To protest the silent removal of video games from the digital shelf, the developer of Cyberpunk 2077, CDPR, launched this Friday on the GOG platform.FreedomToBuy.gamesA special website (Declaration of Free Trade). Within the next 48 hours, users will receive 13 free games from other online distribution platforms for various reasons.
In a press release, GOG declared that this was intended to “speak against the silent elimination of creative works on the digital shelf” with the participating game distributors. GOG states: “As an archival platform dedicated to preserving the history of the game, we firmly believe that if a game is legally and responsibly produced, players should not only enjoy it this year, but also decades later. We started FreedomToBuy.games just to show our attitude: When the game is laid off today because of some discomfort, it will become more difficult to revive them tomorrow.”
The website also provides an e-mail link to the developers and distributors interested in making their games available free of charge “as part of the protest”.
13 games given
The GoG initiative responds directly to the controversy in the adult game review that began to engulf the whole game industry in July. At that time, thousands of works with explicit content suddenly fell off the shelf in Steam and Itch.io, the root of which was to pay for the processing of Mastercard and Visa to pressure the platform to remove the game with sexual content.
Behind the pressure from the payer is a campaign by the Australian Initiative “Collective Shot”. The organization issued an open letter to payment processors on 11 July, requesting that games involving “coercive, abusive and child sexual abuse” be dropped and calling on its members to call and e-mail pressure. Connected magazine reports that experts refer to this strategy as a “financial review” that uses financial institutions to circumvent platform rules to achieve content control by threatening the viability of businesses. The campaign led to the laying of hundreds of games by Steam and, according to GameFile, the removal of more than 20,000 games marked “NSW” on Itch.io (Itch.io subsequently issued a statement and started re-establishing the free NSFW game).
Open letter
There was an immediate and strong rebound in the lower gear. Many developers and players believe that this is what payment processors overstep in deciding what adults can buy and play. Numerous developers have complained that their games do not contain pornographic content, but that they have been mistreated by the platform’s “one-size-fits-all” policy because they deal with LGBTQ+ elements and themes, or because they deal with heavy topics such as sexual abuse.
Players and developers put pressure on payment processors in social media to oppose what they consider censorship. The International Association of Game Developers (IGDA) has also issued a statement calling for ensuring “clear rules, fair warning and the right to complain” in such incidents and guiding developers directly to Visa and everything, as well as supporting petitions on the American Civil Liberties Union and Change.org against payer review.
IGDA Statement
In the face of pressure from public opinion, statements were made by Dalit and Visa in an attempt to set aside their responsibilities. Everything comes to say: “There is no assessment of any game, nor is there any requirement to restrict any activity on the game creator’s website and platform, and we pay the network to act in accordance with the law. In short, we allow all legitimate purchases on the network. At the same time, we require businesses to put in place appropriate controls to ensure that MasterCards are not used for illicit purchases, including illegal adult content.”
In a statement provided to Polygon, Visa stressed: “We do not make moral judgements about legitimate purchases by consumers. Visa does not review the content of a commercial sale and does not see specific goods and services when dealing with transactions. When legally operating businesses face a high risk of illegal activities, we demand that the banks supporting them implement enhanced safeguards.”
It is worth noting that no game is accused of potential illegality.
Statement of Everything
FreedomToBuy.games’ opening statement can be seen as a direct response to the “legitimate” argument of the payer:Some games have disappeared. Not because they violate the law, but because it is decided that they should not exist.These games are free of charge for the next 48 hours, because if a game is legal, you should have the freedom to buy it.”
GOG is a digital game platform created by the Polish game developer CD PROJEKT RED (Sabbonk 2077 ” Witches ” series ” ), known as Good Old Games, which can be seen by name as the main sales and operation of classic games. Because it is not just a simple sale, it is well known to the player by optimizing and transplanting old games to meet the latest system.
This time-bound operation of the GoG is not only a free game for players, but also a public declaration on the preservation of creation in the digital age, commercial scrutiny boundaries and the right of choice of users. It challenges the growing but ambiguous power of payment processors in the flow of content and calls for the preservation of the space for games as legitimate creative works.
The extent to which this “freedom declaration” can shake the status quo remains to be seen, but it undoubtedly dropped a heavy bomb on this debate about “who has the right to decide what we play”.
