I'm a NSFW game developer. What many people may or may not realize is that all the current payment processing options available for developers to take payouts with (PayPal, Stripe, and Payoneer) ALL have policies banning the use of their services for the exchange of adult content.

To adhere to their policies, I'm currently giving away my game for free, with the option to donate to me personally via the 'Pay What You Want' option at time of download. The current UI prompt does indicate that "This game is free but the developer accepts your support by letting you pay what you think is fair for the game.", but I worry that the language "letting you pay what you think is fair for the game" could be misinterpreted by some payment providers as the users still paying for the adult content.

It would be nice if this language could be made more neutral, in general or specifically in the case of NSFW games, because of the delicate nature of monetization and adult content to separate this donation from payment for the game itself.

Perhaps something along the lines of "This game is free but the developer accepts your support in the form of an optional donation." or something of that nature?

Interesting point. I had a look. Indeed Payoneer and Stripe have very broad  exclusion. Maybe there is fine print that I missed. They are corps. If it is legal, they probably  have exceptions that are easy to miss. Since they deal worldwide they like to put it so broadly to cover their bases.

There should be an easy to use payment provider that only has the limitations of credit cards. Because, most of the stuff that is excluded by those providers can be done by the real payment providers (credit cards, banks). Including car rental,   buying cigarettes and adult stuff. Especially adult stuff.

Anyways, the wording can be     key, as you mentioned.   Giving away the stuff for free, as in, not selling it. Making the payment not a payment for the game, but for other stuff, be it donation or whatever you wanna call it.

That being said, Paypal is the most  lenient it seems to me.  It is all so convoluted, they ban cigarettes of all things.   But you have to have your account be approved to accept payment for  "Mature Audience Content". That reads as "Any adult content delivered digitally including video on demand (VOD) and web-cam activities. PayPal may be restricted from processing payments in certain jurisdictions for adult DVD’s, magazines and other adult themed products or services."

But I am not an expert in these things, so do not take my word for it. But I would like to mention that if I were to "buy" your game, I would not pay you. I would pay itch.  If I were to pay you, I would see your financial contact info. So maybe that makes a difference. I pay itch for access to the stuff you provided. And just because I did that, does not mean, I would be entitled to, say, a Steam key of your game or could make you provide me with  a private download link, should I lose my itch account.

Regardless, if Steam can sell adult stuff, there has to be a way. People like money. How does Steam do it? They accept about any payment method you can think of, but I do not know, how they pay out to the developer.

Hi DeepDredux, may I know what kind of payment method you are currently using? I'm struggling with payment methods as well, so it would be a great help if you could let me know. As for NSFW content, I'm aware that platforms like itch.io allow it through payment processors such as PayPal, Stripe, and Payoneer. However, selecting a direct payment method may result in a ban from these payment processors. I'm not sure how to navigate this situation.