If you’ve searched itch.io for adult or NSFW games in 2026 and come up empty, you’re not imagining things. Adult games on itch.io went through a massive upheaval in mid-2025, and the platform has never quite gone back to the way things were. Whether you’re a player who used to browse the NSFW catalog, a developer whose games were affected, or just someone who heard about the controversy and wants to understand what actually happened — this is the full breakdown.
The short answer is: yes, some adult games are still on itch.io in 2026, but the landscape changed significantly in July 2025 and the effects are permanent. Here’s everything you need to know.
- What triggered the itch.io NSFW crackdown
- What itch.io actually did and when
- What’s permanently banned under the new rules
- What came back and under what conditions
- Where paid adult game developers went instead
- What this means for the platform going forward
What Triggered the itch.io Adult Game Crackdown
The crisis started with an Australian anti-pornography advocacy group called Collective Shout. In July 2025, Collective Shout launched a campaign targeting both itch.io and Steam over a specific game called “No Mercy” — a title depicting rape and incest that had briefly been available on itch.io before being removed in April 2025. The group sent an open letter to the executives of PayPal, Mastercard, Visa, and other payment processors, arguing that both platforms were hosting content that “endorsed men’s sexualised abuse and torture of women and girls.”
Payment processors responded by threatening to withdraw services from itch.io. This was not a small threat. Platforms like itch.io depend entirely on companies like Stripe and PayPal to collect money from customers and distribute it to developers. Losing payment processor relationships would effectively shut the platform down as a commercial storefront. Facing that pressure, itch.io founder Leaf Corcoran acted quickly.
What itch.io Did: The Full Timeline
Late July 2025 — All NSFW content deindexed. itch.io removed all adult and NSFW games from its browse and search pages in one sweeping action, making them invisible to anyone browsing or searching the site. Creators were given almost no advance warning. Games that had been live for years suddenly vanished from discovery. Corcoran issued a public statement acknowledging the disruption and apologizing for the lack of notice, explaining that the situation had “developed rapidly” and required urgent action to protect the platform’s payment infrastructure.
July 28, 2025 — New prohibited content list published. itch.io published updated adult content guidelines listing specific categories of content that could no longer be hosted on the platform regardless of payment status. The guidelines were explicitly tied to the acceptable use policies of card payment networks, with itch.io noting that “our policy is not an invitation to push the boundaries of what is acceptable” and that violations would result in permanent bans with no appeal and no payout of any funds in the account.
July 31, 2025 — Free adult games start returning. itch.io began re-indexing adult content that was completely free to play — meaning games with no price tag and no “pay what you want” option. Since these games required no payment processing, they weren’t subject to the pressure from Visa, Mastercard, and Stripe in the same way. Paid adult games remained deindexed. Corcoran stated the platform was “in ongoing discussions with payment processors” about how to eventually re-introduce paid adult content.
Post-audit — Paid adult games pushed to direct payments. Rather than returning paid adult games to standard itch.io checkout, the platform began requiring adult game creators to switch to “direct payments” — meaning transactions would go directly through the developer’s own merchant account with Stripe or PayPal, rather than through itch.io’s bulk payment system. This created a practical problem: both Stripe and PayPal have clauses in their terms of service prohibiting the use of their services for adult content sales. For most developers, switching to direct payments simply meant their payment options were no longer viable, and their games effectively became free-only or were migrated to other platforms entirely.
What’s Permanently Banned on itch.io Now
itch.io published a list of prohibited content themes tied to card payment network requirements. The list is explicitly described as “non-exhaustive,” meaning it can expand at any time. As of the updated guidelines, games on itch.io may not contain the following themes, regardless of whether they’re free or paid:
- Content depicting non-consensual acts, whether explicit or implied
- Sexual content involving minors, or characters presented as just over the age of majority in a way designed to imply they are younger
- Incest or pseudo-family relationship scenarios presented in a sexual context
- Sexual content involving animals
- Sexualized depictions of real, identifiable people
- AI-generated imagery designed to resemble real people in sexual contexts
- Extreme fetish content involving bodily waste or harm
Some of these categories — particularly those involving minors and real people — were already prohibited under itch.io’s previous terms, though enforcement had been inconsistent given the platform’s small staff. The new rules formalized them with explicit consequences: permanent ban, no appeal, and no payout of any earnings held in the account. The “non-exhaustive” language in the guidelines has been widely criticized by developers because it means itch.io can add new categories without notice and apply them retroactively.
What’s Still Allowed — And Under What Conditions
Standard adult content — sexual content between adult characters that doesn’t fall into the prohibited categories above — is technically still allowed on itch.io. Free adult games in this category were re-indexed in late July 2025 and are browsable and searchable again. Developers can tag games as NSFW and they will appear in adult content searches, provided itch.io’s new content warnings system flags them appropriately for logged-in users.
For paid adult games, the situation is more complicated. itch.io’s push toward direct payments made it practically impossible for most adult developers to sell their work on the platform through standard payment methods, since both Stripe and PayPal’s terms prevent them from processing adult content transactions through individual merchant accounts. Stripe acknowledged the problem publicly, with a spokesperson stating that Stripe is “currently unable to support sexually explicit content due to restrictions placed on them by their banking partners, despite card networks generally supporting adult content,” and adding that the company “hopes to be able to support adult content in the future.” That hope has yet to materialize into a workable solution for most developers.
The practical situation as things stand: adult games on itch.io are either free-to-play, or they’re gone. A significant portion of the paid adult game catalog — particularly visual novels, dating sims, and adult RPGs that had been commercial products for years — migrated elsewhere after the crackdown.
Where Adult Game Developers Went Instead
The itch.io crackdown accelerated a migration that had already been slowly happening as developers sought platforms less vulnerable to payment processor pressure. The main destinations for displaced adult game creators include:
Steam. Despite going through its own NSFW content removals driven by Mastercard pressure around the same period, Steam has a more developed framework for adult content. Games tagged as adult require account age verification, and the adult content unlocking system has been in place for years. Many itch.io adult game developers who lost their paid storefronts moved full releases to Steam, sometimes keeping a free version on itch.io for visibility.
Patreon and SubscribeStar. Subscription platforms that deal in ongoing content releases rather than one-time purchases became a natural home for adult game developers who built audiences through itch.io. Multiple developers who had paid games deindexed from itch.io announced they would continue updates exclusively through Patreon or SubscribeStar, directing their existing itch.io audience there.
F95zone and direct distribution. The adult gaming community forum F95zone and self-hosted direct download models became more common as developers sought to completely bypass payment processor restrictions by distributing free builds with Patreon-gated premium content.
The Bigger Picture: Payment Processors and Platform Power
The itch.io situation didn’t happen in isolation. The same pressure campaign hit Steam in the same period, also triggered by Collective Shout and payment processor responses to “No Mercy.” What the episode revealed is how much power companies like Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, and PayPal have over what content can legally be sold online — not through law, but through the threat of withdrawing services.
Neither Steam nor itch.io ever allowed actual photography or video of real people in adult content. The material being targeted has always been drawn and animated depictions. Critics of the crackdown, including developers, press outlets, and free speech advocates, argued that the scope of the restrictions went well beyond content that anyone would consider illegal, sweeping up games that explore mature themes — including LGBTQ content, kink, and consensual adult relationships — that are entirely legal in every relevant jurisdiction. An ACLU petition against payment companies forcing censorship changes on game platforms circulated during the controversy.
itch.io’s founder acknowledged the platform’s powerlessness directly: without payment processors, there’s no way to run a commercial storefront. The platform had no leverage to push back and limited ability to thread the needle between what its community wanted and what its financial partners would allow.
What This Means for Players Right Now in 2026
If you’re a player looking for adult content on itch.io today, here’s the practical reality:
- Free adult games that comply with the new content guidelines are back and browsable — search using NSFW tags with adult content enabled in your account settings.
- Paid adult games are largely gone from itch.io or have been converted to free versions with paywalled content living on Patreon or SubscribeStar.
- The category of adult visual novels, dating sims, and adult RPGs that used to dominate itch.io’s paid adult catalog has substantially moved to Steam for purchases and Patreon for ongoing game releases.
- Content that falls into the prohibited categories — non-consent themes, minors, incest scenarios, bestiality, real-person depictions — is gone permanently with no path back.
itch.io is still a relevant platform for adult game discovery, particularly for free titles and demos. But for the commercial adult game ecosystem that had built itself on itch.io over the past decade, the platform is no longer the center of gravity it once was. If you want to explore what else the platform still does exceptionally well across all genres, check out our guide to the top 10 indie games on itch.io — it remains one of the best places on the internet to find creative, experimental games outside the mainstream.
Final Verdict: Are Adult Games Still on itch.io in 2026?
Yes — but in a significantly reduced form compared to before July 2025. Free adult games that comply with the new content guidelines are back. Paid adult games are effectively gone or have been converted to workarounds that take purchasing off-platform. The categories of content that pushed payment processors to act are permanently prohibited. And the platform has made clear that enforcement will be strict, permanent, and without appeal.
itch.io remains a genuinely great platform for indie gaming — and you can still find a wide range of browser-playable and free-to-download titles across every genre. If you’re branching out and looking for other free gaming destinations worth your time, our roundup of the best games on Y8.com covers a completely different but equally solid catalog of browser-based games. And for players who want something with a bigger production budget, the best games on Xbox Game Pass and our list of the best free PC games in 2026 are both worth bookmarking.
