The censorship of adult games continues, as Degrees of Lewdity has been "soft-banned" from SubscribeStar. The developer suspects that this is tied to the campaign against p*rnographic games, with activists pressuring Visa and Mastercard to withdraw from services and sites that host certain games.
Degrees of Lewdity's page on SubscribeStar is still up, but fans can no longer support the game financially through the page, as no payments are being accepted. Developer Vrelnir says they were not given any warning about the move, which removed an avenue of making money for their game, but the timing does coincide with other sites and services treating adult game devs in a similar manner.
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"My SubscribeStar page has been soft-banned, if that's the term," says Vrelnir. "It's still there in a sense, but people can no longer support me, payments are no longer being accepted, and I cannot post the update there. I haven't been informed why. I've contacted support, but have yet to receive a response.
SubsdcribeStar's website includes testimonials that praise the site for being anti-censorship and less restrictive than other sites, like Patreon.
"Due to the timing, I suspect this is connected with the recent troubles regarding internet privacy and freedom, in the UK in particular, with governments restricting access to adult content."
The issues in the UK refer to the Online Safety Act, which increased the responsibility of site owners to age-restrict adult content. It went as far as going after any material that could be harmful to children, which is why sites like Twitter and apps like Discord rolled out age verification methods that are harder to fake - although they are easily made redundant if you use a VPN.
"It's part of an international trend to control the sort of content people can access, and create," Vrelnir continues. "I've heard a lot about activist groups spearheading this, about Mastercard and Visa pressuring governments."
Journalist and streamer Ana Valens breaks down the issue over on Bluesky, having been following the wider story from the beginning.
"DoL is a game that’s really going to serve as a litmus test on the issue of 'are you really anti-paypro censorship?'" she says."This is not a soft cozy game, it’s a prime example of an early target of paypro focus. Exactly the kind that needs to be vigorously defended [because] it’s the first to be hit by censorship."
Valens explains that this is because Degrees of Lewdity contains the exact themes that anti-p*rnography groups like Collective Shout targeted before we saw other adult games removed too. This includes sexual assault (with the player as the victim). "People need to leave the handwringing on this game at the door," Valens continues. "We’re in a triage situation right now. If you permit the censorship of content like this, you are signing off on the censorship of the content you enjoy next."
Previously, Mastercard denied putting restrictions on the content of games, but did suggest that it is encouraging services like Steam to ensure that there is no illegal material in the games being sold. It would then appear that the sites, fearful of having their payment processors removed, take it upon themselves to enforce regulations much harsher than before, leaving adult game devs in a precarious position. For its part, Collective Shout has defended its actions, saying that it targets games that include "sexualised violence and torture of women."
TheGamer has contacted SubscribeStar for comment.
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"If Steam and itch.io had been moderating their platforms as they should have, there would have been no need to temporarily delist games."