Once considered a safe haven for erotic and boundary-pushing indie games, Itch.io appears to be backing away from its open-door approach to adult content. Over the past several months, developers such as Oppaiman have reported that their NSFW titles are being delisted, hidden from search results, or removed entirely, often with no clear explanation or warning.
The purge seems to be centered around games that include sexually explicit themes, kink, and power dynamics, even when content is consensual, labeled appropriately, and intended for adult audiences.
What’s especially alarming to the indie creator community is how these removals are happening quietly and inconsistently, without platform-wide announcements or detailed policy changes.
The Role of Payment Processors
Sources suggest that this crackdown isn’t directly from Itch.io itself, but rather from the behind-the-scenes influence of financial institutions. Like many platforms that handle user payments, Itch.io relies on third-party services (like PayPal or Stripe) to process transactions. These services often have strict, vague, and conservative guidelines regarding adult material.
To stay compliant and avoid financial penalties or deplatforming, Itch.io appears to be preemptively removing riskier adult content, particularly anything that could raise red flags under broad “brand safety” terms enforced by payment providers.
This mirrors what other platforms, including Steam and Patreon, have also faced: backdoor censorship driven not by content policies, but by the companies that facilitate monetization.
Adult Game Developers Left in the Dark
The situation has left many adult game developers confused and frustrated. Some discovered their games had been removed or buried without notification, while others had titles flagged or flagged as “under review” with little explanation.
Many of these games had been on the platform for months or even years without issue, suggesting a new internal enforcement standard is quietly being applied.
While Itch.io has not made a public statement about a shift in adult content policy, the pattern is becoming clear: erotic games are being quietly pushed off the storefront, regardless of creator intent or past platform support.
A Broader Trend in Adult Content Suppression
The situation with Itch.io isn’t happening in a vacuum. It’s part of a broader trend where financial institutions and digital platforms increasingly control what types of adult content are “acceptable”, particularly when money is involved.
For creators who rely on platforms like Itch.io to distribute and monetize their work, this slow, quiet censorship is creating an unstable environment where rules change without notice, and viable platforms for NSFW content continue to shrink.
