Skip to main content

On Sale: GamesAssetsToolsTabletopComics
Indie game storeFree gamesFun gamesHorror games
Game developmentAssetsComics
SalesBundles
Jobs
TagsGame Engines

Take down notices from the NSFW purge

A topic by BondageBunny created 1 day ago Views: 94 Replies: 3
Viewing posts 1 to 3

I'm seeing some posts saying that games weren't actually taken down or banned and that no one brought forth proof of otherwise. I wanted to say that's simply not true. Two of my games straight up got banned and are no longer available because of it and support will not respond to my appeal. It's really frustrating cause people who bought my games no longer have access, years of my development was taken down, and it makes me wonder if I should bother making new games that likely might just be taken down again.



So Games were indeed banned, many were brought back but many were banned. Here is the proof.

Itch and any other store have always removed games that, in their opinion, violate their Terms of Service or the law.

The difference, and a very important one, is between removing games for being NSFW versus removing games for violating their Terms of Service.

If I check Itch's homepage, it's full of games with NSFW content, many with quite explicit images, and they're there; the staff hasn't banned them.

So no, Itch is NOT banning games for being NSFW, and that's what's been said in many posts, but this doesn't mean that a number of games aren't banned for violating Itch's Terms of Service, which is very different.

Regarding your particular case, I don't know the reason, I don't know if the staff made a mistake or not, and I'm sorry for your situation and understand your frustration. I hope the staff can review it and give you a solution.

(5 edits)

I reviewed itch's terms of service very carefully before deciding on itch.io for my games because violating a terms of service would make me personally feel horrible. I found that the content I make is not in violation so I proceeded. 
Since the bans I rereviewed to see if there were any changes to the terms of service and still I am found that I am not in violation.

My two games are yandere/horror games however many other yandere games were not banned so maybe it was a mistake, however it happened during the NSFW sweep.
One of  my games was published in 2022. So it was not found to be in "violation" for 3 years before that sweep. As were some other examples I will post below:



Another example:



This content creator was hit with it as well. Till Death do us part is of the same content of her Boyfriend to death series but it cherry picked which ones it banned instead of banning all it's content. 

Neither of these titles nor mine are glorifying violence nor have real life depictions of people which is what's stated in the terms of service.

They feature trying to escape a serial killer/yandere but in no way frame the "bad guy or his/her actions" as justifiable or desirable.

Glorification of violence is the act of portraying violent acts in a way that presents them as admirable, justified, or desirable, often by highlighting their heroic, exciting, or aesthetic aspects while downplaying their negative consequencesThis can be seen in media like movies, video games, and video games, where violence is often framed as a heroic or necessary solution to conflict.

All of these games are dark psychological horror game presented entirely from a first-person perspective, where the player experiences the story as the victim rather than the aggressor.  Their framing centers around empathy and immersion in the protagonist’s trauma and survival, rather than glorifying or endorsing harmful actions.

The games all explore themes of trauma, control, and survival through a horror lens. While they all contain dark and mature content—including fictional non-consensual scenarios—they  ultimately are BDSM role-play fantasy that stresses the importance of consent in real-life contexts. Before the narrative begins in each and every single one of these banned games, the players explicitly have to consent to the scenarios and are clearly informed about the content they’ll engage with. 

My games specifically always presents these themes as horrifying and critiques the mindset behind them. My intention is to create a safe, fictional outlet for exploring complex kinks or fantasies in a controlled environment  —one that may help players avoid riskier or more dangerous real-world alternatives. It also  offers players a way to confront difficult emotions and desires through fiction, rather than through real-life risk. Which is the heart of its purpose: to provide a creative, controlled, and safe emotional outlet. It also delivers the kind of intense, cathartic thrill that draws people to horror films—pushing boundaries within a space where no one is truly harmed.

(1 edit)

Hi, let me try to clarify my point so we don't get into a pointless argument.

I haven't played your game and I don't know the criteria the staff used to ban it (and they'll probably never tell us the reason). So I can't say whether the staff made a mistake in your case or your friend's.

All I'm saying is that Itch doesn't ban games JUST for being NSFW. Proof of that is if you go to the main games page, and you'll see it's full of games with NSFW content, many of which were there before the issue. So no, Itch didn't ban NSFW games, but they did ban those they thought violated the Terms of Service.

Could they have made a mistake? I'm sure that's the case, and that many games that shouldn't have been banned were. I'm also certain there are indexed and functioning games that violate the Terms of Service and haven't been banned, but those errors are NOT the norm. They are isolated cases, and that's the difference I'm emphasizing.

I sincerely hope the staff reinstates your game or at least explains the reason. But again, I'm not saying anything against your game. All I'm saying is that your case is an exception, and the proof is simply to look at the "popular" page.