itch.io

https://itch.io/t/3590601/gumroad-has-banned-nsfw-content-to-comply-with-paypal-...

revitalizing the topic started here- now we're seeing etsy crack down on NSFW/pornographic content, as well as archival of vintage media such as playboy magazines... considering this site is the biggest host for explicit games/indie media at this point, as well as hosting a LARGE swathe of media featuring queer topics- which, mind you, legislations are aiming to classify as pornographic/explicit (if they havent already)- what is the plan for this platform? are we safe here? as a studio that's been aiming to shift mainly into 18+, queer-focused works, and having formerly taken a lot of comfort in the fact that this site would be a safe place for that, hell one that encourages that kind of expression as seen by tweets during the gamejolt incident, we are very worried, and very scared, for if this site takes that down. losing itch.io as a center for NSFW and/or queer media would be a terrifying blow to the indie scene and archival, and while i don't want to suspect the worst, i really think this needs an answer from someone official for the community to feel safe in the wake of all of the sites banning this kind of content.

itch.io did eventually get back to me but it took ages and it came down to "sorry we have been backed up for this month and it took us a while to get to it" which, i do understand, but i really wish there was more communication prior.

Hi, I'm the new person financially responsible for this studio's account- we changed over who handles taxes and receiving income due to management and LLC changes, and have been struggling for around a month now (starting May 9th) to actually have the changes go through and receive a payout. We've been trying to work with both Itch.io and TaxIdentity to make this happen, but the whole situation has been really distressing and confusing, and we still haven't received a payout or a reason why. To elaborate...

1) I retook the tax interview, and was let know within 24 hours by TaxIdentity that it didn't go through because our studio's new TIN (from making a new LLC) having issues- I retook the interview ASAP and realized it was likely because I had missed the checkbox saying tthat the TIN is under 30 days old. I fixed that and resubmitted.

2) I received no response from TaxIdentity on whether things had processed, and the status on Itch was set to pending. I tried multiple times to contact TaxIdentity, both through their main support ticket, their ZenDesk, their other email listed on Lilaham, and never received any response at all. I emailed Itch and they said that it was TaxIdentity's end, so I had no idea what to do.

3) On desperately looking for a solution for this, I found a button specifically on the tax interview retake page saying you could click it to scan for a completed interview. I did this, Itch now saying that the taxes had been validated. I was relieved, and messaged Itch to process the current payout. They had said previously: "Let us know when you’ve done this and we’ll expedite your payout for you at our earliest convenience.", so I expected the payout to take a few days tops, considering the use of expedited.

4) Itch.io responded with saying they got the tax info and that they'd validate it and process the payout. The tax status went back to "Pending Validation", and I waited to see what would happen. Since then, it's been 10 days and staff has not responded to follow up emails asking for clarification on what the process is and what's going on, as the whole thing has been very confusing and distressing for me while trying to handle newly managing the account. If the payout takes the usual 10-14 days to process, I'm completely fine with that, but the phrasing of "expedite" really confused me in comparison to how long it's taking, in addition to not receiving responses to what's going on, and asking if there's anything else I need to do to make this happen.

I'm completely fine with things taking time to process, even if it's the usual 10-14 days, but I don't understand what's going on based on the info provided by staff and I'm not receiving answers. That money in the payout was meant to go to members of our creative team in a crisis-tier living situation, and I really want to understand what's going on, even if it means waiting more. My support ticket is #211689, and I'd really appreciate some staff input on this so that I have something to tell the members of our team that this is meant to help- including if the process is just to wait.

Thank you.

it's recommended that you play all of our twines on desktop, as unzipped files and not through the itch.io launcher- you need to have the file directory in place for the images to load, and the sizing is formatted for a full screen browser window. i'll add this to the page for clarification!

i agree entirely. the silence on this is very disconcerting

my issue is that while the itch rules say that you can sell adult content as long as you adhere to paypal rules, which state that "certain sexually explicit materials" are banned (with no elaboration on what "certain" means, though some further investigation says that digital goods are banned- like the ones sold on itch) and then others need permission. does this basically add up to "you can sell what you want but if you get caught we're tossing you into direct payments", which also uses the same payment processors that have this stuff banned in the first place? it doesn't add up. 

i was just about to make a thread with the same question- are we safe on this platform?

we'll add a note saying not to use the launcher for this- it's just a zip file containing an HTML site, no installation needed! sorry for the misunderstanding, we'll add that.

it shouldn't need an install- try extracting the zip and then opening the html file!

https://homebrewdeviants.itch.io/maze-trials-chapter-one

https://homebrewdeviants.itch.io/understuffed

https://homebrewdeviants.itch.io/fantasy-cascade-episode-1

thank you so much, we're glad to hear it had an impact for you!! -rin + xavier

https://homebrewdeviants.itch.io/fantasy-cascade-episode-1

yes! episode 2 is coming hopefully soon!