Oxenfree Now Delisted From Itch.io

Speculations point to Netflix as the reason

Oxenfree Ends Its Run On The Indie Storefront, Itch.io

Still Playable On Other Platforms

Oxenfree will be completely off Itch.io on October 1st, rendering it unpurchasable for people who don’t have the game, and those who have a purchased copy cannot download it after the specified date. The email announcement came out of the blue and shocked players across the globe, with no concrete reason as to why it is being taken down on the site despite being on Itch.io for eight years. As of writing, there is no news as to whether or not those who have previously bought a copy will be entitled to a free Steam key to keep the game on a different storefront, however, the email instead encourages owners to instead download it ahead of time.

“Everyone who worked on OXENFREE deeply appreciates the support from our community over the past eight years and we hope to see you on another service or timeline soon. Thank you!” Developer Night School Studio signed off on the announcement email, as well as urging those with questions or concerns to send their queries to the official support website.

With that said, if you now remember that you own a copy of the game on Itch.io, don’t forget to check your email or your Itch.io account to download Oxenfree for your PC before it disappears for good.

Possibly A Netflix-Sanctioned Move

Many people on Reddit and even on the game’s Steam page believe that this was a move by the corporate owners of Night School Studio, the media giant Netflix. Night School Studio was formerly an independent game development studio who put out their debut game, Oxenfree, back in January of 2016. The game received numerous accolades for its good story and way of storytelling, coupled with fantastic voice acting that gives the game more immersion and flavor. The studio was acquired by Netflix in September 2021 in a bid to break into the game industry, as the studio was working on the game’s sequel, Oxenfree II.

As Oxenfree II was then being worked on by the now-Netflix owned studio, the Oxenfree sequel was then only released on everything else but Itch.io and Xbox, two platforms that greatly contributed to the first title’s overall success. Another DRM-free storefront, GOG, also did not release the game on its site.

In retaliation to the delisting, some players took to the Oxenfree Steam page to leave a negative review, blaming Netflix for the loss of the game. “If Netflix has decided that you don't have the right to access games you purchased, don't buy games from them. Simple as that,” said one user.

The Internet Gets To Sleuthing

Oxenfree is being removed from itchio beginning Oct 1st. Owners will have to download the game by Oct 1st before it's completely gone.

This is likely Netflix doing this as Night School Studio was acquired by Netflix in 2021 https://t.co/fHGtN8ExCJ pic.twitter.com/rdkrsQ9nxy
— Wario64 (@Wario64) September 9, 2024

Itch.io is a haven for anything and everything indie, and is the site where many indie gems are uploaded, as well as game assets, art zines, and more. Its uniqueness lies in its interesting selling mechanic—on Itch, indie developers avoid the rather large cut that bigger storefronts like Steam or Epic Games, and most (if not all) sell their games DRM (digital rights management) free. While Itch does not have a strict DRM-free policy, most developers opt for this route. Games on Itch.io can simply be downloaded as an executable, and can be played instantly with no installation required.

Most internet users suspected that Netflix was minimizing the number of players who could access or have a DRM-free copy of the game, especially after thousands upon thousands of Itch users have the game in their library because of a huge bundle in 2020.

The said bundle is the 2020 Itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality, where Oxenfree was part of the included games. Night School Studio was still an indie studio at the time, and had pledged to showcase their game in the event. Itch reached out to the community and “an unprecedented number of creators donated over 740 projects to be part of what we believe is the largest bundle ever.” The bundle featured a ‘pay-what-you-want’ mechanic, an amazing deal for over $3,400 USD worth of paid titles and assets while also showing support to an important cause. According to the bundle’s page in Itch, there were a total of 814,526 contributors to the cause, raising over $8.1 million USD, a whopping $3 million above their intended goal of $5 million USD.

Losing access to games you have paid for with hard-earned money sheds light into the dilemma of the digital age—despite paying for these copies, do you actually own these digital assets if the distributor can freely take it down as what Netflix and Night School Studio was able to do? Some users pointed out that keeping the Itch version available will not hurt the corporation’s pockets, so why? Fans are instead left puzzled and full of questions.

In spite of the news, Oxenfree and its sequel, Oxenfree II, are still available to play on multiple platforms such as PC via Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5 (Oxenfree II), PlayStation 4, Xbox One (Oxenfree), and mobile devices through Netflix Games.