Source: itch.io, Funko
The popular indie games market platform itch.io is gone, no thanks to Funko of all companies.
In an official statement to their X (formerly Twitter) account, itch.io has shared that the indie game publishing site has been taken down by Funko, a pop culture collectibles company, due to a bogus phishing report filed by an “AI-powered” brand protection software called ‘BrandShield.’
itch.io responded to the false phishing claim to their domain registrar ‘iwantmyname’, but was ignored, leading to the disabling of itch.io’s domain.
The platform further reported on the situation, stating that they had indeed taken down the disputed page because “it’s not worth fighting stuff like that,” however, their registrar’s automated system may have likely proceeded to disable the domain since “no one read [our] confirmation of removal.”
In light of the situation, itch.io may likely wait until this issue is sorted out. There was a consideration of deploying a new domain, however implications with third party services may not make it “not a trivial swap.”
itch.io is an open marketplace for independent digital creators with a focus on independent video games. The platform has been host to numerous indie games the past years since its creation in 2013, and is even the premier platform for game jams, where participants have a limited time to create a game. As of November 2024, itch.io has hosted over 1,000,000,000 products.
This isn’t the first time that itch.io was victimised by website-related issues. In 2022 itch.io came forward to accuse a web3 crypto site for stealing its code, which the site later admitted to doing so.
Some notable games that started off in itch.io are Buckshot Roulette, Baldi’s Basics, HoloCure, That’s Not My Neighbor, and even Doki Doki Literature Club! among other titles.
Update 12/10/2024: itch.io is back! The site was down for 10 hours before regaining access after Funko's bogus report.
