What's Happening?
Many of you have likely heard about the recent situation affecting NSFW games on Steam and itch.io.Payment processors have been pressuring these platforms to enforce stricter content policies, leading to games being delisted or made unsearchable.
Unfortunately, due to the nature of the game, Kemo Coliseum has been caught up in this as well. While our game remains accessible through direct links, it's no longer discoverable through itch.io's search function.
For detailed information on the issue, please visit: https://stop-paypros.neocities.org/
What Does This Mean for Kemo Coliseum?
Although Kemo Coliseum will be free upon release, we still depend heavily on platform features that itch.io provides. The ability to easily patch the game, notify players of updates, and provide automatic updates are invaluable tools that would otherwise require significant development time and resources to implement ourselves (which we actually attempted before moving to itch.io).
This situation also raises concerns about our future Steam release. At this point, we do not know whether we'll be able to launch on Steam at all.
Beyond distribution platforms, we also do not know if these restrictions will extend to crowdfunding platforms like Patreon, which is essential for supporting our development. This could affect our ability to continue creating video games in the future.
How You Can Help
If you're located in the US, the UK or Canada, you can support us and other adult game developers by advocating with payment processors directly. The website https://stop-paypros.neocities.org/ lists several petitions and forms online where you can sign. You can also make your complaint through phone or through email as well. Your voice matters, and collective action can make a difference.
Our Path Forward
The good news is that we're in the final stages of Kemo Coliseum's development, so this situation should not affect the development of the game. However, it may prove to be an issue for distributing the finished game. If those platforms become unavailable for us, we will have to explore alternative distribution methods, including self-hosting if necessary.
For now, we will be focusing our time and energy on finishing the game, while monitoring the situation. We'll keep you updated if there's any development on the issue.
Thank you for your continued support during this challenging time for NSFW indie developers.
- Punipen