To the team at Itch.io,

It didn’t have to be this way. Most the angers is over the disturbing lack of clear communication. Most of us want to support Itch.io. It’s huge for indie and queer creators. But poor communication is killing the vibe.

THE PROBLEM

The problem is the information vacuum. When deindexing happened without warning, hours of silence followed. Panic and confusion filled the void. The official statement sidestepped major questions, so speculation became fact.

A community that championed you now feels abandoned and suspicious. What little info we got was limited to side replies and a tizzy over a Xitter community note.

This could have been avoided. Imagine if a simple, immediate statement had been posted: “We’re facing urgent payment processing pressures, like other storefronts. We’ve taken immediate emergency action to preserve payment processing for everyone. We deeply apologize for the disruption. This sucks for everyone. Please bear with us while we navigate this emergency. We’ll release a full statement with more details as soon as possible.”

That short acknowledgment would have instantly snuffed out a lot of initial panic and frustration.

THE SOLUTION

Don’t be avoidant and defensive. Get back ahead of this. Own up, be kind, be clear. Drop a series of full posts:

1. Own the comms failures! Start with a post genuinely apologizing for the surprise and silence. Acknowledge the widespread confusion and distress it caused. Commit to full clarification soon.

2. Explain the emergency actions. Clearly and simply explain the exact pressures and demands faced. Address why such an aggressive route was necessary. Acknowledge directly the widespread perception that these actions felt overly aggressive and far-reaching, especially compared to how other platforms handled similar pressures. Do not dismiss this perception. Address it head-on.

3. Address the confusion over payouts. You said in a couple replies that payouts are not frozen and indicated (not very clearly) that the confusion was the result of notice wording. Make a main post about it, clearly stating that payments are not frozen, what caused the confusion, and how to reach out if there’s an issue.

4. Address SFW and queer content deindexing: Many creators reported SFW and queer-themed content deindexed or hidden. Your few small side replies blamed unrelated review systems. This needs a plain explanation in a main post. Clearly explain what happened, how widespread the problem is, and how affected creators can reach out for a fix. Be very transparent as distrust is high. (To be very clear myself: You absolutely cannot rely on the default secret sauce reply, as that will throw fuel on the fire.)

5. Clarify library access issues. Some users lost access to purchased items. Your replies said this shouldn’t be happening and encouraged contacting support. This is a big upset point and needs a direct prominent statement. Clearly explain why this might be occurring for some users and provide unambiguous instructions on how to troubleshoot or contact support to regain access. Reassure users their purchased content is safe.

6. Provide resources with a call to action. Only after you have taken full ownership and fully clarified the situation across all these points, then create your own post with a comprehensive list of phone numbers and email addresses for the payment processors exerting this pressure. This information should not be limited to one country or region. If you need help compiling this global resource, ask the community! Many would be thrilled to assist. But it’s crucial that you own your part first to repair community damage and gain the most collaborative help.

Most of us who are upset truly want to be on Itch.io’s side. The friction you’re experiencing is not a rejection of your platform or betrayal in your time of need. It’s a direct result of broken trust, frustration, and panic stemming from what feels like a total lack of clear communication. While a lot of damage is done, you still have a chance to course correct.

If you did, thanks for listening. I hope this reaches open ears. 🙏🙏🙏

UPDATE: There’s a new FAQ. It still leaves a lot unclear and doesn’t address the SFW queer titles that got hit or what happened there. But it finally is some kind of answer at least.

Great summary of the current concerns. It mirrors sentiments that have come up in the discord as well.

Yes the thing about itch.io is that unlike Steam, creators are giving a lot of leeway of whether the game can be claimed or simply downloaded. On Steam, most of the F2P or purely free games can be claimed and attached to your account. Here, many products are purely download only if they are listed as free. That brings about confusion about ownership as well (as users believe that downloading a game places the game in their itch.io library). I don't know whether activating the claim option for a product is not always allowed for creators, but that could be worth clarifying by itch.io admins as well.

The lack of communication is staggering.

The radio silence on Bluesky and tone deaf attempts to continue promo posting on X are ill-advised (as I’m sure you’ve seen by the responses). People want answers. Your community wants clarity. Please give it to us.

And OMG, continuing to implement major changes without notice or warning is a Bad Idea(tm). The Worst Idea(tm) when it directly rubs against a common (mis)perception of some NSFW creators having their funds frozen.

This feels custom designed to throw fuel on the fire, not take control and manage the damage whatsoever: https://itch.io/docs/creators/faq#is-adult-content-allowed ESPECIALLY DROPPED WITHOUT WARNING, EXPLANATION, NOTHING. Just more radio silence while people panic and speculate off what little you’ve given us.

The emphasis put on how heavy and broadly you may apply the banhammer and the explicit threat to keep all of a creator’s money for one hit, when you are clear that there’s a secret sauce and boundaries you’re not disclosing… In this climate? With how upset people already are and how you’re completely failing to talk to the very people that make your platform exist… I’m at a loss for words and what words I can find would not productive except to say:

PLEASE TAKE A STEP BACK FROM YOUR CRISIS MODE TO SEE THE HARM YOU ARE CAUSING TO THE COMMUNITY AND YOURSELF. PLEASE, I’m truly begging you, take an hour or two to explain everything to us. And please consider how this is all coming across and how many bridges you are burning far outside of your claimed target zone.

Please.

Due to the content of this update (https://itch.io/docs/creators/faq#is-adult-content-allowed) I cannot trust itch as a platform and I will be taking my business elsewhere, both as a developer and a gamer.

I understand you're trying to control damage, but you completely forgot how damaging this knee-jerk reaction would be. It's anti-dev and anti-user. Overnight, you've deprived thousands of developers of their income, and now threaten to take the money of anyone who violates the ill-defined rules? Itch is not a safe platform for our games anymore.

Itch should add some other means of payment https://itch.io/t/4681048/monero-support-for-user-privacy-avoiding-censorship-fr...

Would only adding possibility of payment of adult games with crypto be possible?

It’s… not the best and still leaves a bit too much unclear about the boundaries and such, but there’s an updated FAQ that in all fairness does answer most of the posed questions. Notably except the SFW queer title hits, which is not very encouraging to me.

Read the new FAQ.