Mai Itsuki, developer of the indie circle Ren, went today to X to publicly announce that Resona Bank had suspended all international transfers related to the overseas revenue from her games. The reason? “Certain risks” the bank wasn’t able, or willing, to specify. Itsuki had already consulted a lawyer before going public, who confirmed she was well within her rights to name the institution.
Ren is an indie development circle focused on adult-oriented games. One of their most recent titles is Night of the Black Goat, a Cthulhu mythos-inspired erotic RPG. Itsuki operates as an individual business owner, is legally registered with the tax office, and works with an overseas publisher based in Taiwan. By every measure, this is a legitimate, law-abiding creative operation.
In March 2026, Resona Bank contacted Itsuki and informed her that it could no longer process her international payments. She had already been selling her games domestically for two years and in the US for one year, always under the same strict compliance conditions required by Japanese law, including mandatory mosaic censorship, with no legal issues whatsoever. She provided all necessary documentation to prove the legality of her work. None of it was enough.
When she asked the bank for a specific explanation, Resona told her that the decision was “a result of a case-by-case review based on the details, methods and background of the transaction,” but declined to share the actual criteria behind that review. The bank stated that her transactions “could pose certain risks,” yet again without elaborating on what those risks were. Itsuki responded publicly with a question that pretty much sums up the whole situation: “I follow the law, settle my taxes and earn enough money to support myself through my creative work, so what kind of risk would that be for the bank?”
私は成人向ゲームを製作販売しています。
１年、海外送金されていた収益の振り込みが、りそな銀行に停止されました。
該当銀行名、事実をSNSで公表は問題ないと弁護士にアドバイス頂いてます。
私は海外のパブリッシャーにゲーム翻訳販売を委任。…— Ren：イツキ舞・クトゥルフ🔞ゲーム制作中 (@Ren_circle) April 14, 2026
A systemic problem that goes way beyond one developer
Itsuki’s case is frustrating on its own, but it becomes even more alarming when you realize it isn’t isolated at all. This is part of a much larger and growing pattern affecting Japanese developers who create adult-oriented content.
Earlier in 2025, Taro Yamada, a member of Japan’s House of Councillors who specializes in freedom of expression issues, publicly raised the alarm on X after receiving multiple reports from developers facing the same situation. According to Yamada, Japanese banks were rejecting international remittances from overseas Steam sales of adult games, leaving developers completely cut off from their own earnings.
The issue was serious enough that both Japan’s Financial Services Agency and the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry got involved.
Banks have justified these decisions by pointing to two specific pieces of legislation: the Act on Prevention of Transfer of Criminal Proceeds and the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act, both designed to prevent money laundering and regulate international financial transactions. The problem, as Yamada pointed out, is that Japanese law simply doesn’t have clear procedures in place to handle the specific complexities of international digital game sales.
That legal gray zone gives banks room to apply their own internal rules, and increasingly, those rules are being used to block developers who work in adult content, even when everything they do is perfectly legal.
The consequences go beyond Steam. Platforms like DLsite, Patreon, and Fanbox have all been caught up in this wave of financial restrictions affecting adult content creators. And for small, independent developers without legal teams or major financial backing, the options are limited and the damage is real.
Fighting a bank while undergoing cancer treatment
What makes Itsuki’s case particularly difficult to read is the personal context behind it. After consulting with a lawyer, she made the decision not to pursue a prolonged legal battle against Resona. The reason is straightforward and sobering: she is currently undergoing cancer treatment.
Continuing to fight the bank would have meant mounting legal fees on top of the physical and emotional toll she’s already dealing with. It simply wasn’t a viable path. So instead, she’s now facing the challenge of opening an international transaction account at a different bank, a process that is already difficult for self-employed individuals in Japan, and that is only getting harder as Japanese banks broadly move toward stricter policies on this type of content.
Itsuki is currently reaching out to other developers who have gone through the same situation, looking for practical guidance on how to move forward. That detail alone says a lot, a developer navigating a serious illness, a blocked income, and a shifting financial landscape, and still trying to find solutions and connect with her community.
The broader picture here is one of a creative industry that operates legally, complies with some of the strictest content regulations in the world, and still finds itself treated as a financial liability by the very institutions that are supposed to facilitate commerce. Vague internal policies with no clear criteria, no transparency, and no real avenue for appeal hit independent creators the hardest, the ones who don’t have the resources to absorb the blow or fight back effectively.
Yamada has stated he is working with the Financial Services Agency and METI to find a solution that works for everyone, but for developers like Itsuki, that solution needs to come sooner rather than later. In the meantime, she, like many others in the same position, is left spending time, money, and energy navigating a system that was never designed with them in mind.
Does this kind of banking discrimination against indie creators of adult content surprise you, or is this something you saw coming? Tell us what you think in the comments!