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How to access your purchase

When you buy (or donate to) something on itch.io, you don’t need an account. When purchasing without an account, your purchase is tied to your email address. If you used PayPal, it’s your PayPal email address. If you used a credit card, it’s the email address you provided when you made the purchase.

After every purchase, two things happen:

  • You're immediately sent an email from support@itch.io confirming your transaction. This email contains a link to your purchase page.
  • Your browser will redirect to your purchase page, which includes all downloads.

If you can’t find your purchase, first check your inbox. Verify that your spam detector didn’t hide it, or you didn’t archive it by accident.

If you're unable to find it, then you can request your download to be emailed to you again by entering your email address:

If you're still unable to find your purchase, send us an email via our support page.

How to download the game or get your activation key

Every purchase or donation comes with a unique download page assigned to your transaction. It’s where you'll find the files that come with your purchase, along with any game keys, like Steam keys.

Here’s what it looks like:

Purchase page

In order to download a file, just click Download next to the file you want. Make sure you're downloading the correct file for your operating system. You'll see icons next to the files to indicate which operating system they support.

If your purchase comes with a Steam or activation key, then you'll find a Get key button below the list of files. When you're ready to get the key, just click the button.

If the item you purchased is ever updated, or new keys are added, you'll find them there. As mentioned above, if you ever lose the link, you can request it to be resent to your email, but we recommend creating an account on itch.io to take full advantage of the tools we provide for managing your library.

Purchasing with an account

If you purchase something while logged in to your itch.io account, then that purchase is automatically linked to that account. You'll need to be logged in to that account to access your purchase. If you aren’t logged in, then you'll be given the option to link the purchase:

Link your purchase to an account

If you don’t have an account, then after purchasing, you're given the option to link the purchase to a new account or an existing account.

Click the relevant link on the banner on your purchase page. It looks like this:

Want to keep track of all your purchases? Create an account or log in to itch.io to instantly link this purchase.

A linked purchase will be associated with your account’s email address. This is helpful if your PayPal email address isn’t where you receive mail. By linking the purchase, any future notifications about it will go to your account’s email address.

I bought something that advertised a Steam key, but it’s not there

There are a few reasons why a Steam key may not appear. If the developer has run out of keys for their page, then you will not be able to claim a Steam key. When this happens, the developer is notified via an automated system to refill the keys.

For some larger bundles on itch.io, Steam keys are not provided as part of your purchase. If a Steam key is to be included with a bundle, it will be advertised directly on the bundle’s page and purchase dialog. If it’s not there, then no Steam key is included, even if the individual product purchase includes a Steam key. This is to prevent placing excessive demand on developers to provide keys when participating in large charity bundles.

In some circumstances, our fraud detection system may mark a purchase for additional review and will delay access to any external keys, such as Steam keys. This is to prevent malicious actors from using stolen credit cards to drain a game of all their Steam keys for resale on secondary markets (Lame, I know).

In either case, your best option is to contact support with the details of your purchase and we can look it up in our system and get you sorted out.