Payment crisis: developers report over 100 days without receiving payment on itch.io

Independent game developers are facing payment delays of over 100 days on the itch.io platform, leading to serious financial and organizational consequences. The crisis, affecting hundreds of creators, has sparked accusations of misconduct and communication failure on the platform's part, prompting its creator to intervene.

The situation is particularly critical for developers who rely on these funds for the continuation of their projects. Independent developer u/seanutsfrox reported having over $6000 in pending payments, which caused substantial damage to their development schedule.

"Meanwhile, my project has been greatly harmed by this. We need funds to continue development, but instead we have been left waiting without any explanation, wondering if we will ever see our money."

The delay, which far exceeds the promised 10–14 day timeframe, led to the cancellation of a freelancer contract, damaging the studio's reputation and work schedule.

The issue is not isolated; more than 200 developers are said to be experiencing the same situation, mostly concentrated outside the USA. The lack of support response is a central point of criticism, as evidenced by u/seanutsfrox's account: "From the beginning, I wrote to itch.io support several times over the past few months — not a single response to any ticket." Frustration has escalated, with the developer questioning the platform's viability:

"No developer should ever be left waiting [four] months for payment, ignored by support, forced to beg for their own money while their projects fall apart. If you are thinking of selling your game, project, or any product on itch.io, think twice and seriously look for alternatives. At this point, itch.io is a scam."

The allegations gained prominence after initial reports by Rascal and were echoed by GameDeveloper, with a Reddit thread receiving hundreds of upvotes to bring attention to the issue.

The problem seems to predominantly affect developers outside the USA who choose to collect revenue directly through the platform, rather than through third-party processors like Stripe or PayPal. The tax validation process has also proven to be an obstacle, as detailed by u/seanutsfrox:

"To meet their strict tax requirements, I even went to the tax office in my country and provided official documents (something no other payment processor or bank has ever asked of me). After months, itch.io finally reviewed them and marked my tax profile as 'Validated.' And still, no payment."

In an attempt to contain the crisis and direct complaints, the creator of itch.io, leafo, posted a note on the Itch.io Community about submitting payment and tax-related inquiries "without writing an email." The statement aims to end discussions in public forums and direct the flow of requests to a new system.

"We ask that you no longer post payment help requests in our community forums. We have closed the previous topic we had opened, as it was a temporary solution until we update some of our processes."

This attempt to refine the process comes in the context of recent turbulence on the platform, including "scrutiny" regarding its adult content, which led to discussions with payment processors in the last month. To comply with the terms of these processors, the platform confirmed it has "deindexed" NSFW content from its browsing and search pages in the last week, and updated its adult content guidelines. GamesIndustry.biz confirmed reaching out to itch.io for a comment.

The payment crisis on itch.io is a systemic issue that is financially harming developers and the platform's credibility, forcing it to create a new support protocol. The impact of the situation requires a quick and transparent resolution to restore the trust of creators who are currently seriously considering seeking alternatives.