The first thing that rang alarm bells, for me, reading through this article was:

> I even released a small 5 level demo on itch (can't afford to pay steam's 100$ fee to get a free version up on the platform)

How much larger is Steam's market than itch's? I'm guessing the answer is "very". How many conversions do they need for the $100 to pay off? 20-30? Seems like a no-brainer to me, and not even being able to afford $100 for what would almost certainly be positive ROI marketing is a pretty big blocker. Heck, I'd even front the $100 myself if I can get some kind of commission on copies sold :)