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. (This is the same process Apple lawyers wrongly referred some of them in itch.ios content as “unspeakable games”.)
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%.
