Itch.io Accuses Funko of Taking Down Its Website

itch.io has recently accused Funko of causing its website to go offline for several hours. itch.io is a popular indie gaming platform that currently hosts over 200,000 games, and one mistake involving Funko allegedly caused the website to become unavailable for all users, preventing them from downloading games or browsing the site’s collection.

Launched in 2013, itch.io is one of the leading indie PC gaming platforms on the market today. itch.io hosts and sells indie games from essentially every genre, as well as other products such as game assets, comics, music, and non-gaming software. As player appreciation for smaller indie titles has continued to grow, the site is accessed by millions of gamers every month.

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itch.io has accused Funko, the makers of the popular Funko Pop figures and the recent Funko Fusion game, of using “some trash AI-powered brand protection software” called Brand Shield to create a fake phishing report using the website’s registrar. Unfortunately, this took the website offline for several hours. According to itch.io, the company’s registrar automatically enforced a block of the website’s domain and ignored the platform’s appeal, despite developers taking down the disputed page almost immediately. At the time, the platform considered setting up a new domain, but eventually decided to wait until the problem solved itself. While itch.io remained offline for several hours, it is now completely operational at the time of writing.

itch.io Accuses Funko After Its Website Goes Down

While itch.io is already online again, it’s hard to measure the damage done by the platform being unavailable for several hours, as it’s the only website used by many indie developers to sell their games. itch.io also offers many free games, and gamers were rendered unable to access these projects, even if they were the original creators.

At the time of this report, Funko has not officially addressed the accusations. Funko has become more prominent in the gaming space recently, as it released Funko Fusion, an action game that allows players to utilize characters from the famous brand, on September 13. Despite how well-known the brand is, Funko Fusion was deemed a disappointment by most critics, earning largely negative reviews due to severe technical issues. Funko Fusion currently holds an average of 53 on OpenCritic with 52 reviews, and only 12% of critics have recommended the title.

Despite its largely negative reception, Funko Fusion is still receiving DLC packs. The most recent update included two Wicked DLC packs, which cost $7.99 each. One of them added Elphaba and Glinda to the game, while the other included The Wizard and Madame Morrible.