A download key is a special URL that gives someone access to a project’s files.
There are a few ways a download key can come into existence:
When someone downloads a free project a download key is not created. Someonewill not own a game just by downloading it for free
We've described in detail what happens when someone pays for your project intheHow buying works guide. One important thing to note: Ifsomeone pays for a project that is free (minimum price of 0), they will stillget a download key. If you decide to add a price in the future they will stillhave access.
A download key’s URL is unique and should not be shared. If a download key islinked to an account then it can only be viewed by the owner when they arelogged into their account.
The purpose of a download key is to give download access to the files you'veuploaded to your project. By default, any file you've uploaded will beavailable for download. The currently uploaded set of files to your page willalways be available, if you remove, update, or add files that that will bereflected on every owner’s download page.
If you change the minimum price of your project then key holders will stillhave access to their files. There’s one exception to this rule though: anyfiles that are individually priced.
There are two ways to set a price on your downloadable files: You can set aminimum price on your entire project, or you can individually set a price onfiles of your choosing.
All download keys have an associated price. It’s used to unlock anyindividually priced files. This price is set when someone buys your project, orif you manually set it when generating a download key.
From theDistribute tab of your project’s edit page you can find theDownload keys section. There are two ways to generate keys: singular or inbulk.
If you're looking to give access to your game to a friend or press, werecommend generating a single key. If you need to generate many keys, such asfor a promotion on another site, then we recommend the bulk generator.
Individually generated keys give you finer control over the key: you can set alabel for easy identification, track how often it’s been used to download, andrevoke it if necessary.
Keys created in bulk have two additional options:
If your project is being sold on other marketplaces, such as Steam, you cangive awayexternal keys to people who own your project. (e.g. with eachitch.io purchase, see below for who can access keys)
Anexternal key can only be given to someone who has access to anitch.iodownload key, and that download key must grant access toexernal keys.
To make external keys available for owners of your project, navigate to theExternal section tab on theDistribute tab on your project’s edit page toadd keys to your project.
Note: It’s good idea to triple-check before submitting external keys, asit may be difficult to correct mistakes after keys have been made available.You cancontact us if you made any mistakes and need our help.
Ensure you add enough to be available for your buyers. If someone tries toclaim their external key and there are none left in stock, they will be told totry again later.
ReadHow buying works to see how buyerscan redeem external keys.
When considering selling external keys, it’s important to note that wegenerally prefer that sellers focus on selling their product directly onitch.io. External keys should be provided as an additional access option ratherthan the primary means of distribution. It is not possible to sell external fora higher price than the price of the project itself.
Selling directly on itch.io allows us to ensure that content is available, andin cases of refunds, we can directly control access to the product. Pages thatonly contain a link to another platform do not represent the kind of content wewant to promote, don’t meet ourquality guidelines, and may not be eligible forindexing in our discovery features.
By default, projects on itch.io cannot be listed as selling only a Steam Key orother external key. Projects must include files that users can downloaddirectly from itch.io in order to also offer external keys.
We recognize that some projects can only be distributed on other platforms dueto specific runtime requirements (such as networking, inputs, DRM, or otherplatform specific functionality that itch.io does not provide). If you thinkyour page is a special case, you canreach out to our support teamexplaining why you feel your page should be eligible for Steam Key-onlydistribution.
Note: For certain larger bundles, we intentionally disable the distributionof Steam keys. This is to avoid burdening each participant with the need togenerate enough Steam keys for every buyer. Additionally, highly discountedbundles are often targeted by fraudsters who use stolen credit card informationto drain Steam keys from product pages. In such cases, we may also disable thedistribution of external keys with a purchase.
Given these considerations, if you plan to create a Steam key-only page forinclusion in a bundle, please first confirm that the bundle will indeed bedistributing Steam keys. This will help avoid any confusion or disappointmentfor both creators and buyers.
External keys are generally available to people who have access to an itch.iodownload key for your project, aka the owners of your project.
There are a few ways people can own something:
The followingdo not give ownership:
When someone owns your project, they are given access external keys if they areavailable,unless external keys have been explicitly disabled. This can becontrolled from the external keys dashboard page.
Note: For projects that are free, but accept pay-what-you-want donations: Anypayment will give the buyer ownership, and therefore grant access to keys.This means someone is able to pay the minimum ammount itch.io allows and get a key.
Note: For sub-products (aka DLC), external keys are not granted with thosepayments. Only a purchase of the main product is suitable for gettingexternal keys.
When using any of our tools to generate download keys to grant access to aproject, you can decide if you want to also include external keys. If you donot explicitly enabled them, then those download keys will not come with anyexternal keys.
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