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Is adding a secondary in-game payment option allowed?

A topic by Olaf Moriarty Solstrand created Oct 14, 2023 Views: 487 Replies: 1
Viewing posts 1 to 2

Hello,

I'm working on a free-to-play, pay-what-you-want browser game. I like the "pay what you want" settings on itch.io and will be using them.

I have a small problem, however. My users are mostly Norwegian, many of them are unfamiliar with itch.io, and in the feedback I've gathered after my previous game and in preparations for the next one, I know that they will be *a lot* more willing to pay for the game if I allow them to pay using Vipps instead of credit cards / PayPal.

Obviously I don't expect itch.io to implement a Scandinavia-only payment method. I could, however, implement and host it myself. But if I do, the question becomes: can I do that without breaking itch.io rules?

Specifically, what I want to do is have a "Pay" or "Support" link in the in-game menu. When clicking that, a dialog box shows up with a short text encouraging them to pay for the game if they like it, and two buttons: one to pay by Vipps (which sends them to a payment form on my own domain), and one to pay by card (which sends them to the default support page on itch.io). The Vipps button will only be displayed if their in-game language is set to Norwegian.

I can't find anything specifically about this in the quality guidelines. I realize it's not an ideal solution, as users paying by a secondary payment method wouldn't be covered by Open Revenue Sharing, but practically my choice is either offering this payment method or not get paid at all, so I'd love to implement it if something like that is allowed in itch.io games.

(+1)

rofl

Never browsed for games on itch, did ya? ;-)

It is only complicated, if you have a paywall. Or if you plan on having one in the future. That is, content that itch is only allowed to make available to the player, after payment.

If your content is pay-what-you-want you can go bananas and cluster your game page with outside give-me-money links. You can even host your download files on external file hosters (and that is available for paid games no less).

Just look at several game descriptions, in the info box. Itch offers integration of certain links there, like patreon or steam. Most put them in description and their creator page as well.

Some devs make the extra effort to manually give out itch download keys to people, in the complicated cases I mentioned. See here. https://itch.io/docs/creators/download-keys

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