Skip to main content

Indie game storeFree gamesFun gamesHorror games
Game developmentAssetsComics
SalesBundles
Jobs
TagsGame Engines

That’s pretty much what I learned in the first thread.

At this point, it doesn’t really matter to if my game was delisted automaticaly or intentionaly. I asked support multiple times and got no answer. I gave itch half a year to sort this out and nothing happened. I dealt with support teams for multiple platforms for various reasons and at worst, I had to wait two weeks to get some kind of answer. This is absolutely the worst treatment from a platform I encountered.

To be clear, I don’t really mind that much that my game is delisted. It’s not in a state where I feel confident in sharing it around broadly. That’s one of the reasons why I put it on itch and not on steam. What makes me genuinely mad is the lack of care and what seems like disdain for people using this site.

Lack of comunication is the worst thing about this. Last time I asked around here, I got some answers from a moderator, but nothing concrete. Pretty much what I alredy read in the FAQ. When the game got delisted, I didn’t get any notification. Not even some simple generated blanket statement. Nothing. I sent total of two mails to the support team and I was being ignored for half a year and counting. I mean, what am I supposed to do now? I feel like waiting half a year is more than enough to get some sort of statement, but as far as I can tell, there is no way to contact someone from the staff directly and since I don’t know why the game got delisted, I have no idea if it really was done automaticaly or if my game broke some kind of rule that I have to fix.

(+1)

That moderator is a community moderator. Not Itch staff. No time moderates this very community here, where you currently write. While no time might forward any ticket number again, if you post it according to the message board rules, you did not do that. Yet.

I can only repeat the observation, Itch does not answer indexing issues. And they do not display that status anywhere, or give notification. This is intentional. Yes, it is frustrating and seems bogus. But that's how it is.

There is a feedback button you can use to tell them you think it is a bad idea and they should make certain things more clear at certain places. Like in the docs they should write that indexing is low priority and can take months in some cases. But if you write in public community, any answers will be from community -  even if it is a mod. Those blue moderators are part of the community.

(1 edit) (+1)

The ticket number is at the top of the previous thread I linked in the first post, but there is no harm in putting it here again.

Ticket number: 302350

As for itch not answering indexing issues, I can understand that, to a degree. I get that they don’t want to reveal how their system works and what criteria it has for delisting games. However it is, in my opinion, absolutely inexcusable to ignore any ticket that wants to talk about issues connected to it.

I would be perfectly satisfied if I got a reply like this: “Your game was delisted by our automatic system for reason we cannot disclose. We will check it manualy and decide if it is fit to be re-indexed or not. We will contact you with details if we find any issues with your game that would make it unfit for re-indexing. Please be patient, as this process can take anywhere from few week up to twelve months. In the meantime, be sure to share the link to your game around, as your page is still accessible via direct link. Have a good day.”

Hell, even something like this would be better than nothing: “We are sorry. We can’t disclose the inner workings of our flagging system. Your game was flagged automaticaly and is in our que to get checked manualy. This can take up to one year. Have a good day.”

That’s it. That’s all I want. It’s the silence from the support team that makes me upset. If you get ignored completely by support, then something is very wrong.

I wrote here for for two reasons. One, I want to know how this went for other people. How long it took to get their games re-indexed, if they got any replies from the support team,… Stuff like that. To get a general picture from people with actual experience with this situation.

And two, I wanted to get some eyes on my situation and hopefully get someone from the moderator team to poke the support team again or to get some kind of statement.

A good idea for the feedback button. Some of that should go in a good reply. Automatics should be good enough to distinguish between "indexing" questions and other questions and be able to reply with something similar like you suggested, instead of giving merely the ticket number.