can just look for yourself. Find your favourite racist YouTuber you've never heard of.
Many people are fashjacketing Itch for its current actions. I think that's going too far, but. But moving to SubscribeStar demonstrably is fascist. There are several instances on social media such as BlueSky of SubscribeStar users calling others fascists, and its farcical. It makes me go insane. It's Godwin's Law shit, its a hypocrisy you'd think people who larp as antifascists would care about. Never use SubscribeStar.
Purity Spiralling at a time like this with the future so uncertain doesn’t strike me as the brightest thing to do. Wouldn’t a better thing to do would be to try to ensure such a site is less fascist over time, rather than going “ALL THE ALTERNATIVES ARE FASCIST SO JUST GIVE UP”? Posts like this are kind of horrible. Not even any other alternatives suggested, but just complaining about fascism at a time when action is needed.
Ofcourse you're "not reading all that"... Because I made points you dislike...
By the way, blind accusations aren't helping. And official legal source said there are no such Epstein Files. Means it's more or less a conspiracy theory. I cite:
The United States Justice Department (DOJ) released a memo on July 7, 2025 which claimed the list did not exist and "no credible evidence [was] found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions. We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties."
Not just some political party, no matter which side, but the DOJ itself stated this. And this seems to be the reason why Trump can't release those files. He promised it, because the people asked for them. But after he found out there is nothing, he can't release something. The official DOJ statement makes this clear.
And I wouldn't say that claims of some angry Elon Musk or conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who brought up claims about them, are very reliable.
I give more weight / credibility to officials of the law aka DOJ.
Edit:
I even found details that show a completely different side of Trump. Showing he despised Epstein after finding out about what Epstein had done. Here:
In June 2007, Epstein was indicted for sex crimes.
In October 2007, Trump revoked Epstein's membership at Mar-a-Lago. According to the 2016 book Filthy Rich, the teen daughter of a Mar-a-Lago member told her father that "while relaxing at Mar-a-Lago, she'd been approached and invited out to Epstein's house. The girl said that she had gone and that Epstein had tried to get her to undress. The girl's father had gone directly to Trump, who—in no uncertain terms—told Epstein that he was barred from Mar-a-Lago."
And to give another example, Bill Cosby and all his many contacts he had in the past with tons of people and lots of fame, people didn't knew his dark side until facts came to light about him. And after this, people showed him the cold shoulder.
Just because many people had contact with some dude beforehand, this doesn't mean they knew about evil stuff or agreed to this, or, even worse, were part in it! And this cited happening where Trump clearly acted in favor of the victim and banned Epstein, after finding out, looks more like he was against what happened there...
Edit 2:
Another point to look at, which clearly invalidates Elon Musk's claim about Trump:
Former Trump senior advisor Elon Musk, newly feuding with Trump, tweeted on June 5, 2025 claiming that Trump's name was in the Epstein files and that this "is the real reason they have not been made public". Musk deleted the post two days later. On June 11, he posted: "I regret some of my posts about President Donald Trump last week. They went too far."
So much about this "Trump is on the Epstein list!" BS... No, he isn't! There is no such list and Musk just talked trash while being in anger about Trump and later pulled this claim and said sorry because it was untrue!
Stop making up things without proof! Smearing somebody's reputation this badly by labeling somebody something awful, can in fact even lead into a huge lawsuit and punishment. Spreading unproven claims without proof, that harm somebody else's reputation, can in fact have bad consequences for the accusator.
if the list “doesn’t exist” what was Congress voting on to release? Why did it both “not exist” and was “created by Obama?” Why did the DOJ inform Trump in June his name was in the files, and why did this administration make a point to release the “first part” of the files to influencers earlier this year, with promises of more? Hell, if you trust the DOJ so much, why did the fire the head prosecutor on the Epstein case and grant Maxwell partial immunity? Appealing to authority here doesn’t help when we’re talking about holding authority accountable.
By the way, one of Trump’s current private planes was previously owned by Epstein lol. His Gulfstream G550. Imagine being comfortable riding that.
I cited an official statement coming from DOJ. It doesn't add up that the DOJ wants to release something, that is labeled as nonexistant by the DOJ...
"Hell, if you trust the DOJ so much, why did the fire the head prosecutor on the Epstein case and grant Maxwell partial immunity?"
That's a question only those who did can answer you. But webbing conspiracy theories isn't helping anyone.
Btw. are you serious about this airplane point? You think a vehicle can't change owner and become somebody elses property, if it was property of some different, awful person beforehand? Are you for real? A vehicle has absolutely nothing to do with some individual! It's just a vehicle! A tool, to move around! I would be absolutely comfortable with it, if it's my property. It would be different, if it was Epstein's property. But it isn't. Why should it be a problem to buy and use an airplane? Do you burn your favorite songs music records or BluRay movies, after some artist is exposed as bad guy? Sorry but that's just riddiculous nonsense...
And have you missed the point where Trump banned Epstein after a victim spoke out and made Trump aware about what Epstein did? He didn't excuse this or defended Epstein. No, he banned Epstein and spoke out against him. He canceled his friendship with Epstein.
And besides all of this, lets just play your game and assume that this list does exist. So, if Epstein wrote names somewhere, does it mean that those people he wrote down were clients for rape scenarios? You think that's actual real evidence aka proof for anything? A name list? It just shows he wrote down people's names. Victims speaking out and giving clear and specific details of what happened are another story. Or video recordings aka real evidence. But a name list? So if somebody awful writes down your name somewhere for example, does this mean you're a bad person then? Does this prove some connection with you or things you have done? Is it actual proof for you being guilty of something? No, it isn't... Real evidence is another thing, as I said before. And if there is evidence, it should be used to jail offenders. But that's the point. Only actual real evidence counts.
People Are Leading the Right Path Itch Has Been a Breakdown And it’s Sad Seeing It in This State Where NSFW Creators Made This Site famous but then it’s struck down like lighting and punished the NSFW Creators Who Made the Website Good Itch.io Did something that I cannot believe why they did this to the people who made people like this site. seeing it burns all down makes me feel just not happy of what they did. :(
ROTFLMFAO! That totally BS 'excuse' is about as shifty as the eyes on your pepe the frog lookalike avatar, game crook! These people aren't your fellow brain rotted alt-naziholes! They know they don't have to take MY word for shit! They can do their own research themselves. Just type: 'f95zone game pirate' into their search engine and enjoy the show! Regardless of whatever two letter postscript BS!!!
What’s wrong with you? No need to be this angry and insulting. My boy, i told you what i know and i also read about that fake site i told you about. I found that site maybe two weeks ago, so no need to shit all over this reply section just because some random whatever shit made you angry now. Will do, i search for it. Have a good one or not i guess lol
While there are developers who use F95zone to share their games, typically to advertise their Patreon accounts, the forum is also frequently used to pirate commercial games: You'll find loads unauthorized downloads for commercial games from both individual indie developers developers, as well as from well-known eroge publishers. In addition, fan translations of commercial (Japanese) games shared on F95 are nearly always distributed along with the entire original game. This is something that you can easily verify for yourself and this is also why you are not allowed to talk about F95 on most publishers' Discord servers
DLSite told Visa and MasterCard to go take a walk, so they are still an option, but you have to jump through a couple hoops to purchase outside of Japan.
Actually I think I'll take this opportunity to go buy anything there as a token of appreciation for that.
Not sure how it works for non-Japanese developers to publish games there now, though.
You should focus on the actual enemy (VISA, Mastercard and who made them take that decision)
What Steam and Itch are doing good is gathering players in the same place, in that way we can talk share and build a strong community.
Going elsewhere will just make the community shatter and we'll become more distant.
How many time does it take to gather the same numbers of players elsewhere? A significant amount.
They don't care where we go, in fact, considered who those fanatics are, they would probably want to demonize games in general.
Shattering will make 'em buy more time to do that, it's much better to gather and use our voice... don't make them grant a double victory
It's too late, they already won, MC and Visa won't reverse their decision, and it's not like you can just boycott them, mkst major banks use Visa/MC as their debit card provider.
It doesn't matter how strong our collective voice is, because Collective Shout clearly already has these major corps by the balls somehow. Otherwise why else woukl they have done this for a group with 11K followers on insta in a completely separate country
They are influent? Sure, they are invincible? We'll see.
It's not a good reason to give up and say each other goodbye.
Gamers are millions, at least tens of millions if not way more.
If we manage to connect and channel our voice in the same direction that can be quite something... imagine if the Stop Destroying Games was signed from 50 millions people, that would be powerful
Maybe, but they are not enemies, we don't need more enemies, there's already enough of them.
The other scenario was that Steam and Itch would heroically have said "Fine, go ahead. We care about our customers", then they would have stopped receiving money and in few times both the stores would have collapsed. No earnings for them, no earnings for developers, no games for us. They would just become an online chat? Until the costs of the server, which they would not be able to pay would make expire the domain.
That would be a very harsh strike to worldwide gaming and game developement, considered that nowadays the digital market is the most significant in terms of %, pretty much like restarting from square 1... or 3 (maybe a bit later than the birth of internet? That's a lot years).
But hey, we would have remembered and cried on the graves on 2 valiant heroes: "Steam" and "Itch.io", 2 heroes who died to tell the world that they cannot make them remove a part of their games (the fact that instead 100% of their games disappeared is just one minor detail).
Let's just skip the part in which other stores would take place: same 2 forks scenario (at the current state of things).
You know what? I don't need of heroes, we don't need of heroes, the world doesn't need of heroes: the world needs of us.
If we only see the negative part of it, we'll just hate and go away, without connections we are just individuals, the number is our biggest and probably the only one advantage we have.
Complicit as far being threatened is involved... no one would locically want to be hit from a shitstorm like this, anyone could predict such outcome, so it's impossible they would have done willingly.
The bad thing they did was was panicking and remove everything in one block, unlike Steam which checked the game list with more attention than that.
We can blame itch for having handled the situation pretty bad, but i won't tear it apart for being forced by payment processors to remove games.
Why there are so few threads about make it pay to Collective Shout and Payment processors, compared to raging at Itch? You guys are really missing the true point
https://github.com/IndieGameNews/Compendium
https://indiegamenews.github.io/Compendium/Home.html
while I don't host games my website could be a massive help here when it comes to delisting transparency etc and anyone can fork/write their own articles on it!
I don't know about these sites. If somebody has info about them to share. But i found some ones.
https://isotopic.io/game-store/
But i hope we don't need to leave in the end. Is not itch betrayed us, is more like a visa/mastercard extortion powered by Collective Shout.
Itch could implement MyBank as a payment method for Europe (and others that are not US based).
Of course the main problem is these payment method are not international.
But even if itch implement multiple national payment method to avoid mastercard/visa for nsfw games, I'm not sure it will matter since mastercard/visa can still bully any platform even if they are not used just by nsfw titles...
if will of course be awesome if itch could decide to just implement all national payment method and say "go fuck yourself" to mastercard and visa but I don't think most users will actually be happy about it (and people from the US would still be excluded unless there is an alternative in US to mastercard/visa and other stupid payment method that want to censor games).
OMG totally agree with you. She think that she is creating a safe place for all of the people to live, but she also shaming the women herself. Seriously with calling female wearing shorts, short skirts or even push-up bra a sl*t. This woman and her so called 'collective shout' members are not focusing on protect the female and children, they just enjoying being upper and overpower against others.
Just wanna let you know one of the games was a game teaching people about consent and had no pornographic content, along with lgbtq story games that didn't have explicit sexual content either so no nsfw aren't "horrible". I notice in ur posts you argue they shouldnt ban violent gorey games, but yet u act like sexual games will cause harm with the same logic those who want to ban violent video games use. Like wtf did porn ever do to you? Chances are if u got addicted to it and regret it sorry buddy thats ur own fault. Censorship of this kind isnt good and is often just the first step to take more freedoms from people, going for the weak link (porn) to then censor more.
We're building https://altgames.io/, an alternative game marketplace for people who have been affected by the recent censorship. Feel free to send me a DM if you're interested, I'd love to chat.
There is currently a thread trying to be like that, but the reason no one is really developing that is because the deindex is SUPPOSED to be temporary until they finish there little audit. Building a third party site to index adult NSFW itch games would ultimately be a waste if the deindex is lifted at some point.
