Humble Bundle

Third bundle logo

Humble Bundle , English for modest bundle , is a 2010 series begun by computer game -Vermarktungsexperimenten, a form of digital distribution . In the Humble Bundle, several, usually English-language, games are bundled into a small collection ( bundle , i.e. a bundle offer ), which can be purchased at a price determined by the buyer ( Pay-What-You-Want ). The concept has been expanded and adapted since the beginning and has been adopted several times in a similar manner by other providers.

concept

The core idea is that buyers individually determine the price for the game collection on offer. For buyer orientation, statistical feedback is given on the order page about previous sales and income, differentiated by game platform. The limited offer time frame, typically one or two weeks, is celebrated as an event. This includes additions to the range and a "top contributor" list in which individual buyers or groups of buyers compete for the top ten places. As an additional incentive, there is also news about target achievement (e.g. number of sales, from which the source code of a game is released). In the past, Lugaru and Revenge of the Titans, for example, were released as open source . The game soundtracks are often included as a further additional service .

Another aspect is that a portion of the income determined by the buyer goes to charitable organizations , such as the Wikimedia Foundation , the children's aid organization Child's Play , which works with computer games, the American Red Cross , the “charity: water” organization and the for Electronic Frontier Foundation , which fights civil rights in cyberspace , among other things because of its work against DRM . The buyer can freely distribute the self-chosen amount between the game developers, the non-profit organizations and the organizer Humble Bundle, Inc. (for bandwidth, organization, promotion etc.). With some bundles, the user can choose almost any US or UK charity organization. With the EA Origin Bundle, all proceeds went to non-profit organizations.

Part of the overall concept of the bundle is that the games are available for download cross-platform (for Windows, Linux, Mac and partly Android ) and DRM-free. For this purpose, some of the games were ported to other platforms especially for the Humble Indie Bundle , for example Psychonauts , which became available for Linux for the first time with the fifth bundle.

Payment should be as simple and barrier-free as possible and can be made via PayPal , Amazon Payments , Bitcoin and Google Wallet .

history

The idea for this form of digital distribution came from Jeff Rosen, CEO of Wolfire Games . Rosen said the inspiration originally came from similar bundle sales by digital distributor Steam . Rosen had noticed that such sales promotions were effectively made known through the web's communications capabilities through viral marketing . Another influence was World of Goo's “pay what you want” campaign on the title's first anniversary, selling over 57,000 copies of the game, generating $ 117,000 after PayPal fees. Rosen had good contacts in the independent video game development scene for some time and was therefore able to convince other developers of the idea that their games brought into the bundles.

The first two releases in 2010 were then known as the Humble Indie Bundle (HIB). The name is derived from the fact that initially only independent games from small so-called indie development studios were represented. Humble Indie Bundles # 1 and # 2 were hugely successful, raising over $ 2 million for charitable causes. Rosen's marketing idea inspired several similar projects of other publishers, such as Indie Royale from Desura . In cooperation with other online platforms, additional activation keys were subsequently issued for some games in the first Humble Indie Bundle . Originally in cooperation with both Desura and Valve Corporation , these additional activations were only offered in later bundles for Valve's online platform Steam, which has integrated a form of DRM ("Steamworks"), which led to controversy. More games can be downloaded in German on Steam, while DRM-free games, especially those with extensive localization, are often only available in German if this is their original language (e.g. Daedalic games ).

Introduction of minimum prices

With the eighth bundle at the end of 2011, a minimum amount of $ 1 was introduced from which a Steam key was issued, as the promotion was misused to take part in multiple Steam Christmas promotions. This was also discussed controversially, since the bundle offers are formally no longer a real pay-what-you-want .

Regardless, there is a principle called Beat the Average (BTA). This gives extra games if you pay more than average. The Humble Weekly Bundle (a weekly bundle in which the games change every week) also has a fixed BTA limit of usually $ 6. From the Deep Silver Bundle, there was also a second BTA limit of $ 25 for Dead Island: Riptide . This principle has now been extended to other bundles in order to be able to include more expensive games or, in rare cases, merchandise.

For games without these additional price limits, the previously mentioned $ 1 limit does not apply to their soundtracks, even if there are only Steam keys for the games.

Android support

With the ninth bundle from January 2012, another platform was supported, and for the first time the buyer also received an Android version (e.g. for smartphones and tablets) of the games.

Limbo Linux port

During the fifth indie bundle (“HIB V”) in mid-2012, there was a controversy about the Linux port of LIMBO , which was carried out with the help of a CodeWeavers variant from Wine . Since some Linux users had expected a "native" port, an online petition was started against this version, although the developer of Limbo had explained the reasons for this type of port. In mid-2014, however, a native Linux port of the game was submitted.

THQ bundle

With the THQ bundle from November 30th to December 12th 2012, there was further controversy because it had a concept that was significantly different from the previous (indie) bundles. It was neither cross-platform nor DRM-free, and THQ was also a traditional publisher / manufacturer instead of an indie developer. For THQ, however, the bundle was a success, after a large loss, the bundle promotion led to a brief increase in the share value of 40%, from 1.07 to 1.60 US dollars. As of December 12, 2012, nearly 800,000 bundles had been sold for approximately $ 5 million; THQ President Jason Rubin also bought a bundle for $ 11,050. However, on December 20, 2012, a few days after the end of the bundle campaign, THQ filed for bankruptcy.

The Humble Weekly Sale

Humble Weekly Sale started on March 19, 2013 after the completion of the Humble Bundle with Android 5 . The concept is to offer packages every Thursday for a week. Other actions can run at the same time. Unlike before, games are also offered individually, usually including bonus material ( e.g. DLC extensions for the games, soundtracks, notes for the soundtrack, merchandise items, etc.). As before, there is an average price that must be exceeded in order to receive additional package components. Contrary to the original plan, however, there have already been weeks without a weekly sale and another starting day, while all bundles can now be purchased for 14 days.

According to openly visible statistics, the first Humble Bundle Weekly Sales received a lot of interest, but did not match the acquisition figures of previous larger packages (as of 2nd package on April 9, over 127,000 packages sold, average price around $ 2.85). In the meantime, however, there are also weekly sales from larger publishers. The two-week Humble Mobile Bundle 2 (155,249 items at an average of $ 4.64 ) had to admit defeat to the weekly sale for Nordic Games (228,267 items at an average of $ 5.31) that took place for one week during this period . The subsequent weekly sale for Focus Home Entertainment exceeded the sales of Mobile Bundle 2 on the first day, but achieved a lower average price.

Book bundles

After Humble Bundle had repeatedly offered other media besides video games, such as books or films, a permanent area called Book Bundles was introduced on May 15, 2015 . In parallel to the video game packages, packages are offered there that contain , for example, eBooks , comics or audio books . All book bundles are only available in English and without copy protection.

Humble Store

In the Humble Store, games are sold at a fixed, usually commercial, price. Games for Steam , Uplay , Android and DRM- free games that can be downloaded directly are offered. 10% of the price can be donated to one of the participating organizations or used as credit for future store purchases. Humble Monthly subscribers receive an additional 10% discount on all purchases.

Similar websites

IndieGala is now comparable to Weekly Sales in terms of game selection and also offers games from well-known publishers, such as Two Worlds 2 . However, the promotions often last longer and also have games that are added during the term. A special feature are different actions for one hour each. For example, the Beat the Average can be temporarily set at a lower price ( happy hour ).

IndieRoyale also works on a similar principle to the Humble Bundle, but has a complicated pricing system and is not yet as commercialized.

Web links

• www.humblebundle.com
• Some Humble visualizations , figures and graphics on sales, sales price and sales of the individual bundles

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jan Kluczniok: Humble Indie Bundle 3: Five games for one euro . In: netzwelt.de . Retrieved August 11, 2011: “The Humble Indie Bundle is now available for download. It contains the indie games Crayon Physics Deluxe, Cogs, VVVVVV, Hammerfight and And Yet it Moves. The tracks are all DRM-free and can be run on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. The user determines the price for the bundle himself. "
2. ^ Humble Terms and Conditions . Retrieved March 9, 2015: “You agree to pay all charges incurred by users of your credit card, debit card, or other payment method used in connection with a purchase or transaction or other monetary transaction interaction with the service at the prices in effect when such charges are incurred. "
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Michael Thompson: Humble Bundle: greatest sale of indie games ever? ( en ) In: Ars Technica . May 4, 2010. Retrieved December 5, 2011.
4. ↑ Kyle Orland: GDC 2011: Humble Indie Bundle Creators Talk Inspiration, Execution . Gamasutra . February 28, 2011. Retrieved February 28, 2011.
5. ^ Michael Thompson: 2D Boy continuing "pay what you want" sale for World of Goo . Ars Technica. October 20, 2009. Retrieved May 10, 2010.
6. ↑ Nick Breckon: Results of 2D Boy's 'Pay What You Want' World of Goo Sales Experiment Released . Shacknews . October 21, 2009. Retrieved May 10, 2010.
7. ↑ Jared Newman: Pay What You Like, Say Indie Game Makers . In: PC World . May 6, 2010. Retrieved May 10, 2010.
8. ↑ Wolfire Games: The Humble Frozen Synapse Bundle . Promotional video on Youtube, September 28, 2011. Accessed October 7, 2011
9. ↑ $ 1 min. Price For Getting Steam Keys ( English ) blog.humblebundle.com. December 22, 2011. Retrieved December 26, 2011.
10. ↑ Alec Meer: Humble Grumbles / Bundle Of Joy . Rock Paper Shotgun . December 21, 2011. Retrieved December 21, 2011.
11. ↑ Humble Indie Bundle 4 Adds Precautions In Response To Steam Exploiting . Platform Nation . December 21, 2011. Archived from the original on January 10, 2012. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 21, 2011. 
12. ↑ Chris Priestman: Linux Users Petition Against 'Humble Bundle V' Due To Non-Native Version Of 'Limbo' ( English ) indiegamemag.com. June 4, 2012. Archived from the original on October 20, 2013. Retrieved June 16, 2012.
13. ↑ LIMBO for Linux is now available as a native port . June 19, 2014. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
14. ↑ Kyle Orland: Humble THQ Bundle threatens to ruin the brand's reputation (Updated) - Co-founder responds to Ars and says indies are still the Bundle's core. ( English ) In: Ars Technica . November 29, 2012. Retrieved December 3, 2012.
15. ↑ THQ humble bundle sees company stock rise by almost 40% (English, December 3, 2012)
16. ^ Anthony J. Agnello: Humble Bundle THQ sale raises over $ 2.3 million with help from CEO . In: Digital Trends . November 30, 2012. Retrieved December 1, 2012.
17. ↑ Owen Good: Who was the Biggest Beneficiary of THQ's $ 5 Million Humble Bundle? . In: Kotaku . December 15, 2012. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
18. ^ HQ Inc. Secures Asset Purchase Agreement with Affiliates of Clearlake Capital Group, LP . THQ . Retrieved December 19, 2012.
19. ↑ Introducing the Humble Weekly Sale, featuring Bastion!
20. ↑ Terrence O'Brien: Forget Comixology: get your inexpensive comics from the Humble Bundle folks ( en ) In: Engadget . April 29, 2014. Retrieved June 20, 2016.
21. ^ Humble Rewards. Retrieved April 23, 2019 (American English).