Oxenfree is being removed from Itch.io completely next year.

Oxenfree, a gloomy adventure from Night School Studio will leave the indie game storefront Itch.io at the end of October, according to an email sent this week to users. After it's removed, no one, not even those who have the game in their library will be able download it.

The game is no longer available for purchase on the site, but it can still be downloaded manually from your library. In a few short weeks, the game will be completely removed for everyone, regardless of whether you paid for it. The email does not explain why the movie is being removed. It could be because Netflix owns the studio and has done so since 2021.

Oxenfree, and its sequel, are still available through Steam. They don't appear to be going anywhere anytime soon. Valve has always been good at letting users download their games indefinitely, even if the game is delisted from its store. They're usually only banned from downloading if they used a third party key that was revoked or if Steam is just a launcher which connects to dead server to install the full-game, like many MMOs.

Oxenfree being removed from Itch.io makes me hesitant to buy games there, as they could be taken away at any time. But it's also important to remember that Itch.io is a platform for small developers who don’t have to deal with corporate owners or exclusivity rights. Steam doesn't produce unfinished builds for one-off fangames or personal projects at the same rate as Itch.io. It's not surprising, then, that some of its games disappear. Valve has built a reputation for never allowing this to happen despite the many hoops that you have to jump through in order to publish a game on the platform. I can understand why people won't use anything else. (Though games do disappear from Steam for many other reasons).

Losing access to something that you paid for is a pain, no matter what platform it's running on. I'm concerned that our digital libraries will continue to crumble as large companies like Microsoft gobble up every game developer. We'll also be relying solely on Valve's pinky promise, which does not inspire confidence.
Oxenfree is still available for those who purchased Itch.io’s Bundle for Racial Injustice and Equality for 2020.