This story examines topics that are intrinsically relevant to the gaming industry but includes references to mature, NSFW content from select games. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Everything Nerd.
-Reader discretion is advised-
If you are sensitive to adult themes or potentially triggering material, please stop reading now.
An Australian advocacy group named Collective Shout is attempting to lobby for the removal of games that they believe to be s**ually explicit. Collective Shout describes itself as a “grassroots campaigning movement against the objectification of women and s**ualization of girls in media, advertising, and popular culture.” Collective Shout has begun directly lobbying payment providers such as Visa and Mastercard in an attempt to pressure popular video game marketplaces such as Steam and Itch.Io to remove games that feature adult and not safe for work (NSFW) content.
Collective Shout is accusing both Steam and Itch.Io of “profiting from r**e, in**st + child a**se” in games. They have specifically targeted the game No Mercy, which they claim “features extreme s**ual violence,” as an example to strengthen their point that these games not only exist, but are commonplace and readily available for purchase on major storefronts and need to be removed due to the potential danger and damage they can have on minors breaking through parental control and age-gating features and subsequently purchasing these adult only games.
In a relatively short time, Collective Shout has been successful in their efforts to remove these types of games from popular storefronts. Steam has already implemented a new, albeit vague, rule set regarding adult content, and has removed a number of games from their storefront. Itch.io took a more serious approach, by “deindexing” all NSFW content from its browsing and search pages. Deindexing means these games are under review to “ensure compliance with the demands of the payment processors.” This means that while the games are not delisted, they will no longer show up on the search engine nor will be featured on any storefront page until Itch.Io makes a decision on whether these games should be delisted completely or remain on the storefront going forward.
While Collective Shout’s motivations and concerns may in some ways be valid and genuine, I believe that their actions are the definition of a slippery slope. They are using broad terms to censor and attempt to remove games such as any game that features a “child in peril.” Does that mean The Last of Us series will be delisted under these guidelines? Though unlikely, it is certainly possible. While I agree that children should not be exposed to games that feature s**ual violence or p**nographic content, I do not think full censorship and delisting of these games is the correct way to handle this issue. Storefronts have parental controls, age-gating, and content filters for a reason.
This may be a hot take, but if an adult wants to buy an “adult” game, they should have the right to do so. While I do not personally buy or play these types of games, I am strongly against the complete removal of them since I believe that adults have the ability to discern and make informed decisions about the games they want to purchase and play. Adult games, to my knowledge, probably sell well but have not entered into the mainstream as they have yet to be acknowledged or respected by the mainstream video game industry and media at large. Collective Shout’s use of general terms that target specific content in games for potential delisting is concerning since this could actually lead to censorship of mainstream or indie titles that do not actually feature this NSFW content that they are targeting.
This censorship bleeding into the mainstream has already happened with Itch.Io’s decision to de-index the recent acclaimed indie title Consume Me due to “sensitive content.” Consume Me to my knowledge does not feature any NSFW or adult content and has won The Seumas McNally Grand Prize and the Nuovo Award at the 2025 Independent Games Festival. The developers of the game are already fighting to get their game back on the storefront and once again be available for purchase. Consume Me is a life-sim game that centers around a female protagonist with an eating disorder. While adult in its themes, this game is nowhere close to being similar to the adult games that Collective Shout is claiming to target and petition to remove from storefronts.
Massive Credit Card companies such as Visa and Mastercard dictating which games can be sold proves a frightening prospect, given their potential power over video game marketplaces. They have already put popular storefronts such as Steam and Itch.Io in difficult positions where they feel as though they must take action given that these credit card companies can and will, take revenue away from them if they do not adhere to the censorship guidelines that they are pushing. I hope that these attempts at censorship are walked back or stopped in some way as I can only see this harming the game industry not helping it.
