GOG may be the unexpected white knight in an ongoing controversy involving PC video game and app platforms Steam and Itch.io, thanks to the platform taking what many feel is a more nuanced stance on what is essentially high-handedness by at least two major credit card networks.
Earlier in July 2025, Valve’s Steam platform decided to remove hundreds of adult-themed games from its storefront due to mounting pressure from payment processors, as the primary reason for the delistings.
This move followed an open letter from the Australian activist group Collective Shout, which took credit for lobbying processors to halt transactions for titles the group deemed to promote inappropriate content.
Reportedly, thousands of supporters from the group contacted Visa and Mastercard, leading to Valve updating Steam’s publishing rules that prohibited games that violated payment network standards.
This also impacted other platforms like Itch.io, which delisted 20,000 independent titles, resulting in backlash from developers and gamers online who called this an act of censorship, with petitions gaining tens of thousands of signatures in protest. As of mid-September, none of the affected titles have been relisted on Steam, leaving them completely unavailable for purchase.
GOG, the DRM-free digital game distribution platform owned by CD Projekt, has chimed in, positioning itself against the censorship controversy, and has prioritized game preservation amid the ongoing pressure from payment processors.
In a recent interview with Automation Media, GOG Senior PR representative Piotr Gnyp called the debacle a “game preservation issue,” stating that all delisted games are at risk of being lost forever. Gnyp further added:
“It is particularly worrying when games are potentially vanishing due to external pressure. Due to varying international laws affecting all digital storefronts, delisting of video games is impossible to avoid completely.”
However, the current climate of delistings stems more from processor demands rather than direct legal mandates. Gnyp, however, stated that GOG goes from a more quality, relevance, and value-centric approach, allowing it to resist censorship, unlike Steam’s open model.
That pretty much aligns with GOG’s acronym, which stands for “Good Old Games,” allowing buyers to gain access to DRM-free titles with offline installers, making sure players can continue playing their games even in the event that company operations cease.
In a direct response to the censorship controversy, GOG has also launched a limited-time “FreedomToBuy” campaign in early August 2025, giving away 13 free NSFW games to over one million claimants in protest of the payment processors’ interference in the video games industry.
Rahim Amir Noorali – Tech Writer – 265 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2025
I am a UAE-based tech writer who likes to build and benchmark PCs both professionally and as a hobby. I contribute to multiple tech publications, including TechRadar and NotebookCheck, as well as Game Rant, where I focus primarily on news, commerce, and buying guides. When I’m not scouring the internet for the latest in tech stories, you will find me playing a game of Civilization or DotA with friends and frenemies alike while dropping recommendations for Apple TV+’s Foundation to everyone I come across.
