Collective Shout Pushes for Game Removals—Even If They’re Legal
Australian advocacy group Collective Shout has made it official: they’re not waiting for laws to catch up. In a recent interview, campaigns manager Caitlin Roper stated the group seeks to remove games “even when they are not illegal.” Translation? If they don’t like it, they want it gone—regardless of platform policy, developer intent, or regional law.
Their targets? Games that depict sexual violence, child exploitation, or anything they deem harmful to women and girls. Their method? Pressure payment processors like Visa and Mastercard to choke out funding and distribution. And it’s working. Titles are vanishing from storefronts—some with zero violations on record.
Queer Creators and Indie Devs Are Getting Swept Up
While the stated goal is to eliminate exploitative content, the fallout is hitting far wider. Queer devs and indie creators are reporting takedowns of games that don’t even touch the themes Collective Shout claims to oppose. Entire genres—erotic horror, queer romance, adult visual novels—are being flagged, shadowbanned, or delisted.
It’s not just moderation. It’s ideological filtering. And when the line between “harmful” and “uncomfortable” gets blurred, nuance dies first.
“Legal” Doesn’t Mean “Safe”—But Who Decides That?
Roper’s stance is clear: legality isn’t the benchmark. “We’re not interested in whether something is technically legal,” she told TweakTown. “We’re interested in whether it causes harm.” She also claimed that men defending these games are often perpetrators of violence, citing online harassment as evidence.
It’s a sweeping generalization—and one that weaponizes moral panic to justify platform control. Harm is real. But when harm becomes a catch-all for anything controversial, we lose the ability to discuss, dissect, and design responsibly.
Steam and itch.io Are Under Fire—But They’re Not the Only Ones
Collective Shout argues that storefronts like Steam and itch.io failed to moderate their platforms, forcing external intervention. But moderation isn’t binary. These platforms are home to thousands of games, and many of them explore complex, adult themes. Some push boundaries. Some provoke. That’s the point.
When third-party groups start dictating what’s acceptable, we’re not just talking about content—we’re talking about control. And once payment processors get involved, it’s no longer about community standards. It’s about financial survival.
Final Thoughts: This Is Censorship—Just With Cleaner Branding
Collective Shout’s campaign isn’t just about removing harmful content. It’s about reshaping the digital landscape to fit a very, very myopic worldview. And while protecting vulnerable communities is essential (for sure), doing so by erasing entire genres, creators, and conversations is walking a fine line, and you’re about to fall off on the wrong side.
This isn’t a Steam policy update. It’s a systemic shift. And if you’re an indie dev working in adult, queer, or experimental spaces, you’re already feeling it.
Censorship doesn’t always come with a banhammer. Sometimes it shows up dressed as advocacy, backed by billion-dollar payment networks, and armed with a blacklist. And if we don’t push back, it won’t stop at games.
