Itch.io is the latest marketplace that performs the performance of games for adults Techcrunch

Indie Video Game Marketplace Itch.io announced this week that it has “Deindexed” mature and non-safe-for-work gamesRemove them from the leaf and search pages.

The move, the company said, was a response to a Collective Shout campaign (a interest group that did that Previously criticized Video games, rap music and lingerie commercials) on both focused Itch.io and steam for selling ‘no mercy’, a game that returns rape and incest.

In An open letter Poem to managers at PayPal, Mastercard, Visa and other payment processors, Collective Scream said that games “endorsing sexual abuse of men and torture of women and girls is flying in the light of efforts to tackle violence against women.”

“We do not see how facilitating payment transactions and distracting financial benefits from these violent and unethical games, is consistent with your business values and mission statements,” the organization added.

The campaign seems to have worked, with Steam said earlier this month Verban Games That “can violate the rules and standards set out by the payment processors of Steam and related map networks and banks, or internet network providers.”

Likewise, itch.io said: “To ensure that we can continue to operate and offer a marketplace for all developers, we must prioritize our relationship with our payment partners and take immediate steps for compliance.”

It also said that “no grace” “was temporarily available on Itch.io before he was banned in April”, and that “the situation developed quickly”, so that the company would “act urgently to protect the core payment infrastructure of the platform”, without providing advanced notification to makers.

The company said that it is now carrying out an “extensive audit” to ensure that games available on the market meet “the requirements of our payment processors”, where the content of the adult will remain dedexed until the audit is completed. After the audit, itch.io The makers of the NSFW game will have to confirm that their content is permitted under the policy of their payment processors who are linked to their account.

Users criticize on social media itch.ioThe decision noted that being Current conditions Declare that violations of the content of adults are “permanent without the risk of an appeal” and that funds on an offensive account “are not eligible for payment” – or as a developer Put it”If you violate the rules, we will take all your money. Not just the money from that work, all your money of everything you have ever earned.”

This is far from the first time that payment companies seem to have put online platforms under pressure on content for adults – for example last year, Gumroad pointed to limitations of payment processors when the stricter rules related to NSFW art implemented, and only fans blamed for “bank partners and paying providers” the explicit content “then gave the explicit content. Then reversed).

A Change.org Petition With more than 137,000 verified signatures, Mastercard and Visa criticize their role in these types of decisions. The petition requires, among other things, that the payment companies “stop censoring legal fictional content that meets the law and platform standards” and “rejecting activist groups that promote moral panic or incorrect display fiction as damage”.