Hi everyone,

I'm reaching out to those of you who are in the same boat.

My game was suddenly removed from search visibility on itch.io — without warning, without an email, and without any explanation. I only found out by accident, and to this day I haven't received a clear reason as to why it happened. All the traffic I used to get from the platform vanished overnight.
This happened right when I was preparing a major update — and I was still working on it from a hospital bed, trying to keep the project alive despite everything.

It's hard to deal with this alone.
I don’t want to just quietly accept this as if it’s normal. It doesn’t feel like a simple bug — it feels like a deliberate policy shift that has affected hundreds or even thousands of creators who poured their hearts into their work.

So I’m writing here to ask:
– Is there already a group chat or community where NSFW creators are coming together to talk about what’s going on?
– Is anyone organizing a response, or thinking about the next steps?
– Are there any real alternatives we can start considering?

I’d be more than happy to join such a space — and even help organize one if it doesn’t exist yet.
I believe we can support each other, share experiences, and maybe build a safer space for our creative work — something we’re being robbed of right now.

If you’ve experienced something similar, please reply.
If you have a Discord or forum — share the link.
If you don’t want to stay silent — let’s connect.

Stay strong,
[TheLewdCult creator of Pocket Charlie]

While I am not an NSFW creator or even consumer of such games, I have been following this situation for a while so will try to answer your questions.

For the first - from what I have seen, so far there is no specific community that tackles that issue but individuals have been pretty vocal on Bluesky and following the whole situation, though I hope community bands together somewhere to at least help be more informed.

In terms of the second - there have been a few attempts at making a difference. For Americans, there is ACLU petition. There is also change.org petition though I wouldn't have high hopes with that one. For EU folks - Digital Fairness Act looks for feedback, which means the issue of the whole situation could be brought there and the plea to introduce protections into the DFA against payment processors and card companies using their power to make threats of cutting business if not complying with their personal policies.

In terms of the third - at least for now, there are no alternatives that could offer actually selling your NSFW game like on itch. DLSite is strictly Japanese and has been hit with similar stuff to itch and F95Zone that I have seen some people mentioning is just a forum. I guess the closest alternatives would be either already hit Steam or if your game is web based and don't mind posting for free, try your luck at Newgrounds (they allow adult content as long as you tag it, so there is that).

If I will get any additional info in terms of those 3 questions, will be glad to add up more info.

Once again the Christian nationalists are trying to censor everything because they are the most miserable fucks on the face of the Earth. These are the same people who attack LGBTQ and drag queens but then get caught with underage pornography on their phones and computers. These people are obsessed with sex and are typically the largest consumers of this type of material. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black! I have lost track of how many Christian televangelists, preachers, pastors, and youth counselors have been busted abusing children. It's always about control and projection with these hypocrites!

and without any explanation. I only found out by accident, and to this day I haven't received a clear reason as to why it happened.

https://itch.io/updates/update-on-nsfw-content#addendum-faq

And if by any chance you are also from the UK, then you should also read this.

https://itch.io/t/5133739/our-update-on-the-uk-online-safety-act

I know it hits hard, especially for a new project growing up solely on your enthusiasm. But you're not alone, hundreds of creators and thousands of players were hit as well. We're frustrated, we're angry and we'd like to strike back to stop the discrimination. But what's next?

If you need to share your anger, try to dig into posts around here and on reddit. Just friendly notice: it's a dark loophole and you'll hardly feel better after hours of doom scrolling.

As other said, there are a few petitions you can sign. 
If you want more action you can try to make a few calls or even to write letters (paper, yes) to show your concerns about censorship. The most complete list (preventing you from long search around the reddit) you can find at https://stop-paypros.neocities.org/. There is also a list of less popular petitions there.

Unfortunately I see no one to organize it properly. Steam as a large corporation could resist (yes, they came to Steam first), but I think they're not that interested in NSFW. Itch appeared to be too small/weak to fight with corporations. Old good zerg rush is happening now might help.. or not - will see it later.

Alternatives? It's difficult. I saw you went to the newgrounds - that's pretty good move. Many people suggest to go to large pirate sites - which might work pretty good if you're not trying to sell your game. Unfortunately none of these provide tools and comfort you had here on itch. A few people announced they've started to build their alternative platforms. I doubt we can get something good in such short terns, but it might be a good start for something new. Steam and DLSite might be an alternative for elder projects. TBH I even thought of building my own site to simply host my game, something Wordpress-based with a Patreon plugin. 
All of these require much time and mental health. So I really hope that most of the games will be restored and itch will not pressure the creators like Patreon does. However we're getting a dead month or two with itch even in a very optimistic case.

As for me, I paused some large announcements for now (as it makes not much sense without visibility) and continue working. It's a bit difficult to focus, but, hell, players wait for updates. 

So good luck and stay strong!