Itch.io Removes NSFW Games Following Pressure from Payment Processors

Sure! Here’s a rewritten version of the article:

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So, picture this: Itch.io, which is like this treasure trove for indie games, just went ahead and yanked all their adult NSFW stuff. Why? Apparently, the payment folks gave them the side-eye. I’m talking about some serious “you better clean up your act” vibes.

Anyway, Leaf Corcoran, the founder, dropped a blog post – surprise! The culprit behind this shake-up? A group called Collective Shout. These folks are acting like game-shamans, trying to exorcise the digital land of Steam and Itch.io from anything too spicy. They went to the payment providers with their pitchforks, claiming civilization would collapse if these platforms didn’t change their ways.

I mean, imagine knowing your ability to swipe left or right on games was hanging by a thread. Or maybe it’s just me being melodramatic. But Corcoran emphasized they had to align with these financial gatekeepers. It’s kind of like when you make a deal with the devil, only the devil’s dressed up as a credit card company.

“We gotta keep the payments flowing,” Corcoran said. Sounds like one of those moments when someone realizes their favorite rollercoaster just ran out of tracks. Immediate compliance and all that jazz became the top priority, fast-tracking changes like no one’s business. Yeah, they had to ditch giving the game developers a heads-up. It’s messy, sure, but what can you do when the cards are stacked against you?

And then there’s Valve. They’ve been sketching out their own nebulous guidelines for Steam. Probably clutching their pearls, too, every time Collective Shout raises a fuss. All thanks to those same puppeteers pulling strings at the payment processing end.

Feels like we’re in a new age of digital Puritanism or something. Who’d have thought payment providers would be the unlikely arbiters of game morality, right?

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