UK gov has "no plans to intervene" with payment processors pressuring stores to remove games

With the ongoing drama from the likes of Steam and itch.io getting hit by payment processors for hosting certain adult games, the UK government say pretty clearly they will not get involved.

In the UK we have a dedicated government petitions website, where any UK citizen can ask the government to do something. When a petition hits at least 10,000 verified signatures, the government has to respond. If it hits 100,000 then it gets considered for a debate in parliament.

There's an ongoing petition titled "Ban payment processors stopping services based on objections to legal content", which notes:

There are reports that payment processing companies have recently placed pressure on companies that rely on their services, pressuring them to remove legitimate content.

Because there are a small number of major payment processing companies, we believe this poses an unacceptable threat to small businesses and private individuals, and undermines democratic free speech through censorship from unaccountable companies.

At some point recently that petition managed to reach over the 10K threshold (12,362 at time of writing), and so the UK government responded on October 6th:

The Government recognises the important role payments plays in supporting a resilient, diverse and growing economy. The Government is committed to ensuring that the UK’s payment system works for all, allowing businesses and customers to transact with confidence.

The Government recognises that it is important for businesses to have greater choice in the forms of payment that they can accept. The National Payments Vision, published in November 2024, set out the Government’s ambition for a world-leading payments ecosystem, where consumers and businesses have a choice of payment methods to meet their needs. A key part of this ambition is the continued development of Open Banking, which enables consumers to make purchases using a wider range of payment methods, including account-to-account payments, thereby increasing competition in the payments sector. HM Treasury is working closely with the financial services regulators to deliver these outcomes.

Decisions regarding which businesses payment processors contract with are a commercial matter, taking into account the relevant requirements on the firm. These decisions will be influenced by a variety of factors, and the Government has no plans to intervene in those commercial decisions.

The petition ends 26th February, 2026.

Seems there's going to be no easy solution to this, aside from finding some alternative payment processors that won't kick up a fuss about certain adult content. Complaining directly to the payment processors might help too.