itch.io

About

itch.io is a website and digital distribution center for indie games, e-books, game-making assets and other forms of media. The website hosts more than 100,000 projects and has been the home of several notable indie games, including Doki Doki Literature Club and Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning. The site contains a "pay-what-you-want" model, allowing users to pay the set minimum price of almost any game offered on the site.

Origin and History

On March 3rd, 2013, programmer Leaf Corcoran posted a blogpost entitled "introducing itch.io,"^[1] introducing and launching a pay-what-you-want" indie video game marketplace that allowed creators to upload and sell their games and users to purchase for low prices or higher donations. The post continues:

With a site like itch.io it’s possible to upload such games with a minimum price of $0. Effectively creating a nice landing page with fast downloads and screenshots. If there’s somebody out there who really likes the game then there’s nothing stopping them from supporting through a purchase.

I've seen a few other indie game marketplace sites but I've been disappointed in them because there is just too much crap on the game pages. Big logos for the marketplace instead of the game, distractions like comments and ratings forced on the game pages, and just poor user experience. I tried to make something clean and focused. The page you create is just about your game. There’s no itch.io branding anywhere, no ads, just your game.

On December 14th, 2015, Corcoran announced the addition of a desktop application for the site.^[2]

As of February 2018, the site has been a host to over 100,000 games and applications.

Features

As previously stated, itch.io contains a pay-what-you-want system for the games on the site, allowing customers to pay what they want for a product. Users can pay a minimum set price for a game or donate more.

Developers can upload their own games to the site. The creators can design their own page for the video game, as well as track their own revenue.^[8]

The site also hosts game jams among the community, where users set out to make small games based around the theme of an event over a set period of time.

In addition to video games, users can also purchase game assets, soundtracks, comics, physical games, books and tools.

Traffic

As of July 2019, itch.io has an Alexa ranking of 1883 with a United States ranking of 1037.

Online Relevance

itch.io has a verified Twitter^[3] account with over 54,000 followers as of July 2019. The site also sports a Facebook page and subreddit.^[4][5]

The website has been covered by multiple internet media outlets, including Vice and Rock Paper Shotgun.^[6][7]

Search Interest

External Links