UKIE, the United Kingdom video game industry trade body, has put out a statement in response to adult games being removed on Steam and Itch.io.
Payment processing partners have been pressuring Itch.io and Valve regarding the adult content available on both platforms. Itch.io "deindexed" all adult and NSFW content on its platform last week in response to pressure from payment processing partners and Collective Shout. Valve also pulled several adult games from its platform earlier this month and changed its publishing guidelines to accommodate new policies from processors.
In a statement sent to GamesIndustry.Biz, UKIE is telling PayPal and other payment processing partners that it should place its confidence in age rating systems like PEGI, rather than ask for the all-out removal of adult and mature content.
"The UK games industry champions creative freedom while taking its responsibilities to players seriously. Clear and consistent age ratings are crucial part of helping people make informed choices about the content they engage with. That's why UKIE strongly supports the use of robust classification systems like PEGI across all platforms, including those hosting adult or experimental content. This ensures that content is labelled appropriately, that younger audiences are protected, and that creators can publish with transparency. We believe payment providers and platforms alike should have confidence in trusted age rating systems and the enforcement mechanisms behind them."
If you don't have your Steam settings tuned to not show you adult content, then you're aware of how much space they take up in the store and in its list of trending games. It's unclear how far the pressure from payment processors will go, and if we'll see all adult content entirely removed from Steam and Itch.io in the coming months.
One thing the internet is not lacking in, however, is adult content. Players looking for those kinds of games will undoubtedly find them elsewhere if Steam and Itch.io stop becoming options for them. The people who will be impacted the most by this are the people creating these games, who already found audiences on Steam and Itch.io, and who will have to start from scratch in one form or another to build those audiences elsewhere.
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