Indie game platform itch.io announced a new initiative on Wednesday: Creator Day. It’s a day when developers on the platform – game developers, musicians, artists, and writers – get 100% of the profits from products sold through the website.
Itch.io’s open revenue sharing plan, which launched in 2015, is already an anomaly in the industry with its 10% fee, let alone the zero percent option. Creator Day seems to be an extension of this, a day where developers can create hype for their games from players looking to provide additional support.
All sellers are automatically included in the program – no changes required. For some, that doesn’t mean much: creators already had the option to set their revenue sharing to zero percent, but a revenue sharing of 10% is the default option, although it’s configurable upwards from there too.
“We have the support of our great community every day and wanted to set a day when we could return the favor,” said Spencer Hayes, director of business and content at itch.io, to Polygon. “It was tough for a lot of people out there and we thought we were going to help out as much as we can.”
Itch.io is Now also available in the Epic Games Store – a deal that puts the platform on a different platform, but Epic Games can’t detract from itch.io’s sales. Elsewhere in the industry, Valve makes 30% of its sales with Steam, as do Sony and Microsoft. Microsoft confirmed last week during Apple’s antitrust trial against Epic that it was selling its consoles at a loss – and the 30% drop in sales is set to make up for that. Epic argued during the trial
However, Microsoft only takes 12% in the Windows Store – the same number that Epic Games uses in the Epic Games Store.
Also in 2020, Apple reduced its commission for developers who earn up to $ 1 million per year to 15%.
