Indie game store itch.io says new game pages per day doubled from August to October, without more downloads. Now it’s deleting AI spam and widening its AI labels.
Itch.io has always let just about anyone post a game. Now the little indie store says it’s getting buried in AI-made junk, and it’s pushing back in public.
New game pages on itch.io doubled in about two months, the company said in a Bluesky post late Saturday, Oct. 31. On Monday night, Nov. 2, it posted, “Just deleted a couple terabytes of ai slop,” with a relieved-face emoji.
That post had more than 27,000 likes a day later. Kotaku reported the cleanup on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Itch.io also widened its AI disclosure rules and gave shoppers more ways to hide games made with generative AI.
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How much did itch.io uploads go up?
A lot. Itch.io’s chart of new game pages per day runs from Aug. 3 through Oct. 30. It starts around 3,000 a day and ends above 6,000.
“The number of game pages being created per-day has doubled in the past 2 months,” itch.io wrote.
The audience didn’t double along with it. “The number of downloads and purchases has not doubled,” the company added in a follow-up.
When one Bluesky user asked whether it knew why, itch.io answered, “take a guess,” followed by a crying face and a robot emoji.
Is AI really behind the itch.io spike?
Itch.io hasn’t published a breakdown, but its posts leave little doubt about what it suspects.
“Just because you can upload 10 terabytes of poorly optimized ai generated models doesn’t mean you should upload 10 terabytes of poorly optimized ai generated models,” it wrote Monday night.
How does anyone upload that much? By “making large number of pages and using butler to upload,” itch.io replied. Butler is the site’s own upload tool.
The company also pointed to the AI spam clause in its quality guidelines. It asks creators not to “use automated systems to mass produce product pages.”
Who is uploading all these games?
Mostly newcomers, according to itch.io. When one developer suggested daily upload limits, the company said bulk uploaders already break its rules and get removed from its listings.
“But, we did the analysis and the increase in the graph is driven by first time uploaders, not bulk uploaders like this,” itch.io wrote Monday.
It also said nothing in its data suggests a small group running lots of accounts. “Bulk generated users are spam,” it added. Extra accounts made to dodge limits “will result in instant ban,” it warned.
So by itch.io’s account, this is a crowd of people posting their first game in the same few weeks. The company hasn’t said how many of them used AI.
What is itch.io changing about AI labels?
Game asset pages on itch.io have required an AI disclosure for about two years. Late Monday, the company said pages for tabletop games, books, comics and soundtracks now need one too before creators can make or edit them.
Itch.io also added AI disclosure filtering to more parts of the site, including search results. That makes it easier for shoppers to hide projects that use generative AI.
When a user asked if a fuller statement was coming, itch.io gave one on the spot. “Here’s my official statement: we are very generous with what we offer without limitation but people are now abusing it to the max and it makes us sad,” it wrote.
Why do indie developers love itch.io?
Because the door is open. Leaf Corcoran launched itch.io in 2013, and anyone can publish there. The site says it hosts more than a million projects.
Creators can let fans pay what they want, and they choose how much of each sale goes to the site. That openness made it a home for game jams and weird little experiments that never get near Steam.
It also makes the site an easy target. In July 2025, itch.io pulled adult games from search under pressure from payment processors. Now it’s sorting through an AI wave too.
How are other game stores handling AI?
The bigger stores are seeing the same flood. Kotaku noted that Steam’s latest Next Fest had more demos than ever, “with genAI a significant factor in those numbers.”
Epic Games, meanwhile, keeps insisting developers should be allowed to use AI freely, Kotaku wrote.
For now, itch.io is cleaning house in public, one emoji-laced post at a time. At least its servers are a couple terabytes lighter.
Article compiled and written by Thom Pratt (editor-in-chief), Derek Gibbs (beat editor) and the Clownfish TV newsroom.
D/REZZED is part of Clownfish TV. For more news, views, and rants on gaming, tech, and pop culture, subscribe at clownfishtv.com. Watch the show on YouTube at @ClownfishTV where new episodes drop daily. Subscribe to the Clownfish TV podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, and wherever else you get your podcasts.
Hat Tips:
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itch.io on Bluesky (Oct. 31 to Nov. 3): The upload chart, the deletions, the first-time uploader analysis and the new AI rules.
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Kotaku, Alicia Haddick (Nov. 3): Reported the cleanup, plus context on Steam and Epic.
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itch.io creator quality guidelines: The AI spam clause.
AI Disclosure: All articles are assigned, edited and reviewed by an experienced human editor before posting. Like most modern newsrooms, WebReef Media uses a variety of AI tools to help with accuracy and efficiency. Ways AI may be used in article creation include research, grammar, fact-checking and ideation, as well as occasional AI generated or enhanced thumbnails or graphics. No articles are generated or posted without human oversight or involvement.
