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Contents5
  1. Consumer impact summary
  2. Incidents
  3. Oxenfree video game removed from platform (2024)
  4. De-indexing of adult games from campaign pressure (2025)
  5. References

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Itch.io
Basic Information
Release Year 2013
Product Type Digital storefront, Video games, Video game assets and Game Dev tools
In Production Yes
Official Website https://itch.io


Itch.io is a website used to find and share video games made by independent developers online.

Consumer impact summary

Overview of concerns that arise from the conduct towards users of the product (if applicable):

  • User Freedom
  • User Privacy
  • Business Model
  • Market Control

Add your text below this box. Once this section is complete, delete this box by clicking on it and pressing backspace.


  • User freedom: Itch.io does not add DRM to the games sold on its platform.[1][2]
  • Business model: Itch.io relies on "open revenue sharing" which sends to itch.io a percentage of the transaction chosen accordingly by the creator (default 10%).[3][1]

Incidents

Oxenfree video game removed from platform (2024)

On 9 September 2024, itch.io de-listed Oxenfree and warned users who had purchased it on itch.io that the game was going to be pulled from the platform entirely on 1 October 2024. Customers would not be able to download the installer files after that date — meaning they would lose access unless they had a backup of the game. Users speculated that Netflix (the parent company of the development studio) had ordered the move. However, no response from Netflix or the developers of the game was ever published. This is particularly notable because it violates itch.io's terms of service: "Users shall retain a license to this content even after the content is removed from the Service."[4][5]

De-indexing of adult games from campaign pressure (2025)

Main article: Valve allows ISPs and payment processors to censor content on Steam

On 11 July 2025, Collective Shout issued an open statement demanding credit card payments to immediately cease processing "payments on Steam and itch.io". The reasoning for the statement by Collective Shout was because of a video game on itch.io called No Mercy (released earlier that year), which featured hard-core adult content.[6][7] A few days later, itch.io responded by de-listing adult content in search results.[8] On 31 July 2025, itch.io re-indexed all free NSFW games but with a new "content warning" tag for games with NSFW in them.[9]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Creator FAQ". Itch.io. Archived from the original on 17 Feb 2026. Retrieved 13 Aug 2025.
  2. ↑ questionman1 (17 Mar 2018). "Are games from itch.io DRM free?". Reddit. Archived from the original on 22 Feb 2026. Retrieved 27 Feb 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ↑ "Introducing open revenue sharing". Tumblr. October 2013. Archived from the original on 24 Jul 2025. Retrieved 27 Feb 2026.
  4. ↑ ShawnS (31 Jan 2025). "OXENFREE". Delisted Games. Archived from the original on 21 Mar 2025. Retrieved 27 Feb 2026.
  5. ↑ Colp, Tyler (9 Sep 2024). "Another reminder that your digital library isn't forever: Oxenfree will be completely removed from Itch.io next month". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 23 May 2025. Retrieved 27 Feb 2026.
  6. ↑ Bita, Natasha (15 July 2025). "Child safety group finds 500 online 'games' role-playing rape and incest". The Australian. Archived from the original on 18 July 2025. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
  7. ↑ Evans-Thirlwell, Edwin (22 July 2025). "Anti-porn group who tried to ban GTA 5 claim credit for Steam's sex game crackdown". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on 29 Dec 2025. Retrieved 27 Feb 2026.
  8. ↑ leafo (24 Jul 2025). "Update on NSFW content". Itch.io. Archived from the original on 1 Aug 2025. Retrieved 27 Feb 2026.
  9. ↑ leafo (31 Jul 2025). "Reindexing adult NSFW content". Itch.io. Archived from the original on 1 Aug 2025. Retrieved 27 Feb 2026.
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