Censorship by activists; how it affects art, creativity and the games we play...
This announcement will serve as a both a Q/A to dispel some concerns regarding our upcoming content on Steam as well as address the current cultural shift towards censorship of art and games, particularly in the NSFW space. While this post is not meant to be political, it's difficult to speak on the topic without invoking some essence of tribalism. I ask that you read and maintain an open mind... I'm no scholar.
Many people say that all art is inherently political but I disagree; art, especially interactive media, serves as an escape from the brutal realities of life.
Payment processors, an unfettered monopoly...
At the crux of it all, the actions set forth by Steam and their updated rules are a result of an unregulated payment processing monopoly. This is not news and has been happening for a while now. Paypal has banned countless accounts for participating in the legal sales of NSFW content. Itch.io, another largely successful hub for monetary transaction of adult game media, has also been hit by payment processors and forced to de-list adult works from their search results. Creators of 18+ content also cannot monetize their works under these new restrictions due to Stripe's pressure.
This impacted us greatly in 2024 as we released a fan game and could not received donations off it.
Steam's new rules; the restrictions put on genres, early access and future updates...
What came first as a few new rules restricting unsavory genres from populating the Steam store has now expanded into different areas. Early Access is now unavailable for NSFW games as most of you are likely aware. Future NSFW updates must adhere to the 'review process' in the form of DLC, eliminating a loophole where developers would submit SFW games and patch in adult content after-the-fact in the form of free updates.
This exploitative behavior from developers should not be tolerated... We should operate within the rules set forth by Steam while at the same time trying our best to maintain creative liberties. Unhinged activist groups such as Collective Shout (which needs no introduction) would love nothing more than to find additional reasons to put further pressure on gaming stores, platforms and its players.
How can you both maintain creative liberty and censor your works?
While we know where Valve stands on content moderation in a vacuum it's hard to say how they might feel about certain methods of mitigating this censorship wave. 18+ patches hosted off Steam are one such example (which by the way if you join our discord, you too can restore Project Skyward to its original state). Many developers seem to use this as a means of circumventing cut content. Unfortunately this comes at a time cost to development teams and an inconvenience to the player. Many believe the game they buy should be in its fully completed state when purchased and that being redirected elsewhere for a restoration patch is simply not worth it. If only we have it both ways...
Sadly the reality is compromises need to be made, at least until the censorship dies down.
Why is Project Skyward fully censored?
The game was preemptively censored in full due to our Demo failing the review process after the censorship hammer fell. We knew it (the Early Access build) was doomed to be taken down after launch, since it had already passed review prior to the update to restricted genres. I decided it was not worth the risk as our game contains contains flagged tags that constitute fully taking it down on Steam.
We are currently working on our next project and cannot afford to have the game taken down... It's already hard enough to finance NSFW projects, even more so now with the ire of censors at large. We will play the long game and hopefully it pays off.
Will Project Skyward have anymore updates or use the DLC model to push NSFW content?
As mentioned above, I censored the entirety of the game. Thousands of images; this allows us to push forward censored NSFW updates unaffected by the new rules. Does it hurt to essentially destroy thousands of hours of work to please the activist mob? Not particularly, but if it allows us to continue with our pipeline of creating hentai game content and publishing it on the store, it's worth it. Besides, you can always (another discord plug) fix your game with a few clicks off Steam.
That being said, we do have a plan for Act IV DLC some time next year for Project Skyward. But first we'll be getting our smaller upcoming Sci-fi Fantasy Hentai Action RPG done. It's coming along nicely and we should have the store page and alpha ready soon!
There's also a Halloween event coming soon for Project Skyward! It's small but I think you'll all enjoy it; starring your favorite potion-addicted 'Old' Hag!
Final thoughts...
Video games and interactive media are the highest form of art and 'art' is of most importance to society. Specifically, interactive games offer a level of immersion that no other form can. They transport us away from the droning lectures and moral grandstanding. Yesterday they were censoring our speech, telling us what we say was wrong and harmed people. Today they want us to believe that the fantasy and escapism too are violent and cause harm to x, y, z.
It's this very reason the AAA game industry is in shambles. Policing of thoughts and creativity lead down one road; a homogenization of ideas. Stale and tasteless with anything different being accused as being bigoted or evil. This is the importance of art and the creative freedoms. If these activists could have it there way, they would stop you from ever conceiving the idea in the first place.
There is beauty in all art and it's worth taking the creative journey to capture it. If they would call it ugly and censor it, it's because they wish to force their concept of beauty onto you. This act of hatred and oppression of one's fellow man is anti-human at its core. It speaks volumes about the ones censoring and exposes the true nature of their ugly soul.
Thank you for the continued support and we hope you enjoy what's to come! ːcharmedː