Oxenfree is being completely removed from itch.io in October

There is no reason why wouldn't they keep the downloads available for the existing purchasers. This is bad PR for them. PC games are very rarely removed completely from a platform this way.

And once again i have to differ to people that use GOG.
I use Steam for convenience and proton but stories like these make me realize that when push comes to shove its best to have a backup copy of your game.

Even if we disregard the possible legal aspects, that is a pretty giant breach of trust. Both for the publisher for doing it and itch.io for allowing it.

As a customer I don't know who is responsible for this breach of trust. The only thing I know is: I won't buy ANY games anymore from Itch.io. I'm serious. Itch.io is dead for me from this moment onwards.

As a customer I don't know who is responsible for this breach of trust. The only thing I know is: I won't buy ANY games anymore from Itch.io. I'm serious. Itch.io is dead for me from this moment onwards.

Are we so sure it was itch.io's call? As noted in the article, it's likely Netflix's call, even if indirectly.

I'm going to burn all of my game installers to blu-ray.

I'm going to burn all of my game installers to blu-ray.

I like this. Physical backups are still important. 👍

And once again i have to differ to people that use GOG.
I use Steam for convenience and proton but stories like these make me realize that when push comes to shove its best to have a backup copy of your game.

This is why torrent sites are also kind of like an internet backup archive for games you have once purchased, taken away from you, or lost and you can still get them. And why shouldn't you? You have purcahsed! It belongs to you even though these types of removes happen.

Hey, Night School Studio! You are making absolutely NO SENSE whatsoever. What is the matter with you

As a customer I don't know who is responsible for this breach of trust. The only thing I know is: I won't buy ANY games anymore from Itch.io. I'm serious. Itch.io is dead for me from this moment onwards.

I think Itch.io doesn't get much of a say in this. Distributing a specific game can become illegal if some licenses expire (most commonly for music or car brand likeness used in the game), therefore Itch.io requires a method for the game uploader to remove the game from the platform. And it makes sense that the uploader is responsible for doing it rather than Itch.io themselves trying to keep track of the licenses in the many many games uploaded. If a publisher uses this system for something like retroactive platform exclusivity, Itch.io can't easily filter that out and limit it.

Itch.io also isn't important enough in the gaming space to leverage significant political power and be able to pressure the uploader to follow Itch.io views (even if they aligned perfectly with your views) on game conservation or customer expectations.

So personally, I wouldn't blame Itch.io really. But I do understand how this can be very unpleasant.


Last edited by chr on 9 September 2024 at 12:53 pm UTC

Folks, if you are dissing on itch, you're overreacting. This is certainly bad PR for Netflix/Night School Studio since they had no reason to do this, but itch isn't breaching any trust nor contract. You bought your game, you got your game. It has given you a DRM-Free installer that you can use whenever you want, as many times as you want. Even if new downloads are pulled, this shouldn't affect anyone much. Imagine going to a store and demanding a new copy of your game because you lost the game CD you bought there last year and being angry they won't service you. Infinite downloads for DRM-Free stuff is a courtesy and honestly they aren't even always provided by some software shops.

If it was on a platform like Steam, that by design makes you re-download to re-install which would mean you'd be locked out of new installations, then yeah, that would have been a big deal, but that's another beast entirely.


Last edited by IrisNebula on 9 September 2024 at 1:00 pm UTC

And once again i have to differ to people that use GOG.
I use Steam for convenience and proton but stories like these make me realize that when push comes to shove its best to have a backup copy of your game.

This is why torrent sites are also kind of like an internet backup archive for games you have once purchased, taken away from you, or lost and you can still get them. And why shouldn't you? You have purcahsed! It belongs to you even though these types of removes happen.

Hey, Night School Studio! You are making absolutely NO SENSE whatsoever. What is the matter with you

That is one of the ironies of media piracy. Pirates are the scourge of the industry, but in many cases, they are the only source for games, movies, television shows, and music that are no longer commercially available.

That is one of the ironies of media piracy. Pirates are the scourge of the industry, but in many cases, they are the only source for games, movies, television shows, and music that are no longer commercially available.

That's right and not just commercially non-available, but indeed you may have already bought the same game twice without a possibility to get your hands on your game legally. Copyright (mafia that is) also pretty much only slows down innovation and progress.

Imagine going to a store and demanding a new copy of your game because you lost the game CD you bought there last year and being angry they won't service you.

If it was on a platform like Steam which would mean you'd be locked out of new installations, then yeah, that would have been a big deal.

I'm still waiting for a game CD delivered to me by Itch. No, I didn't bought a game CD that's the whole point. I had to make an account at Itch - which would be unnecessary if they would ship their games on a physical medium. And with this account I just demand nowadays that a pure digital copy of the game I bought is always there for me to download again. Otherwise modern gaming wouldn't be feasible anymore nowadays with tons of GBs of games you would have to archive yourself.

Either it is seen as industry standard that online gaming shops with user accounts keep copies of your games save for downloading or customers will probably soon stop buying games they don't plan to play immediately.

But the so called "backlog" of games many users have is a relevant source of income for the gaming industry.


Last edited by Micromegas on 9 September 2024 at 1:08 pm UTC

Meaning: You have up to the 1st of October to buy/download the game and make a backup of it somewhere.

In an all digital world, it's a bad PR move, but at least, we have that option.


Last edited by Mohandevir on 9 September 2024 at 1:20 pm UTC

Here we go again,

When will folks learn that physical media is the only true way to have ownership.

I know PC games generally don't get physical releases so I now buy PS4 and PS5 games when I want a copy to preserve. Most PlayStation games work offline without ever needing an update but PS5 does have a backup option built in.

I still primarily buy games on Steam but accept the risk I could lose games in the future. I will also be using GOG where possible to buy games I want to preserve as they offer a direct download of the installer.

I now have over 600 Movies and 30 PS4/5 Games on physical. I now refuse to just rely on 3rd parties with my media purchases.

[quote=chr]

I think Itch.io doesn't get much of a say in this. Distributing a specific game can become illegal if some licenses expire (most commonly for music or car brand likeness used in the game), therefore Itch.io requires a method for the game uploader to remove the game from the platform.

I was under the impression that steam was able to keep games that has been bought downloadable even after they stop being sold. I may be mistaken, but if I'm not, that reflects very badly on itch that games that has been bought can disappear.

This is a really weird thing to do.

It's still listed for sale on GOG and Steam. If you were trying to stop people getting your game anywhere but Netflix, you wouldn't remove it from the place that no one goes but leave it up where everyone is. Itch has the best costs (you can choose to pay Itch nothing if you want) and the best developer upload tools (you can throw essentially any file type at it, and Itch will take care of everything). Not putting your game on Itch can make sense because it's not going to generate a lot of traffic, but they already did that - they only need to do nothing and have some amount of money trickling in.

This is a PR own goal for absolutely zero benefit.

Removing the download for owners of the game stinks.

The game was released pretty much every platform there is, even Android and iphone - with the added bullshit that it requires a Netflix account to play. "OXENFREE: Netflix Edition", no kidding.

So what about the Steam release? No need for a Netflix account, at least for now. Shall we assume it gets nuked as well? If not, then we need to know why. Money, no doubt. Netflix probably wanted some licensing deal itch.io couldn't accept.

Here we go again,

When will folks learn that physical media is the only true way to have ownership.

I know PC games generally don't get physical releases so I now buy PS4 and PS5 games when I want a copy to preserve. Most PlayStation games work offline without ever needing an update but PS5 does have a backup option built in.

I still primarily buy games on Steam but accept the risk I could lose games in the future. I will also be using GOG where possible to buy games I want to preserve as they offer a direct download of the installer.

I now have over 600 Movies and 30 PS4/5 Games on physical. I now refuse to just rely on 3rd parties with my media purchases.

Fair enough, but physical medias stop working at some point. Physical media stop being sold too and then can't be found anywhere. Personnally, I also accept the risks coming with Steam's commodity, but imo, the best case scenario is still being offered the possibility of keeping a standalone backup of a game. If you got that, your are covered and physical or digital doesn't really matter. In this case, Itch.io will stop offering the "remote backup" on their servers (similar to when physical medias are not longer available), but you have up to the 1st of october to make your own backup. That's how I see it.

Sad, but it's not all doom. There is still a solution to keep the game forever.


Last edited by Mohandevir on 9 September 2024 at 1:42 pm UTC

I got the game on GOG. What's the point of taking away the download option for people who have already bought it on itch? Will they try to get rid of Steam and GOG versions for prior owners as well?