In Regards To The Itch.io Situation

It may be premature to make this post. I wanted to speak to my team and ask them if I should wait to speak on this, but a quick look at my contacts reminded me I don't have one. So, I guess there's no one to stop me.

If you don't know because you had better things to do today, itch.io has removed all its NSFW content from its browser. Including mine. If you have it saved on a custom list or bookmarked, you can still access it, but it's impossible to find it via searching or through tags. This was done without warning and with little given reason behind it.

I don't blame itch.io. From the sounds of it, they made a quick decision to avoid a much worse outcome for them. I'd imagine a pretty large chunk of their revenue comes from NSFW games, so I doubt this was done by their own volition. They chose the option that would hurt them the least.

I'm not gonna get political other than to say I don't like people controlling me or what I create. Part of the reason I started creating games in the first place wasn't just to have a creative outlet. It was to create a career for myself that wasn't in the hands of someone else's. To never let my fate be subject to others' decisions and it's situations like this that make me realize that's never truly possible. No matter how safe and insured things in our lives seem, make no mistake, they can be taken away just as easily. Even "independent" developers rely on services like itch.io or whatever else. These are companies that, above all else, have to maintain growth at any cost. No matter what they tell you, you'll never be more important than that. I don't always disagree with that. But regardless, while the companies remain safe behind the walls of "It's just business", to the people on the other side, it doesn't matter if it's business. The results will still be personal.

I don't feel my game is offensive to anyone (unless weight gain offends you, in which case I feel you need to better differentiate whether that's a you problem). I would say it even rides the line of being a NSFW game since none of the characters have even had sex yet. I've always wanted this game to be a respectful and realistic depiction of a relationship from the start. Void of any degeneracy that goes scrutinized. I don't feel my game should be censored. But again, that's not up to me.

I thought of this game almost 2 years ago now. Finally, it was to the point where I felt it might have interest and a future. Maybe go on for a few years with a few "seasons" just like I had hoped when I made the first outline. And unfortunately, I don't know if I believe that anymore. Sure, there is still Weight Gaming and this Patreon, but based on what my analytics tell me, most of the people who discovered this game did so on itch.io. It was my main source of growth, and I had planned on releasing more games through that service in the near future. Now that doesn't seem to be a possibility. I worry this game will now suffer from a discoverability problem and a player retention problem. As in, sure, there are people who subscribe to this Patreon and even more free members, but Patreon isn't good for bringing new people in, and people will most likely just forget to check back on it over time.

Right now, the project pages are still up, both the Patreon exclusive one and the public free one. You should still be able to access them if you have the link. In case you don't, I will leave the link here. If itch.io ever takes those pages down permanently, I will reupload the files on here as well.

Episode 6 is still coming. That other game I was working on is still being worked on (although now I don't know where to put it). We'll see what happens. Regardless, I feel I should have known better than to feel comfortable with this staying on a straight path. There are people trying to look on the bright side of this and think that since their game doesn't meet the vague criteria, they are safe. Respectfully, I'd ask them not to be so naive and to at least not put all your eggs in that basket. Newton's third law. I know better than to trust what a group like this says their limits are and to bet my projects on it.

Sorry if this post was a bit too dramatic or philosophical for the subject matter, but this post wasn't really about just "The Itch.io Situation". This is a much wider issue across the board.

Today was already a hard and stressful day because of something going on IRL, and just as it was over and well, and I felt I could finally relax about it, I went online to see this. One thing I've learned to tell myself when I feel like I've met an impossible hurdle is, yeah, things are bad. But they've been bad before, and I'm still here. So, I think I'll get through this, too.

I'm going to upload this publicly so everyone can know what's up. Whether you're a free member, a paid member, or someone viewing my posts on sites that reupload my content (side eye), thank you for playing my game and supporting it when you can. I'll continue to make it as long as I can, and I hope you'll come back to see it.