I think it's time for a game platform divorced from Visa/Mastercard to rise to the occasion and step in for these platforms. Websites without these processors already exist, so the model is proven to work well enough (it's less convenient for sure).

I wouldn't think the US would be a good country for this hypothetical store though. I think it's only a matter of time until they attack the publishers and studios directly. I'm not counting on the 1st amendment to help anyone.

Well that is at least something Bitcoin could have fixed

Collective Shout describe themselves as a "grassroots campaigns movement against the objectification of women and the sexualisation of girls", but are associated with outspokenly homophobic and anti-abortion Christian conservative groups, according to a now-deleted Vice article. They recently claimed credit for the campaign that saw payment providers pressuring the online storefronts to remove content the group deemed unacceptable.

It's not hard to empathise with the folks behind Itch for being placed in an impossible position, but their lack of forewarning has left creators blindsided and in some cases, seemingly without income. "I wish we had gotten some warning from Steam and Itch," wrote game developer Robert Yang on Bluesky, "but we already know it's Collective Shout + payment processors waging culture war against LGBTQ people and sexual expression. I guess there's nothing else for Steam and Itch to say".

Personally speaking, I'd be willing to extend that good faith to Itch.io themselves, but they aren't the one holding the gun to their own heads here. That'd be financial companies, pressured by Collective Shout, who themselves have ties to an organisation whose CEO once described gay marriage as an "unspeakable offence to God". It's not difficult to imagine what kind of expression these groups might decide to deem as unacceptable next.

Payment processors and financial institutions sure do seem to hold disproportionate amounts of power.

Collective shout finacials
year: 2024
revenue: 458043
employee_expenses: 107000
other_expenses: 215488
net_surplus: 135555
employees: 
  total_fte: 2
  full_time: 0
  part_time: 1
  casual: 4
volunteers: 15
donations_and_bequests: 389800
government_grants: 0
commercial_income: 0
expense_to_revenue_ratio: "70.4%"
average_expense_per_employee: 39400

Leadership
- name: Melinda Tankard Reist
  role: Founder, Movement Director
  public_socials:
    - Twitter: @MelTankardReist
    - Instagram: @collective.shout
  public_email_address: Not publicly listed
  salary: Not publicly listed

- name: Caitlin Roper
  role: Campaigns Manager
  public_socials:
    - Instagram: @collective.shout
  public_email_address: Not publicly listed
  salary: Not publicly listed

- name: Renee Chopping
  role: Campaigns Strategy
  public_socials:
    - LinkedIn
  public_email_address: r******@collectiveshout.org
  salary: Not publicly listed

- name: Lyn Swanson Kennedy
  role: Campaigns Strategy
  public_socials:
    - Instagram: @collective.shout
  public_email_address: Not publicly listed
  salary: Not publicly listed

- name: Coralie Alison
  role: Movement Operations Manager
  public_socials:
    - Twitter: @CoralieAlison
    - Instagram: @collective.shout
  public_email_address: Not publicly listed
  salary: Not publicly listed

Fuck.

These.

Fucking.

Shitsucking

Subhuman

Leeches

We can blame the religious organisation as much as we want, but the fundamental problem here is payment processors. They should be common carriers. Content-neutral middlemen who facilitate payment to anything that isn't literally unlawful. This is no different to an ISP throttling access to Netflix because they operate their own streaming platform. If the storefront, the developer, and the buyer are all ok with a transaction, there's no good reason for a fourth party to stand in the way of that.

You know by now you might have to use crypto for yer sinful games.

Delist thousands of games, or deslist a handful of payment middle-men?

It's the same religious organization that went after them NSFW games on Steam. Like the games or not, it's always a slippery slope with this kind of censorship.

Damn guess we'll need to move to the alternative- ah wait- no- itch was the alternative.

I wonder if a federated game platform would work as an idea or if that's just an inherently bad idea due to the nature of trusting strangers with your money.

Wow, I might actually have to stop using itch.io, is nowhere safe from the craziest anymore? I dont even make NSFW games, but bending the knee to dickheads over some overtly religious bullshit isnt gonna work for me.

Direct link to their statement rather than reading an article talking about it: https://itch.io/updates/update-on-nsfw-content

Wonder how long it will take for them to start going after LGBT+ stuff. Hope I'm wrong.

I would understand forcibly banning/removing something, if it poses a real existential threat to the majority of people.

But religion fueled bigotry, in a place where you can CHOOSE to buy and play something, or completely ignore and hide if you’d like? Come on. Adults can decide if they want to have access to this content on their own, without a completely unrelated third party constantly trying to fucking inject themselves in between