Previously reported， the Australian women’s organization Collective Shout publicly admitted that they pressured payment companies such as MasterCard and Visa to force the Steam platform to implement new regulations through “financial scrutiny，” leading to the delisting of a large number of R18 games， which has sparked widespread controversy.
Subsequently， a game store platform named itch.io quietly introduced new regulations emphasizing the review of R18 content in games. Many well-known major titles like Elden Ring might be delisted. Currently， Itch.io has reinstated some free R18 titles.
However， only a portion of games have been reinstated. According to The Verge， due to the delisting of numerous adult games by itch.io， the affected creators are experiencing fatigue and fear of betrayal. Platforms that allow the sale of such content are continually decreasing， and existing platforms cannot guarantee their continued availability in the future.
When their livelihoods are threatened， many creators and their communities are beginning to fight back and actively explore new ways to survive.
For creators， this means organizing large-scale appeal campaigns to force payment platforms to reverse their decisions and allow itch.io to continue hosting their original content. Other creators are choosing to abandon unreliable commercial platforms and shift to building their own websites. Some creators have decided that if they cannot sell their games directly， they will simply release them for free.
