Shadowbanned: My Game Disappeared from Itch.io
As many of you have probably read online, all NSFW games have been shadowbanned on Itch.
What does that mean?
It means that users can no longer find my game unless they have a direct link. This severely limits its visibility and makes it much harder to reach new players.
This is extremely disappointing for me, as I’ve invested countless hours promoting my game on their platform.
From now on, I’ll continue posting updates here.
At the moment, I’m actively working on Chapter 5, but this move has hit hard, not only emotionally, but also financially. Especially considering that my game doesn’t break any rules: all characters are of legal age, and every NSFW interaction is clearly portrayed as consensual.
Lastly, I want to take this opportunity to thank those of you who support me financially. You're the reason I'm able to keep pushing forward with this project.
Comments (23)
This is a snippet of the posting on each of the devs sites I follow (27 of them). It addresses the root cause and a petition link to at least think we're being heard from change.org. " From "burning books", school board meetings, baseless lies and top down corruption, they want CONTROL. This is just a symptom. So stand up and say no. Fuck 'em. Make them irrelevevant. If they want their teeth back make 'em need a colonoscopy. Don't sit on your asses, unite for the actual freedom of choice. Stay rational and relevant, but BE HEARD. This is one way - Change.org and the most recent petition https://chng.it/mbwQ87Kpbv
I’m more than happy to sign it!
https://itch.io/t/5149036/reindexing-adult-nsfw-content
https://itch.io/updates/update-on-nsfw-content
I read it two days ago, I just hope the process will be quick. Although I think that, unlike platforms like Steam, Itch probably can’t afford a team of curators who evaluate every single game based on predefined criteria.
Don't forget to look at it from a business perspective. ITch.io is wrong for shadow banning and it is that simple. But their rationale for this will come down to several things, most generally the "moral majority that isn't" in this case. There might be a majority but it's moral compass is questionable at best. We currently have a White House that is trying to insert it's plenipotentiary ambitions as requirements into virtually all facets of business. That includes who gets grants, federal funding, tax breaks, etc. Controlling the Fed, even telling Coca-Cola to make their product with cane sugar. Trying to tax individual Ebay sellers on over $600 in sales annually (I own my own business and sell on Ebay regularly). And thousands of other things relevant only to political whim and self justification. This will come down to the credit card companies caving to pressure from on high to cut contracts with companies like ITch.io. to keep from being pressured or even tied up in court or meaningless federal hearings. Or artists having to disclose income they make on commissioned work for AVNs. And the list is endless. ITch is not out to hurt anybody, they're just trying to survive. Look, we voted for this. It would take an idiot to not consider what would happen when you stick a willfully ignorant, wannabe oligarch in charge who's only ambition is to pad his base and pockets to feel "superior". I fought this tooth and nail with Ebay, got involved with the Small Business Adminstration locally, and ended up winning because we had voices and used them. Don't get mad at ITch. Get mad at who's putting them on the ropes. And to the devs, stick together, no matter how big or small you are. Somebody organize and start sending form letters to Congress with signatures. Fucking unionize if you have to to get heard. Don't play games, stop THEIRS.
I understand the difficult economic situation we’re all going through right now, but what I would have really appreciated, and still hope for, from the Itch staff is some kind of warning. Their “solution” was implemented overnight in Europe, while I was asleep. I woke up to a flood of messages saying that all NSFW games had been banned from Itch, only to later discover that they were “just” temporarily shadowbanned. The staff’s communication is still extremely limited. What they told me on Discord is that they don’t know how long this will take and usually, when a company says that, it means it’ll be a very long time. In the meantime, I’m being hit with a serious loss of visibility and income, despite not having violated any rule. My personal frustration with Itch also comes from how painfully slow they are at replying to emails. Weeks ago, I sent them a high-priority email, and I still haven’t received any answer. On top of that, they are extremely slow at paying out the money they owe me. If I had to survive solely on the income from this VN, I’d be in serious trouble. So yeah, these are all major areas Itch should improve on, but this whole situation has felt like a low blow. Over the next few days, I’ll be actively looking for a new platform to publish on and hopefully one I can be more loyal to. That said, I’m really sorry to hear about the pressure you eBay sellers are facing. Taxing anyone who earns over $600 a year is absurd, it basically means cutting off the livelihood of countless workers.
Man, this really sucks. It’s not your game’s fault, and honestly, Itch.io isn’t fully to blame either. They’re in a tough spot. The same kind of thing is happening on Steam, and GOG might be next. The real issue is groups like Collective Shout and their so-called "anti-porn" campaign, which they claim is about protecting girls from objectification and sexualization. Maybe it’s time we push back, start our own movement to stop these groups from interfering with anything related to sex. It’s starting to feel like a bunch of out-of-touch moral crusaders are trying to control everything.
Yes, I was aware of that group and their campaign to ban a Quantic Dream game for completely absurd reasons. What really frustrates me is how, for these people, every NSFW game must involve sexualization or objectification, but that’s simply not true! Lumping everything together like that is always a huge mistake. My game, for example, features well-developed characters who are more than just stereotypes, they experience a wide range of emotions and live those emotions as people, not as objects. Yes, it would be great if there were a movement that could actually defend the interests of platforms like Patreon, Itch, Steam, etc., against the unreasonable and unjustified demands of these groups.
butch of bullshit is what it is.... theres so many ways to approach what happen that im not even bother to try! in the end i never liked itchio! the search engine was a mess the listings even worse... if u used itchio daily u would noticed somethings happening that would make no sense. for example, a new game shows up and u can see it in the most recent listing, a couple days after it disappears, then a couple weeks after becomes avaiable again but not near the top of the most recent, way below, and the author just loses all the views from ppl looking for new games! i was already thinking about making a site exclusive for adult games! to try and rival with itchio guess im gonna see what i can do now!
Best of luck with your project! :3
LilySauce (Creator) posted about Mastercard problem with Itch, about restrictions policy on adult games.
Yeah, it’s probably due to pressure from Mastercard and VISA regarding certain types of content. The real issue is that Itch’s lack of professionalism ended up getting all of us NSFW devs shadowbanned, even those like me who have absolutely nothing to do with this whole situation.
Im asking because its not possible to renew my subscription every month.. The public version can be download from game site?
The public version of my game will always be available here on Patreon and also on all other sites
Yup. Unless they've added a new setting, no porn games are appearing when I search for the adult tag. I wonder if I'll be able to get a refund if devs will no longer be updating on there.
The original post says this is only a temporary measure, but seeing how long it takes them to respond to a simple email, I can’t help but think this situation will last for many months. I really hope they refund the money you’ve spent on the platform.
So that means from now the only access to the new content is from patreon??
No, I will continue to publish on all the other platforms where my game is available, but if the Itch staff does not fix the damage to my visibility on their site, I will remove it.
Looks like people are getting scared. Not going to do the 'gammon' thing and call out the 'wokes' but i'm going to stick with you. I don't subscribe but I do pay when the price comes within my budget - retired widower with a one-eyed cat :-D
Thank you so much for your encouragement! I really hope the situation gets resolved in the best way possible, but it’s always tough to see months of hard work suddenly disappear over something like this. I’m confident that Itch will eventually sort things out and realize that my game fully complies with all their rules. Also, compliments on your cat :3
i see your game on ITch.io
My game is only accessible through the direct link, if you try searching for it using the search bar, it doesn’t show up and appears to be hidden.