Itch.io, a marketplace known for selling a range of indie tabletop RPGs and videogames, was reportedly temporarily taken down by an AI brand protection software employed by Funko. Itch.io shared a Bluesky post about the situation on December 9. “I kid you not, Itch.io has been taken down by Funko of “Funko Pop” because they used some trash “AI powered” Brand Protection software called Brand Shield”, it says.
Itch.io says that Brand Shield “created some bogus Phishing report” and sent it to Itch.io’s domain registrar, IWantMyName. The registrar reportedly “ignored our response and just disabled the domain”.
According to its website, Brand Shield identifies itself as an “online brand protection powered by AI to combat phishing, fraud, counterfeiting & cyber threats”. “There’s a solid reason why online scammers and counterfeiters are frustrated with us”, the website adds. “We stop them in their tracks and prevent their fraudulent activities.”
Itch.io’s original Bluesky post was shared at 11:13pm PT (07:13 GMT / 02:13 ET). While writing this story, we were initially unable to access Itch.io. However, after 3am PT (11am GMT / 6am ET), the site was back online again.
Wargamer reached out to Itch.io, Funko, and IWantMyName for comments, but we have not received a reply at this time. We also reached out to Brand Shield, but the only response so far has been emails asking how the company can “protect our brand” and offers to demo their software.
For more recent tabletop RPG news, here’s how Pathfinder’s latest class fixes everything we hate about DnD necromancers. Or, for RPG rules you can use year-round, here’s everything you need to know about DnD classes and DnD races.
Source: Wargamer
