Read, Watch or Listen

Australian group Collective Shout claims responsibility for prompting changes to NSFW content policies on Itch.io and Steam. Following months of ignored complaints about games depicting sexual violence, the group contacted payment processors like Visa, leading to Itch.io deindexing all NSFW content and Steam implementing new, vague restrictions. This action has sparked backlash from the gaming community, with counter-lobbying efforts targeting Visa, who deny directly censoring content but acknowledge requiring enhanced safeguards for high-risk merchants. Concerns remain about the potential for unintended censorship of LGBTQ+ games.

Prepared by Jonathan Pierce and reviewed by editorial team.