People love bundles. They just do. Computers
come bundled with software. Xbox 360’s come bundled with Kinect
goodies. Hell, some coffee makers even come bundled with coffee.
It’s inherent in humans to want value and there’s nothing wrong with
that. And gaming’s no different – there are always bundled deals on Steam
and sites like Good Old Gaming that give gamers value in quantity on the
cheap. That’s probably one of the reasons why I love Humble Bundle, a
company that has been selling game bundles with a slightly different business model.
They allow customers to decide how much they want to pay – as little or as much
as they like, as well as how to split the distribution of that money between
the developers involved, the company and charity. Two great causes that
are always on the menu are the Electronic
Frontier Foundation, an organization that fights for your digital rights
and the Child’s Play Charity,
the brainchild of Penny Arcade’s Gabe
and Tycho to help children in hospitals.
The first bundle was introduced to us as the Humble Indie
Bundle in May 2010, showcasing (naturally) games from independent developers,
including Aquaria, Gish, Penumbra: Overture and Lugaru
HD. An admirable package, especially when the cost to me was whatever
could pay or I wanted to or pay. I was attracted to this first bundle
because it also included World of Goo, a strange and gooey bridge
building game that spoke to the engineer in me. So I ponied up some
bucks, it split it between the devs, the EFF and Child's Play, and went on my
merry way with a handful of downloadable, multi-platform, and more
importantly, DRM-free games. And it was a win for
everyone involved - I got games, the devs got some dough as well as some
publicity, and some worthy non-profits got donations.
Luckily for everyone involved, the program continued,
spawning around 20 additional bundles from 2010 to now serving up great indie
DRM-free games to the masses. A couple of them were even for books and
music. Last month though they switched it up a little bit, partnering
with THQ for an exclusive bundle of their games instead of sticking with the
indie route. There was some solid stuff in there – Saints Row The
Third, Darksiders, a couple of Company of Heroes titles, Red
Faction Armageddon and Metro 2033. Users could
still pay what they wanted and decide how much of it went to non-profits,
but with a minor difference in this iteration – what users would get were
Steam keys instead of DRM-free downloads, and cross-platform became Windows
only. This in turn caused humble loyalists to splinter into two camps –
those who loved the idea of being able to get triple A studio games for pennies
on the dollar, and those who thought that a partnership with THQ was a betrayal
to the brand that had been built since their first indie bundle. The
former's argument was tough to argue against – it was a pack of games that
would normally cost hundreds available for just a few bucks. The latter
on the other hand, felt that this was a great deal for THQ, who was teetering
on the brink of implosion, to use the Humble name for a last ditch sales effort
and sully the Humble brand image.
In the end I guess it didn’t work out for THQ on its own,
since as of yesterday they
filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. They were rescued though, so their
upcoming titles will in fact stay under development instead of being tossed in
the bin. Clearlake
Capital stepped in with some cash to save the day, and in the process
revealed three new titles THQ has in the pipe - Evolve from Turtle
Rock, 1666 from THQ Montreal and Atlas from
Relic.
But I digress. As good as the THQ bundle offer was for
users (well, Windows users), and despite the $5 million they raised in 2 weeks,
there was fear out there that Humble had abandoned its indie roots and settled
on a Windows-only “Steam key” platform moving forward. But that simply
isn’t the case. In response to questions from Ars
Technica, the folks at humble assured fans that they will “never stop
creating Humble Indie Bundles... and the other bundle types we've successfully
launched this year. But we’re also eager to see if our pay-what-you-want
plus charity model meshes with critically acclaimed AAA content as well.”
And they made good on their word. Their new bundle is the Humble Indie
Bundle 7, and I think it’s one of the best ones they’ve released yet. The
new set includes the already popular Dungeon Defenders, as well as
the movie Indie Game.
It was important for them to come back with this Bundle
quickly after the THQ partnership, if anything else to let users know that they
will never abandon their roots – great games, pay what you want, money for
charity, a cross-platform experience, and no DRM. Check out humblebundle.com to
not only grab HIB 7, but every bundle going forward as they become available.
You can do some good while filling your game library.
