Itch.io de-indexes adult content to placate payment processors

Itch.io has made all adult games on its store unsearchable as it conducts a thorough review of the content.

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Indie games storefront itch.io is the latest storefront to change its content catalog at the behest of credit card payment processors. The company announced that it was effectively making all adult games completely unsearchable on the store as it conducts a "comprehensive audit."

"We have "deindexed" all adult NSFW content from our browse and search pages. We understand this action is sudden and disruptive, and we are truly sorry for the frustration and confusion caused by this change," reads the announcement.

The move follows Valve's recent decision to pull a wave of NSFW games on Steam that lean more towards obscenity.

Itch continues to explain that it had no choice but to make these changes--being cut off by a payment processor can be a death knell for any digital store.

"Our ability to process payments is critical for every creator on our platform. To ensure that we can continue to operate and provide a marketplace for all developers, we must prioritize our relationship with our payment partners and take immediate steps towards compliance.

"This is a time critical moment for itch.io. The situation developed rapidly, and we had to act urgently to protect the platform's core payment infrastructure. Unfortunately, this meant it was not realistic to provide creators with advance notice before making this change. We know this is not ideal, and we apologize for the abruptness of this change.

"We are currently conducting a comprehensive audit of content to ensure we can meet the requirements of our payment processors. Pages will remain deindexed as we complete our review. Once this review is complete, we will introduce new compliance measures."