Itch.io, a popular indie game marketplace, was down yesterday and today because of Funko, according to an X post shared by Itch.io. Itcho.io claims that the company behind Funko Pops uses “some trash AI-powered” software that generated a “bogus phishing report” to the site’s registrar. Although Itch.io responded, the registrar still disabled the domain. Itch.io believes the site was taken down by an automated system.
If you’ve never heard of Itch.io, the website functions like a digital marketplace. It allows users to sell and distribute indie games, assets, music, comics, and a lot more. It’s also one of the most popular sites for trying out lesser-known indie titles and exploring what’s out there. While it was down for a few hours, it appears to be live again, at least in some countires.
I kid you not, @itchio has been taken down by @OriginalFunko because they use some trash "AI Powered" Brand Protection Software called @BrandShieldltd that created some bogus Phishing report to our registrar, @iwantmyname, who ignored our response and just disabled the domain
— itch.io (@itchio) December 9, 2024
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Itch.io did clarify that the page that set off the phishing report has been taken down. Fans on X were quick to toss around the word “lawsuit,” but for now, the company just wants to get the site back on track.
Thankfully, Itch.io didn’t lose any content while it was down. As far as we know, no data was lost. It was just inaccessible until the issue was resolved. It did mean that creators who rely on the platform did likely see a loss of income for a few hours. Itch.io currently hosts more than 1 million different products. Thankfully, if you have already downloaded the games, you can still play them even while the site is down (you can thank DRM-free titles for that).
While the site was still completely down, Itch.io followed up its initial post with another message, saying: “We’re probably going to wait this one out. We considered putting up a new domain, but there are implications with third-party services that make it not a trivial swap. In the meantime, if you know how to tweak your hosts file use: 45.33.107.166.”
If you know what you’re doing, tweaking the hosts file can be a potential workaround. However, the site does appear to be online for some people depending on what country you’re in.