Developers on Reddit, Bluesky, and beyond are speaking up with concerns that indie game marketplace itch.io isn’t paying out owed revenue in a timely manner.
Claims about these delays recently surfaced on Reddit, though independent tabletop role-playing news outlet Rascal has documented claims going back to May 2025. In July, GamePressure reported that the developer of Vintage Story had disabled the ability to purchase the game on itch.io, saying the site had not issued requested payouts in three months.
The delays seem to impact developers who collect user payments through itch.io itself, rather than their own Paypal or Stripe accounts. The platform allows developers to collect revenue through either means, but as Rascal notes, the former method provides less administrative overhead, a boon for the site’s low-budget creatives.
Itch.io appears to be updating its process to speed up payouts. Site founder Leaf Corcoran informed developers on September 23 that the platform had created a direct support line to assist with payment processing concerns.
Why is itch.io struggling to pay out devs in a timely manner?
According to Rascal, an itch.io representative explained to developers on the platform’s Discord server that the delays have been exacerbated by the response to the site’s sudden de-indexing of adult content following pressure from payment providers responding to a pressure campaign from Australian activist group Collective Shout. The site’s support inbox became flooded with emails, and the payment processing system became backed up after developers mass-requested payouts as their games and art were de-indexed.
However as Rascal reported, some developers were reporting delays in payouts from Itch as early as May of this year.
Game Developer has reached out to Itch.io for comment on this story and will update this story when a response is sent.
