Over the last few weeks, a battle has been raging between digital video game storefronts, payment processors, and an Australian activist group, Collective Shout. The group initially targeted games focused on r*pe and inc*st, contacting Visa and Mastercard, and forcing online stores like Steam and itch.io to delist dozens of adult games. However, the campaign has extended further, with developers arguing that the ban is harming queer creators, even if their games are within the confines of the law. It could be part of a wider plot, overseen by Project 2025’s leading voices, to ban p*rnography from video games and the wider internet.
In a new interview, Caitlin Roper, campaigns manager at Collective Shout, revealed that “legality is not the defining factor” in the games it targets, stating that men who are defending the games “perpetrate crimes of violence against women.”
Collective Shout Warns That No Game Is Safe From Its Sights
Speaking in an interview with TweakTown, Roper states that the group’s objection “is to content that glorifies sexualised violence against women and children,” adding, “it is clear many of the men defending their r*pe games perpetrate crimes of violence against women, because they are doing it to us right now.”
Roper states that while many of the games the company initially targeted would “be illegal in Australia,” the organization doesn’t view legality as the “defining factor”.
“Our work focuses on combating the sexual objectification and exploitation of women and girls, so we focus our energy there,” says Roper. “That said, we call out this objectification and abusive depictions of women and girls even where they are not illegal. Legality is not the defining factor; it is about documented evidence of harm to women and girls.”
When asked about the damage Collective Shout was causing to developers who had released their games within the confines of the law, Roper stated, “If Steam and itch.io had been moderating their platforms as they should have, there would have been no need to temporarily delist games to ensure they were not in violation of their policies. Our objection has always been clearly stated – r*pe, inc*st, and child sexual abuse.”
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