While I am not opposed to the idea of more accountability, the more complex the solution, the more I see the potential for abuse as well as additional strain on a small team that’s already overwhelmed with questions, complaints, feature requests, claims (false or genuine), reports, as well as people that “have to be kidding me” as it is.
What’s more, I think a developer is legally able to remove their project from a site that hosts/sells it at pretty much any point. I wouldn’t expect that itch has any legal ground to just reupload previously uploaded content without the consent of the developer/publisher.
And the term “Red Flags” would likely drive business away from itch to less scrupulous sites.
But some things seem doable:
- The number of paid projects that a developer either removed the installers or store page for should be visibly displayed next to their name (“Galaxy_Tech (1 withdrawn project)”) - with a little mouse_over text that explains what that means in detail. People can form their own opinion if that was just housekeeping or a foul move.
- Personally I don’t use Steam, but the issue with the nonexistent Steam keys definitely sounds automatable.
Developers that stop updating their game after getting it to steam is not a problem on itch alone. While morally, the fault lies with those developers, users should feel obliged to use tools like comments, reviews and ratings (both on Steam as well as here) to inform others of shady business practices. But most importantly: They should think twice and look at some reviews before they even consider buying an unfinished product. There’s no need to pre-order a digitally distributed video game, but if they want to support a project that’s still in development they always do so at their own financial and emotional risk. If people don’t use some critical thinking on their own, nothing we can say or do will be able to save them from themselves.
As for managing local copies of digitally distributed games, I download the installers for the games I own* and keep them on an external HDD. Like you said: It’s tedious for games that still receive updates, but it’s a solution that works. I, too, have too many games that I don’t find the time to play. But at some point I stopped buying games that “looked interesting” just because they went on sale and restricted myself to buying games I really want to play right now. (I’m looking forward to Hades coming to itch.)
.* When I write “games I own”, it does not include about 98% of the things from the Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. I’m only human… ó.ò