Robert Yang Fights Censorship to Launch Free Collection of Award-Winning Games
▼ Summary
– Robert Yang released *Radiator Forever*, a free compilation of his remastered short experimental games, using a release model he calls “Gay as a Service.”
– The collection initially includes four remastered games, with *Rinse and Repeat* receiving a major control overhaul and others like *Hurt Me Plenty* seeing minimal changes.
– Upcoming additions include *The Tearoom* later this year and *Cobra Club* requiring a substantial rework, likely not arriving until 2028.
– *Radiator Forever* faces visibility issues on Steam and Itch.io due to payment processor crackdowns on adult games, prompted by a conservative campaign and the UK Online Safety Act.
– Steam flagged the collection for “frequent nudity and sexual content,” effectively shadowbanning it from 99% of users, which Yang criticizes as censorship compared to mainstream games like *Baldur’s Gate 3*.
Acclaimed queer game designer Robert Yang, known for provocative works like The Tearoom and Rinse and Repeat, is pushing back against tightening digital storefront policies with the release of Radiator Forever, a free, ever-growing compilation of his award-winning experimental titles. The collection, which Yang dubs a “GaaS” model (short for Gay as a Service), launches today with four remastered games, though finding it may require some effort due to ongoing censorship battles.
The initial release includes Rinse and Repeat, a first-person showering game exploring consent and safety, which has received a complete control overhaul to replace its original hybrid 2D/3D system designed for VR. Three other titles,Hurt Me Plenty, Succulent, and Stick Shift,have been updated with “minimal” changes. Yang plans to expand the collection over time, with his acclaimed historical piece The Tearoom expected later this year after a similar control revamp. That game, a commentary on 1960s sodomy laws and video game censorship, features men standing at urinals with guns for penises while evading undercover police. Also on the roadmap are Hard Lads, Logjam, and Rainbows Are Carnivores, which Yang describes as “fairly straightforward to bring over.”
Some titles require more extensive rework. Cobra Club, a 2015 “photo studio game about body image, privacy, and dick pics,” needs substantial updates. Yang explains that “the controls aren’t gamepad friendly, the online features aren’t maintenance friendly, the chat system isn’t localisation friendly, and the politics weren’t reality friendly,” pushing its release to 2027 or even 2028. Meanwhile, Pool Day, a skinny dipping simulator inspired by David Hockney’s paintings, should arrive soon, and the gay hockey romance Two Body Problem,currently “69 percent done”,is slated for next year, “probably coinciding with season two of Heated Rivalry for maximum synergy.”
Despite his critical acclaim, Yang’s work has faced significant headwinds from platform policies. Radiator Forever has already been flagged by Steam’s content reviewers for “frequent nudity and sexual content,” despite Yang’s efforts to avoid explicit imagery. “Compliance-in-advance is never enough to appease a zealous censor,” he says, noting that the reviewers deemed the game’s “nature” as “just too gay.” As a result, the collection is only visible to Steam users who manually enable such content in their preferences,a move Yang calls “a delisting/shadowban from 99 percent of the Steam user base.” UK users must also verify they are 18 or older to access games flagged for “mature sexual content.”
Yang points to broader industry pressures, including a crackdown on adult-oriented games by payment processors Visa, Mastercard, and Stripe in 2025, prompted by a campaign from the conservative Australian group Collective Shout. This forced Itch.io to delist or bury many NSFW games. Additionally, the UK Online Safety Act has led Itch to geoblock the entire country rather than risk non-compliance. Yang warns that “the coming tide of anti-anonymity laws (masquerading as teen social media safety laws) is going to make it all even more expensive for websites to serve their users.”
Comparing his treatment to that of mainstream titles, Yang criticizes the double standard. “Valve loves it when Cyberpunk 2077 and Baldur’s Gate 3 throw customisable genitals at you in the first five minutes, but of course I can’t, because I actually have something to say about genitals!” He laments that Valve shows no interest in nuanced conversations about moral judgment, as seen in their rejection of Santa Ragione’s game Horses. “If video games are a form of protected free speech, I do wish there was a bit more hand-wringing over blocking access to my games that were designed directly to be political speech,” he adds.
Radiator Forever is available now on Steam (requiring log-in to view) and Itch.io, serving as both a celebration of Yang’s boundary-pushing work and a defiant stand against restrictive platform policies.
(Source: Eurogamer.net)