Vintage Story Pulled from itch.io Amid Payment Dispute with Platform

In a surprising twist, the indie storefront itch.io finds itself in hot water again — but this time, it's not about adult content bans or censorship. Instead, it's a payment dispute that’s pushed the developers of Vintage Story, a survival sandbox game inspired by eldritch horror, to pull their game from the platform entirely.

On its itch.io page, a bold message reads: “PURCHASING DISABLED”, followed by a simple but pointed explanation: “The itch corp has not paid us for over 3 months.”

The developers, led by Tyron, have also shared updates on social media and in the game’s Discord server, stating that despite multiple requests, no payment has come through from itch.io. According to the team, they'll continue selling the game elsewhere — just not on itch for now (Thanks Game Pressure).

Vintage Story / itch.io (Credit: Tyron)

How itch.io Payments Work — and Where It Might Have Gone Wrong

The situation has also led to some confusion around how payments work on itch.io. According to the platform’s documentation, there are two main payment models: Direct and Collected. In the Collected model — which appears to be the one Vintage Story opted into — itch.io receives payments on behalf of the developer, who must then manually request a payout.

It’s unclear whether the issue lies with the payout process itself, delays in processing through services like PayPal, or something else entirely. Some users on Reddit speculated that internal or technical complications could be at fault. Still, the lack of communication over a three-month window has only added to the tension.

itch.io has not issued any public response or clarification regarding the claims.

For now, Vintage Story remains available on its official site and the Humble Store. The game is not available on Steam, as developers cited Steam's "30% revenue cut" and "restrictive refund policy" as reasons.