itch.io

"You are a child that understand nothing"

Thank you for demonstrating on how to lose any argument in 7 words.

I note your reply contained no counterpoints against my arguments beyond "you are reading this in bad faith"

Yes, please read the whole thing, indeed:

If you plan to collect money for your content, then you must adhere to the acceptable use policy of all respective payment processors that your account utilizes:

The following is a non-exhaustive list of prohibited themes present in card processing networks. We are unable to support the sale of any works containing these topics:

Non-consensual content (real or implied)

Underage or “barely legal” themes

Incest or pseudo-incest content

Bestiality or animal-related

Rape, coercion, or force-related

Sex trafficking implications

Revenge porn / voyeur / hidden cam

Fetish involving bodily waste or extreme harm (e.g., “scat,” “vomit”)

Basically they say: "Content glorifying sexual violence is not permitted" (we will kick you out for that) and then they add "we won't let you sell anything that might violate the much longer list"

It does not need to "glorify" anything for the second part. If it did, it would already run afoul the first point and be kicked out and there would be no need to say "oh, we'll kick you off our platform for glorifying sexual violence, but if you also include scat in your sexual violence glorifying game then we also won't allow you to sell it"

I don't know how much plainer I can make it for you. There is NO QUALIFIER on the long list, it just says, if your content includes X it is as good as dead. A furry game (even if it is not porn)? Nope, not allowed to be sold because it might be "animal related"

It says "We are unable to support the sale of any works containing these topics:" - nothing about "pornography" nothing about "glorify" - it contains it the content - it is on the chopping block.

No, it isn't. Itch.io is basically dead.

It says "We are unable to support the sale of any works containing these topics:" - nothing about "pornography" nothing about "glorify" - it contains it the content - it is on the chopping block.

https://www.escapistmagazine.com/valves-gabe-newell-says-piracy-is-a-service-pro...

Yes, they targeted other sites before, however
1) Itch.io's handing of "Oh, we shadowbanned everything NSFW without a moment's notice, sorry (lulz)" is just terrible and 2) Steam is bigger - but has far more "mainstream" games. Steam can easily shrug off losing the handful of NSFW games in favor of keeping the mainstream ones - Itch.io has many more smaller developers and many more NSFW games, so the stakes are different for them: NSFW content likely is a much bigger share than e.g. on Steam, so they should try to fight for that bigger piece, or at least not act in a way that will NOT burn all goodwill towards them (instead of how they did act)

While itch.io is not the anti-trans, anti-porn pseudo-facist group that pressured the payment provider, they decided the throw all NSFW content creators under the bus without as much as a moments notice.

"Our ability to process payments is critical for every creator on our platform. 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.

This is a time critical moment for itch.io. The situation developed rapidly, and we had to act urgently to protect the platform’s core payment infrastructure. Unfortunately, this meant it was not realistic to provide creators with advance notice before making this change. We know this is not ideal, and we apologize for the abruptness of this change."

We know this is not ideal, and we apologize for the abruptness of this change

Oh, you "apologize for the abruptness" - well all is good and fi.... Nope, this is still utter BULLSHIT - you just threw all NSFW under the bus, PERIOD.

Hope it was worth it, Itch.io - I considered you a good alternative to Steam, especially for all the niche, smaller games that would be hard pressed to find traction on Steam, but you managed to burn away all the goodwill in one big swoop. Good job - but look at the upsides, your payment provider will have sooo much less work to do now, since many people will no longer buy from you (including me)