Itch did an Oopsy, Now What?
Hello everyone! For those who don't know, Itch.io, the website on which I started Hazelnut Latte, has decided to delist all adult games from their website. They are manually reviewing every game, and some games, such as Max the Elf, are being taken down.
We honestly don't know! But here is what we plan to do.
If we get removed
Might not be much recourse here, but we will try to fight Itch to keep our account alive. Upon reviewing their rules, we don't appear to violate anything. But if they don't want us, we can't stop them.
If we are allowed to stay
This is way more likely. The games I am seeing getting removed have Gen AI, non-con lewd combat, or have characters that look way too young. Hazelnut Latte doesn't fit those categories, so I am confident it will stay, but who knows?
If we stay, we want to make some changes at some point to future-proof the game.
When the Unity demo is released, it will be "SFW," meaning that nothing lewd will occur in the game. We will have an NSFW Patch for the demo on Patreon that you can install on the demo for free.
Since this crackdown has been affecting Steam, we also want to take similar action. When the game is eventually released on Steam, it will be SFW with an NSFW DLC.
This helps us because if they ever decide they don't like the lewd content, the DLC will be the target, not the game. Then we'd sell the NSFW patch on Patreon with install instructions. (Hoping they don't just nuke the whole page.)
This is also beneficial because people will be able to stream the game without fear of being taken down, as the SFW version will have no lewd content. And streamers do help sales.
Wrap Up
Does this suck? Yes, we make/play adult games, and we are always in the political crosshairs. We are constantly looked down on and made easy targets. It's annoying, since games with gore and stuff are completely fine, but falling in love? Ban it!
But no matter what, I will be here, and I will continue to make games.
Life, uh, finds a way.
Stay safe out there as we continue to navigate these troubling times, and don't forget to Stay Rad!
Comments (12)
Itch bending the knee to a Christian nationalist group is just disappointing
People playing NSFW games are the most kind and friendly people. I never saw any NSFW game's fans attacking each others, we always having such a wonderful positive atmosphere for discussion. What kind of monster will try do this type of terrible things to us.
I am so so SO happy that is your experience with this community. I hope that never changes <3
Sometimes im ashamed to be American....
Sadly it's not just an American problem. Right-wing nutcases all over the world are the problem.
This is so annoying, I hope people begin to make noise cause it’s only the beginning.
I figured a SFW only version would be the prudent option, and hey, you literally already made an option for it story wise, so that was some good foresight on your part. You'll get through this for sure.
If I were to say that I had a prescient dream about this...
Damn my luck, I just discovered your game a few weeks ago on itch and now they're nuking nsfw content LMAO
Whether the game gets to stay or not we really should rally and contact our payment providers because they’re the ones that have been putting pressure to ban things on Steam, itch.io and here. If we keep letting them block us from using our money on what we want then soon there will be nothing we can buy without strict regulation
Let's GOOO!! Improvise. Adapt. Overcum.
I remember when the green site did this, I can’t remember the sites name but it made the news I think.