Gaming platform Itch.io is a website used to allow people to host, sell, and buy indie games. Initially started in 2013, the website now has over 400,000 games and items as of last summer. Alongside buying and selling indie games, Itch.io allows users to host events, such as game jams, where participants have a limited amount of time to create a game. Itch.io has gained popularity over the years as a marketplace for indie games, where users can even download multiple games for free.
The people behind the website and Itch.io's social media accounts have been known to be rather outspoken as well. Itch.io's operators are often unafraid to share their views on political matters and the latest trends, such as in the summer of 2020 when the website released a huge bundle of indie games in support of the NAACP, racial justice, and equality. Now, the platform is coming out against NFTs, the people who trade them, and the way they are currently being used.
As NFTs spread further into the gaming sphere, with big publishers like Ubisoft even creating their own NFTs, the non-fungible tokens have become quite the controversial topic in the world today. Some, such as GameStop, are going as far as to create their own NFT marketplace, while others such as Itch.io do not believe there's any real worth in the technology. In a recent tweet, the indie game platform stated: "NFTs are a scam. If you think they are legitimately useful for anything other than the exploitation of creators, financial scams, and the destruction of the planet then we ask that please reevaluate your life choices."
Criticism of NFTs is nothing new, and as some games have tried to implement them, such as the highly anticipated STALKER 2, the developers have been met with backlash from the wider community. Streamers such as Asmongold have also found it ridiculous that people spend large amounts of money on NFTs. Itch.io's scathing remarks are some harsh criticism of those who purchase NFTs, and expecting backlash, the Tweet by the platform can only be replied to by the accounts Itch.io follows.
While some praise NFTs for the technology used in creating them, others agree with Itch.io in that they can be used as scams, though scamming is nothing new on the internet. From gamers buying merchandise on eBay only to find out the product was not what it was advertised as, to famous streamers like Pokimane being scammed out of $24,000, scams have been around for a while, and will likely continue no matter the outcome of NFTs.