Worth it Stage 1
itch.io is the anti-Steam: bootstrapped by Leaf Corcoran, it lets creators set their own price, offer pay-what-you-want, and choose their own revenue split with the platform—down to 0%. No algorithmic feed, no discovery tax, no mandatory sales windows. The platform earns revenue only if creators choose to share some. Bundles have raised millions for charity. itch.io is what a creator-first marketplace looks like when it’s never been optimised for investor returns. Stage 1.
The promise
Its first promise, and how much is kept · Scoring
100% kept
“You get to decide how much you want to support itch.io by choosing what percentage of your sales should go towards our operational costs”
Why it’s rated 1
The criteria it meets, with sources · Method
- Alignment 1 of 3
-
- A1 Paid for without surveillance
- Lock-in 0 of 4
- None
- Extraction 0 of 7
- None
- Decline 0 of 3
- None
Result An alignment criterion, no lock-in, and at most one extraction criterion, so stage 1.
News signals
Sourced reporting, tagged by strategy
Jul 24, 2025
itch.io deindexes adult games under payment processor pressure
Regulatory pass-through