Okay, so get this. Itch.io—you know, that quirky haven for indie games—just went and booted all its adult, NSFW content off the site. Why? Well, they got some serious heat from their payment folks. Sounds wild, right?
Leaf Corcoran, the big boss over there, scribbled out a blog post saying this dramatic shuffle came about ’cause of this group called Collective Shout. Apparently, these folks have been throwing some serious shade at Steam and Itch.io. Yeah, believe it or not, they’ve been bending the ears of the payment providers with their… let’s call them “concerns.” Whatever that means.
Now, Itch.io’s doing this whole audit thing—not sure if it’s as boring as it sounds—with plans to throw some new rules in the mix soon. It’s like they’re between a rock and a hard place here. “Our ability to process payments is critical,” Corcoran said. And duh. Like, if you can’t move the money, how’s anyone supposed to get anything done?
They’re in this mad rush — kind of like trying to juggle flaming chainsaws — to keep things running smoothly. Had to yank the rug out from under creators without so much as a heads-up. Bit harsh, yeah? “Not ideal” is an understatement if ever I heard one.
Oh, and then there’s Valve—same song and dance over there with Steam. They rolled out some airy-fairy rules on what’s allowed, again ‘cause of pressure from—you guessed it—the same group of concerned folks, Collective Shout.
Anyway, this whole thing makes my head spin. Who knew payment providers had such a chokehold on creativity?
