Several of these, including Catacombs of Solaris, have won awards for art and design, despite not being commercially published in a typical sense. In 2018, Corocan told The Verge that he wanted developers ‘to feel okay to put it at zero.’įor Ian Maclarty, the award-winner developer of experimental puzzle games Jumpgrid, Boson X and Dissembler, the appeal is ease of use and access: ‘The thing that drew me to it initially was just how easy it is to upload a game, especially compared to similar sites like Gamejolt or Steam it’s great when you just want to put your game somewhere quickly so people can play it.’ Maclarty has published games across several platforms, including the Apple Store, Google Play, and Steam, but many of his shorter and more experimental games are exclusive to itch. As well as ensuring a fair profit split, The platform has always been adamant. Most creators end up setting the split at around 8 per cent, a far cry from the Steam Store’s mandatory 30 per cent split. Itch.io creators also control what percentage of revenue goes to the digital platform. The platform also allows any of its users to create ‘game jams’, community events that challenge participants to complete a game, usually in response to a prompt or theme, within a very limited time-frame. Unlike a more mainstream digital storefront like the Steam Store, which charges creators to upload a game to the store, hosting a game on Itch.io is free this encourages the platform’s thriving communities of works in progress, tiny games, and experimental games. But the platform can still clearly draw a crowd, and it attracts creators of many different interests and levels of creative experience and commercial success. At face value, Itch’s numbers are daunting: in 2019, the platform was host to 200,000 games, with a user base number in the tens of thousands, not tens of millions. Itch.io has a much smaller user base than other digital storefronts like the Steam Store, which boasted an active user base of 90 million and 30,000 games on the store in 2019. Read More: These indie games let you experience Melbourne despite lockdown The creator sets both the price of their work, and many works on the platform are free, with an option to donate. Itch shares an ethos with Bandcamp and Wattpad, allowing creators of all sizes to host games in browser or available to download. It was founded by Leaf Corcoran in 2013 as a gatekeeper-free distribution platform which would allow creators of all sizes to present their work on their own terms. Put simply, Itch is an open marketplace in which anyone may create an account.
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