On the night of July 23, independent developers on Itch.io began discovering that their games tagged as NSFW had quietly vanished from the platform’s search results. Whether the content addressed difficult subjects like eating disorders or explored adult themes, the result was the same: games were removed without warning or explanation.
Itch.io has initiated a sweeping deindexing of all adult-marked content, stripping it from visibility regardless of context. The move, according to site founder Leaf Corcoran, stems from increasing pressure on payment processors, a situation he called “sudden and disruptive.”
Corcoran attributed this clampdown to an ongoing campaign led by Collective Shout, an organization that openly lobbies against adult content online and has advocated for payment companies to cut ties with platforms that host such material.
Their recent tactics mirror what has long been recognized in free speech and adult industry circles as financial censorship, a method that bypasses regulation or public discourse in favor of quiet, powerful economic throttling.
Steam, the largest digital PC game platform, also recently removed hundreds of titles following a similar campaign. Valve, which operates Steam, said that it was “recently notified that certain games on Steam may violate the rules and standards set forth by our payment processors and their related card networks and banks,” leading to those removals. The company declined to comment further.
By exerting influence through financial institutions, advocacy groups can suppress content with little resistance. This approach has a chilling effect on creators.
Corcoran, addressing the issue in a statement posted to Itch.io’s site, emphasized the platform’s need to protect its financial lifeline: “Our ability to process payments is critical for every creator on our platform,” he wrote. “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.”
Developers impacted by the removals argue that this campaign has extended far beyond its stated targets. Consume Me, an award-winning game about a teenage girl navigating diet culture, is one such example. Despite having no explicit content, its NSFW tag seems to have triggered its removal from search results.
Another game, Last Call by Nina Freeman, was also deindexed. The autobiographical game addresses domestic abuse and recovery, hardly the kind of content that would fall under the alleged justification for censorship.
“The payment processor delisting hit Last Call, my game about surviving domestic violence,” Freeman wrote. “It doesn’t have any sex stuff or NSFW images… this whole situation sucks so much!”
