From this point forward, you will not be able to see a boob in a game you download or buy from Game Jolt. Judging by one of our most frequently-visited articles to date, this will be sad news for many.
Game Jolt, starting in 2008, was initially created as an itch.io-type website which allowed indie developers to easily make their games available to download or buy. Over the course of time, the website has continued to host games but has also begun to market itself as a space for fandoms to conglomerate with a ‘social app’ in the works as well. Now, they’ve decided to get rid of any games with even the slightest mention of sex.
According to a report by VICE, the indie-hosting platform has been shelling out emails over the past few days to game developers to let them know their games are being removed for being ‘porn games’. This occurred after Game Jolt reportedly “made the decision to no longer allow content that depicts, solicits, promotes, normalises, or glorifies sexual acts, sexual solicitation, and sexual violence.” Henceforth, the games are no longer available to access on Game Jolt, with users already owning the games being allowed access to them through the website for one year.
For folks looking to host their porn games, we recommend @itchio or @Steam. Game Jolt is a platform with a large audience of 13-16 year olds. Our users asked us to clean up, so here we are. https://t.co/FgIVMqnNUS
— Game Jolt (@gamejolt) January 3, 2022
While this is all well and good on the surface, with someone finally thinking about the children (Helen Lovejoy is very relieved right now), this blanket ban has seemingly not only banned ‘porn games’ but has ultimately removed any game that mentions sex or sexual identity. This has led to a number of games wrongly being removed, with games involving LGBTQ+ themes getting banned in the process. Following the bans and public outcry, it seems the game-hosting website has also decided the best course of action is to ‘be snarky’ and reply to criticism with GIFs.
In the realm of unjustified removals, game designer Laura McGee took to Twitter to express her dismay at the removal of her game Curtain, which is a game about the evolution of a relationship that becomes abusive. The point of the game is to educate people about abuse in relationships, uniquely looking at it from a queer perspective.
????
I mean, I think there’s a difference between ‘curtain’, a game about abuse that talks about it indirectly in the hopes of helping people, and some porn game, but idk pic.twitter.com/RQrbMUgg24
— Llaura (@ldreamfeel) January 3, 2022
Another game, THOSE DARN NIPPLES, which is a satirical arcade game developed for the purpose of desexualising nipples, was also removed. Talk about missing the entire point!
My game, THOSE DARN NIPPLES, which was made for @jennatar‘s protest game jam about making games themed around breasts without sexualising them, has been removed from @gamejolt because they decided it was too sexualised. By that they mean there are female nipples in it. IRONY.
— Andrew 2: Electric (@boogadrew) January 3, 2022
Game Jolt’s Twitter account continues to push the point that this was a decision ultimately made due to their user base of ’13-16 year olds’ insisting that sexual content be removed, but many Twitter users are also speculating that the release of their social app on iOS and Android might also have something to do with this decision. In the mean time, Game Jolt has encouraged users who are looking for ‘porn games’ to head over to itch.io, a platform that (in my opinion) is a perfect alternative.
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