Hello everyone,

first of all, I'd like to thank you for your incredible support! We managed to get more than 1.500 signatures in less than 48 hours, press coverage, and yet another powerful tool to show that people working in games as well as consumers care about this issue.

Yesterday I reached out to the German Games Industry Association (game) and Managing Director Felix Falk responded that they’re “observing” the situation, but don’t yet see any reason to act, as they believe German game developers are not affected by blanket bans on Steam and deindexing on itch.io – which is not true. First, payment providers deciding what can or cannot be sold on major distribution platforms is a global issue. Secondly, I talked to several game developers from Germany and they told me that they’re either affected directly or worried that they might lose a major part of their income, with published projects being banned or future projects canceled. 

So if you’re working in games and living in Germany: Please reach out to the game to tell them that payment processor-driven censorship is indeed a problem that affects you personally. I’ve set up a (German) template you’re free to use, either as is or to modify as you see fit.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IMAJ6n5uhYGnPS-bQvQ_KcaFNthLsxxj-adTCyMh9qc/edit?usp=sharing   

And if you’re located in another country, you can also contact your local trade organization and ask them for help.

With several successful petitions and tens of thousands publicly voicing their concerns, we already managed to make some progress. But the fight for freedom of expression needs to continue.

Thanks,
Nina