Steam's already made that rule, anything you publish has to fit their card processor's criteria. Their written criteria is clearly not what they're using since legal things are what they oppose, so I guess you have to submit your game to all the card processors (they don't specify) so they can decide if it's acceptable. Hope they're hiring people for this.
Nothing in life is safe, it's always about moving from one place to another in order to survive and not depend exclusively on one place for all eternity.
In the case of the Internet, the freest way to distribute content is by using your own servers via P2P, but it is a slower and even more insecure method, but with a more decent method and greater care it will be worth it.
Is like Ofihombre said. No place is completely safe. If you want a suggestion for a 'plan of action' i recommend buying a big HDD Like 1 or 2 TB and save ALL your stuff in there. Also publish you games in different sites, if your games are not NSFW, then you shouldn't have many troubles. If they are, well yeah, you might need to spend some time searching new stores or try set up your own server/domain.
Unfortunately, itch.io is no longer a safe platform for publishing NSFW games—I'd even say it's becoming risky for SFW games too. Many perfectly harmless SFW titles could still fall afoul of the new rules. I really hope a more viable alternative emerges soon.
While I understand the need to restrict certain types of content, the new Terms of Service are so vague and overly broad that they leave almost no room for creative freedom or interpretation.
the rules are made vague on purpose so the invisible net can catch more while the company can dictate what they want to personally remove and what they dont feel like noticing just yet.
from personal experience and a horrible childhood, i have found that you should be extra careful around rulsets that are vague... too many things can fuck you up if the rulemakers take notice of you.
i cant fucking stand this shit, there are too many assholes who think that sex is bad and anything even hinting at it is the devils work or some shit.
porn games arent evil, the folks banning them are
The issue is that even if/when an alternative pops up, they too are beholden to payment processors. So the second they get big enough to get noticed, well the same thing that happened to itch will happen to them. The issue is without payment processors EVERYONE on itch would have been out of the job so its a lose and lose a little less scenario. So we need to continue holding up the pressure until payment processors back down.
But there are many ways to pay with crypto. Currently, there are several stablecoins that have very low or minimal gas fees.
Why should we still rely on credit cards? They could create their own native coin or currency for the platform, and instead of buying or paying directly with real money, users could do so through this intermediate token. It would give more control over the economy, reduce transaction fees, and offer more flexibility—especially if the token is backed by a stablecoin or pegged to a fiat currency. Plus, it could help build a stronger community around the platform
the issue I have with crypto is there's no way for us normies to acquire such currency, we have to purchase it or mine what little is left of it. Purchasing crypto just means we have to use the very same payment processors that hold us by the balls right now, and we can't all make games and are to earn the electronic scrip coins. Top it off every youtuber and their second cousins poisoned the supply with their scams and every country and corporations over mined the stuff a while back too.
I have to go through 50+ hurdles to get it, and now you have to go through the same hurdles to put it back into usable currency for you to eat and pay the electric bill.
Itch talked a big game about being pro-adult work for a long while, but caved the second they got a tiny bit of pressure
Everyone else is comfortable with this because they aren't the ones being thrown under the bus.
Itch isn't your friend and neither are the "SFW" authors who are fine with continuing to give Itch a cut of their funds. Don't ever forget that you are expendable to them.
