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Uh, no, you can't get all games on itch.io for free, some of them have a minimum price. If you mean web games, that's been considered and rejected by the dev team (though people keep asking). And not everyone can legally make money here, or wants to.

but, wikipedia had a paywall for donations as well for a while, sure the community rejected it and it has been removed since and better ways have been found, but you know, a paywall, does not constitute making money and paying taxes, donations can comprise such a paywall...

What paywall. Do you mean a donation banner? Because that's something else entirely. And web games on itch.io can receive donations, didn't you see the buttons?

no like, lets say you have the payments page, right? it has the price and pay button already built in, it still says this is a fixed donation and if the user pays then they can download content.

Then it's no longer a donation, but a purchase. It's called a purchase. You can set a minimum price on your game.

is it possible to create a "purchase" through butler... or do tax laws apply with "purchases"

...No. Butler is an upload tool. It handles uploads, period. To set a minimum price you have to edit your project from the web interface.

And yes, all relevant taxes apply to purchases made on itch.io; there's no need for scare quotes. They're purchases.

but its voluntary

its all voluntary, i could spend zero on a game, every game is released under no profit, the profit is where the taxes apply.

(+3)

I honestly don't understand what you're asking for.

Creators can already set a download to be completely free, or free with optional donations, or to have a mandatory minimum purchase price.  What do you want to change about this?  What do taxes or Butler have to do with it?

(+1)

Same here. I really don't understand what this fuss is all about. We already have all we need and it works fine.

but it can always be free, no matter the price that the game maker sets, i can make all purchases of itch.io be zero dolars as a customer, isnt that a problem? thats the one that bugs me the most, like, dont you wanna be paid, there are some major releases on this platform and they run the chance of making 0 bucks! i mean, doesnt that concern you? i have rarely encountered games with a minimum price. wow, i finally found the right words, like for real, doesnt it concern you, that people who worked their ass off run into the issue of paypal letting the customer set their price, i know it says so in the wiki, yes, these are all asking prices, yes, you can not stop piracy, people who dont want to pay will never pay, but do we have to make it that obviously easy for them? or am i able to change the price as a developer, like cant i be a dev and a player and thus pay fair prices and be urged to pay a price for owning something that someone has made and desserves a dollar for, or two or more! its not the amount, its what the creator asks for and shall receive. i think they desserve that backing from the platform.

(1 edit)

Once again, no. A lot of games here have a minimum price. Please look more carefully.

Edit: also, the definition of profit isn't as simple as you make it, and in a lot of jurisdictions a tax is applied on sales. So still no.