Hello everyone,
I’d like to bring up a topic that hasn’t been discussed on the forum since 2023 — the criteria for getting a jam featured on Itch.io.
Recently, I contacted support a week ago (Request #317400) but haven’t received a reply, so I’m posting here to hopefully get clarification from moderators or the community team (and hopefully to make changes in my own game jam that starts soon).
I'm currently running a game jam, which has around 350 participants, collaboration with known sponsors, and an active community.
However, it doesn’t appear in the Featured Jams section - while some jams with only a few dozen participants and minimal descriptions are being featured.
I'm fully understand that featuring decisions depend on multiple factors beyond numbers or size. Still, it would be extremely helpful to have updated guidelines or more transparency about how the selection process works.
To emphasize how important Itch.io’s visibility is — in my case, around 60% of all traffic to our jam page comes directly from the Itch.io platform itself. This shows how powerful and valuable the platform’s discovery tools are for jam organizers.
At the same time, I’ve noticed that non-featured jams tend to get quickly pushed down in the calendar by newly created events with just a couple of participants, while featured ones remain at the top. This creates a significant visibility gap that can impact participation and engagement across the community.
I believe that more clarity on this system would benefit both organizers and participants, allowing everyone to plan their jams more effectively and align better with Itch.io’s standards.
Looking forward for your reply and help.
