A critique of Itch's NSFW addendum.

I lied, here's another post about the NSFW ban.

Because the tone police are back in force to criticize anyone who is even slightly critical of Itch.io and pretending that they're actually doing some sort of brilliant 5D chess move by over-banning content in the dead of night with no recourse for developers, let's take a more critical look (read: we're actually gonna read what they say instead of vibe-posting about how nice it is that they're trying) at their "NSFW addendum."

I'm gonna rate each response on this FAQ out of 10 based on how warm and fuzzy I felt inside after reading it, which is a very scientific system of measurement.

Why was itch.io’s response greater than Steam’s?

The difference in our responses stems from the difference in our platforms. Steam is a “closed” platform where every product page is approved before it appears on the store. Because they were generally aware of the content they host, they could identify and act on specific pages.

itch.io is an open, “UGC” (User-Generated Content) platform. With over 2 million product pages, anyone can publish content at any time with minimal barriers. We could not rely on user-provided tagging to be accurate enough for a targeted approach, so a broader review was necessary to be thorough.

Additionally, itch.io is a small company, both in team size and in transaction volume, compared to a company like Steam. We have limited ability to “push back.”

If we lose our ability to accept payments from a partner like PayPal or Stripe, we impact the ability of all creators to do business. Losing PayPal, for instance, would prevent us from sending payouts to many people. Our actions were taken to protect our payment processing abilities for as much of the platform as possible.

This is all reasonable and most creators understand this. What I dislike about this, is that it's a classic "asking yourself a different question and answering that" tactic. In effect, it's a strawman. No one, not even the stupidest, most deranged haters were suggesting that Itch has equivalent power, money, or staff to Steam. I have not really seen many comparisons to Steam at all, other that the correct assertion that Itch seemed to panic and act much more quickly and much less precisely in comparison, catching up games in the dragnet that shouldn't have been. And yeah, that's true and this part of the addendum acknowledges this, and they do answer the why to that, even though it was not a huge mystery to most.

The actual criticism I, and many other have is this: are we supposed to believe there was some sort of doomsday clock, and you received the notice to get rid of this content what, mere hours before the platform was completely debanked? Maybe that did happen, but no one seems to believe it did, and Itch isn't claiming that. Was there a deadline from some or all of the payment processors? When did each payment processor first reach out? Was it truly necessary to carry out this extreme and irreversible action with no notice in the dead of night? It's hard to believe that you received this notice after business hours on a Thursday in the first place; did you receive notice at what, 8:00PM Eastern time and purge the platform by midnight?

Point is, the problem most of us have with Itch is that this seemed to be purposefully done in a sneaky way that hurt developers much more than what was probably necessary. So they're not really addressing the issue anyone has, in my opinion. It's just kinda like "oh we're tiny and have a small staff, so what would we do?" And to some extent that's fair, but that's not the main question here.

I rate this answer 5/10. It's a good answer to the question is belongs to, but I feel like it misses the main criticisms coming at the platform.

What is the timeline for these changes?

The situation is evolving as we await final determinations from our current payment processors, Stripe and PayPal. There are still unknowns that prevent us from providing a fixed timeline.

In the meantime, we are actively reaching out to other payment processors that are more willing to work with this kind of content. We have suspended the ability to pay with Stripe for 18+ content for the foreseeable future. Our immediate focus has been on content classification reviews and implementing stricter age-gating on the site.

This is good transparency. Basically, they don't know what the timeline is, and so they can't tell us. That's disappointing, but I prefer hearing a "there is no current timeline" to not hearing anything, so good on them.

A lot of people are making a big deal about them seeking another payment processor. There are specific payment processors that handle adult content (actually "high-risk" content), but for various reasons, mostly that these payment processors function essentially as cartels (this is why they all cracked down at the same time, too), it's my understanding that Itch would have to move all of their payment infrastructure over to these more expensive and less reliable adult content payment processors. Basically, I don't think it's possible to just "add" one of these to only handle adult content, since the other payment processors don't like this, and there are regulatory burdens and hurdles to this kind of thing. Basically, as a platform, Itch will likely have to choose one or the other for all payments. Which is bullshit, to be sure, and also not Itch's fault.

I see a lot of people making a big deal about this, and I just want to tell you guys, you're celebrating a bit early. What we all really need to focus on is continuing to annoy the payment processors we already are working on. It's good Itch is trying everything they can, though.

I give this an 8/10. I like the extra info we're getting even though there is no timeline, but I feel like them mentioning they're looking into other payment processors without being clear about whether they're willing to move exclusively to a "higher-risk" style of payment processor, or whether this is just a pipe dream, has created some excitement where I'm not sure there should be any. Of course, I'm not an expert, and it's possible I've got this whole thing wrong, but I can tell you for sure that it's not as simple as you probably think it is.

But it is good and something they should be doing either way, so let's wait and see what happens.

Can you elaborate on library access?

Pages that are “deindexed” are still accessible if you own them. They have not been removed from your library or collections.

Some pages have received a “content notice,” which applies to individual pages where our team has concluded we can no longer support their business. If you previously purchased or received a download key for one of these pages, the downloadable files are still available in your library, assuming the creator has not taken down the page or removed the files themselves.

Always be wary of FAQs with oddly phrased questions, especially when those questions could be phrased as a yes/no style question but are tortured into some bizarre form instead. Foreshadowing for later...

I think this might be hiding the ball, guys. They specifically address content notice and deindexed pages, but what about pages that have been completely removed, which does seem like it has happened. They are making it sound like they didn't completely ban any pages files and all, but that doesn't seem like it's completely true...but I also guess I can't say for sure that they have done that, since I have no solid evidence that has happened.

I did purchase a game a while ago that was completely banned, and I was able to access the files for that game, but only specifically through the Itch app; I wasn't able to access the files via my web browser. Look, I want to be very fair here, I went and checked my library when Itch started banning stuff, so it's possible I only noticed it was banned at that time, but based on what the dev has said, they at least seem to believe their game was banned as part of the current crackdown and not as a separate action.

Beside that, this doesn't address game pages that were restricted but provided to members of Patreon campaigns and other "non-purchase" situations where ownership is more complex. That's hard for them to do anything about, I guess, but still.

Also, I've heard that some creators have had their accounts banned too, but I can't confirm that myself and maybe even then, it's just unfortunate timing, but still. Are their files still up?

We are aware of some people making claims that content has been removed from their library on social media. If you are one of those people we strongly urge you to reach out to support so we can understand what exactly you’re expecting to see as none of the changes we’ve made as part of this review should impact your access to paid products.

Regardless of what happens, I personally recommend you maintain control over the content you own. itch.io is a DRM-free platform from day 1 for this reason. Download and backup your games and don’t let any corporation dictate what you can own.

I mean look, washing your hands of the problem at the end there; it's not a great look. Makes you seem kinda guilty. It's very dismissive.

I'm gonna give this response a 1/10. I'm gonna assume that Itch is telling the truth and despite the thousands of reports to the contrary and even my own experience, let's just say somehow no one lost access to any games. But making players responsible for maintaining their own access to their games, it's not a good look. I actually hate this answer, it's bad. Should have just deleted that last paragraph no matter how pissy you felt, author. It's a bad look and I don't think you should be saying that kinda shit after the week you've given us. Obviously we were wrong to ever rely on you, don't twist the knife like you're fucking proud of that.

Can you elaborate on payouts?

Some have noted a rule in our adult content policy about not processing payouts for infringing accounts. This rule has been in place for a long time to address bad-actor situations where a user joins the site and blatantly violates our terms to make sales before being banned (There are content types we have ways had zero tolerance for, e.g., content with sexualized minors or sexualized real-life imagery). In those cases, we ban the user, refund payments, and do not honor payouts.

The current situation is a special circumstance. We have no interest in withholding anyone’s earnings. The measures we are taking now are to ensure we do not lose our relationships with our financial partners, which is necessary to continue paying creators without issue.

Emphasis mine, because the answer is that they are withholding payouts, but holy shit do they bend over backwards to avoid saying it clearly, even phrasing the question weird so they don't have to give a straight-up yes or no. I had to like diagram the sentences in this response, lol.

This answer is hot shit. So basically the whole first paragraph sets you up to think that they aren't really withholding payouts, but then in the second paragraph, they're like, "anyway, we are doing that, but we have a really good reason to right now." Like what the fuck? Delete this whole first paragraph. So you are and admit that you are currently withholding payouts to NSFW game creators.

I give it a 2/10, they came clean but if you read this fast enough you might not even realize they're admitting to doing what they're accused of, lol. They barely admit to it and even then only sort of in a very wonky way. For fuck's sake, Itch, just admit you're withholding payouts for now from the top, that's what people want to know, not how you feel about it or in what other circumstances you might do something similar.

Can you elaborate on the new items in the adult content policy?

Our adult content policy is located here: https://itch.io/docs/creators/faq#is-adult-content-allowed

Our TOS and adult content policy have always included the rule: “If you plan to collect money for your content, then you must adhere to the acceptable use policy of all respective payment processors that your account utilizes.” This is vague. The other day, we added a specific list of prohibited themes present in card processing networks to help people understand the kinds of things we might be looking for in our review.

We understand the problems that come with a list like this, as it’s easy to argue the semantics. We decided it was better to give you more information to work with instead of less, even if many of the items on the list can be argued either way. We intend to refine this part of the site with more care, but since there are still unknowns, this is the information we can provide for now.

Look, I think this is fair. More information is better. I don't like the way it's worded either, and maybe they can try another pass? But they're trying to keep it real and I can appreciate that. This response gets a 9/10, so the addendum ends on a good note.

Final score~!

Overall rating: I'll be generous and give them a 6/10 overall.

Itch is a small company, they're not making bank hand over fist. They are giving devs a platform because they're cool like that. They did really talk a big game to Apple in the midst of the 2021 adult-content crackdown. I like they way they do shit. And I genuinely, genuinely believe they are trying their absolute best.

This is a better response than their initial one, and I applaud the transparency. And look, no one really should be wasting tons of time going after Itch. If you have the time and energy to go after someone, please use that wisely. But I also cannot stand the massive amount of tone-policing from people every time Itch comes out with a statement. People are right to be kinda ticked or at least disappointed with Itch. I don't think right now is the time to shill for them when this response hides the ball with the payout situation and rubs salt in old wounds by reminding us we shouldn't rely on platforms like them.

Itch it always dismissing criticism in ways like this:

Regardless of what happens, I personally recommend you maintain control over the content you own. itch.io is a DRM-free platform from day 1 for this reason. Download and backup your games and don’t let any corporation dictate what you can own.

It's very reminiscent of the shit they say to devs when they fuck up by not bumping an update or something, or back when they changed the algorithm. The reply is always something like "well, you shouldn't depend on us anyway, go promote your game yourself!"

Maybe I'm just a little butthurt still from the absolute nightmare that was trying to communicate with one of their mods back when the algorithm changed and the guy literally tried every trick in the book to gaslight us about it and dismiss every concern by saying "do your own promotion," but this does seem like an unhelpful refrain Itch admins and moderators alike seem to return to when they want to deflect from any of their own mismanagement.

But also, look, the whole Internet came down on them a bit hard and I get that they felt they had to do what they had to do, and at the end of the day, I do appreciate that they're still out here communicating with us, so I can't stay too mad at them.