As Mastercard and other payment processors skirt or otherwise deflect gamers’ censorship accusations, one successful counter-campaign is making waves.
Over the weekend, gamers redeemed over 1 million video game titles in 24 hours during digital title distributor GOG’s FreedomToBuy event. The platform, formerly known as Good Old Games, launched the endeavor to challenge payment processors — Mastercard, Visa, Stripe, PayPal, and others — opting to contest consumers’ adult-oriented video game purchases. The popularity of the brand’s pro-consumer campaign highlights seasoned and novice gamers’ anti-censorship sentiment.
GOG’s campaign offered players a games bundle comprising Digital Rights Management (DRM)-free games until midnight on Monday, August 4. All 13 games included within the bundle are marked “NSFW” — an abbreviation meaning “not safe for work,” used to describe adult-oriented digital content. Some games offered include controversial shooter Postal 2 and puzzle-packed dating simulator HuniePop.
In the last month, consumer purchases of explicit video games have been increasingly singled out by payment processors, a movement that many trace back to Australian activist group Collective Shout. In July, the group distributed letters to payment processors urging them to challenge adult games distributors. Following Collective Shout’s crusade, both Steam and itch.io — two prominent digital video game distributors — “deindexed” myriad NSFW downloads.
On August 1, GOG announced the FreedomToBuy event in a post on X. “To raise awareness on censorship in gaming, 13 games are now available for free for 48h as a part of stand for creative freedom and preservation,” the platform’s announcement reads. “We believe that if a game is legal and responsibly made, players should be able to enjoy it today – and decades from now. It’s our statement: when games are delisted today because of discomfort, reviving them tomorrow becomes exponentially harder.”
After an eventful 24 hours, GOG shared an update, explaining that overwhelming demand led to technical issues, though the platform subsequently extended the event time window:
“In 24 hours, one million people have claimed the FreedomToBuy games and shown their support.
“The response is so much beyond our expectations that our team needs to work around the clock to maintain the stability of the platform.
“For people who had difficulties claiming the games, we’re expanding the action by a few hours; take action quickly.
“And remember: any DRM-free game you get and download from GOG can never be taken away from you.
“Any game that disappears today becomes exponentially harder to revive later.”
With its FreedomToBuy event, GOG is encouraging gamers, developers, and other distributors to stand up against corporate censorship attempts. Though the campaign has closed and players can no longer snag their controversial software, the FreedomToBuy website includes a contact form for developers hoping to throw their works into future bundles “as part of the protest.”
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A lifelong gamer raised on classic titles like Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, and Croc, Stephanie brings her expertise of gaming and pop culture to deliver unique, refreshing views on the world of video games, complete with references to absurd and obscure media.
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