Itch.io, the open marketplace that is largely dedicated to featuring indies, can now be accessed through the Epic Games Store.
On April 22, Itch.io made its way to the storefront along with apps like open-source digital painting app Krita; 2D pixel art to 3D model transformation tool KenShape; open-source browser Brave; and radio app iHeartRadio.
This move means so many indies, especially ones that could go easily overlooked, will enjoy the exposure of a platform as big as this one. It’s especially great news considering Epic confirmed to Polygon that it “will not take a percentage of sales” from Itch.io games. On Itch.io, developers on the storefront get to choose which percentage of their sales go to the storefront. In comparison, the Epic Games Store normally takes a 12 percent cut — which is far better for developers than Steam, where Valve takes a cut that is anywhere between 20 to 30 percent. When you buy an indie game on Itch.io, accessed through the Epic Games Store, none of that profit will go to Epic.
It’s certainly an unexpected move, but one that is incredibly welcome — especially as indies continue to shine. (Also, hey, this means you can now play Butterfly Soup — one of the best visual novels — through the Epic Games Store. You love to see it.)
5 years ago Steam rejected the @itchio app from Steam Greenlight, but today you can now download the @itchio app from the Epic Games Store ?https://t.co/cZO6SwEduP
— leaf @ itch.io ? (@moonscript) April 22, 2021
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In a response on Twitter, Itch.io’s creator said he has “a hunch that Epic is going to use this in their lawsuit against Apple to demonstrate how open of a platform they are. Unlike mobile platforms, they aren’t demanding any cut of payments we do on our own platform despite being available there. Theories aside, they reached out to us, and we were like ‘sure why not’. EGS has a lot of users, and it would be cool for some of them to discover @itchio.” He also says that, while there wasn’t a chance to fully test the MacOS build before this, it will likely be added in the future.
As the storefront’s description on the Epic Games Store says, Itch.io is “a collection of some of the most unique, interesting, and independent creations you’ll find on the web … with a wide range of both paid and free content.” To access Itch, the itch.io app, you need to have created a free Itch.io account.
As Black Lives Matter protests reached a global scale last year, Itch.io raised over eight million dollars to support racial justice and equality.
