IGDA Expresses Serious Concern Over Recent Crackdown on Adult Games

The International Game Developers Association has voiced its alarm over the recent surge in delistings and de-indexing of adult games from prominent platforms such as itch.io and Steam. In a statement released on July 29, the organization called for greater transparency and fairness in the moderation of adult content across major platforms. This move comes in response to the delistings and de-indexing of adult content on itch.io and Steam, prompted by pressure from payment processors. The pressure is believed to stem from an ongoing campaign by the Australian advocacy group Collective Shout, which had written to the CEOs of major payment processing companies, requesting them to cease processing payments for gaming platforms hosting games with themes of rape, incest, and child sexual abuse. As a result, itch.io has de-indexed adult content from its browse and search pages and updated its adult content guidelines to align with its payment processor's terms. Similarly, Valve has removed numerous NSFW games from Steam and tightened its guidelines on adult content. However, the IGDA warns that overly cautious enforcement of these guidelines could lead to the targeting of games featuring consensual adult content, potentially forcing developers, particularly those from the LGBTQ+ community, into silence or self-censorship. The IGDA reports that these actions have been taken with minimal communication, disproportionately affecting developers who create legal, consensual, and ethically-developed content. The lack of transparency in enforcement criteria, sudden policy shifts, and the absence of appeal pathways have left creators without a clear path to compliance or recourse. The IGDA emphasizes that recent policy changes, driven by payment processors, have enabled financial institutions to influence the types of stories that can be told and sold in games, often with minimal transparency or public accountability. The organization reaffirms its support for developers creating consensual, lawful, and ethically-developed games, highlighting the need for proportionate, informed, and transparent enforcement. The IGDA argues that games, as a medium of artistic expression, can explore themes of intimacy, pleasure, trauma, or identity, and when created ethically and distributed legally, these works deserve to be evaluated fairly, transparently, and contextually, rather than being swept aside due to stigma or external pressure.