It’s Black Friday, and you know what that means. Yes, everything is on sale, from video games to peripherals. However, the indie marketplace Itch.io is trying something different. Instead of merely listing its games at a discount, the website is selling them to raise money for charity.
Itch.io isn’t just shaving some money off the top of the profits, either. The website is giving 100% of all its Black Friday sales to charity organizations. Developers are still getting a portion of sales, but any profit that would go to the website will be donated.
The donations are going to two organizations. The first is The Trevor Project, which exists to offer crisis intervention and suicide prevention to America’s LGBTQ youth. It was founded in 1998 by the creators of the short film Trevor. The organization is the “leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning (LGBTQ) young people under 25.”
The Nature Conservancy is the second organization. With hands in 72 countries, The Nature Conservancy tackles climate change. It also works to improve food and water distribution to people around the world.
Itching To Help Out
The website isn’t the only thing stepping up. Indie developers Laundry Bear Games and Ghost Time Games have both announced participation. The developers declared on Twitter that they are donating 100% of all revenue to Itch.io for charity. Laundry Bear Games is the maker of A Mortician’s Tale, and Ghost Time Games is the developer behind Jettomero: Hero of the Universe.
During @itchio’s “Black Friday Not-Sale”, 100% of A Mortician’s Tale sales are going to @TrevorProject and @nature_org: https://t.co/aMHVk3X8E5
Gabriel Koenig of Ghost Time Games reached out to other developers on Twitter. “I just switched by revenue share to 100% to [Itch.io] for the day so if you want to buy Jettomero it’s all going to charity,” he wrote. “I’d encourage other devs to do the same today if it’s feasible.”
Itch.io’s “Not-Sale” is only around for a few more hours. So if you want to get some indie games and help some good causes, now’s the time.
