Makes me nostalgic for those early bundles. Humble Origin and Deep Silver bundles were probably peak HB.
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Yup, good old times when HB used to be about DRM-free games and not about Steam-DRMed ones... And when the bundles were really "pay as much as you want" and not "pay at least $1"
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So you missed Humble's golden age. That was from late 2011-2013. They had all the best services for customers then. I remember when buying early during the first week meant you'd get the 2nd week bonus games that otherwise only the people who beat the average would get, even if you only paid the $1 min during the first week. And they didn't have this crap where there's a very high tier to make the bta tier shoot up high. Even for a while after that, you could still have 30 days after your purchase date to raise the price you're paying, great if your money was tight or limited each month. Now you only have while the bundle's running if you want to increase your payment. And Humble's bundles weren't full of repeats back in the early days like they often are now.
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Yeah "hard to get devs/pubs" was part of the problem I think. They changed so much bending their backs in favor of getting the devs that they started socking it to the customer really. Not that many Humble supporters seemed to notice this. Of course that hasn't stopped me from supporting them, and yes their monthly is the best they have currently although I wasn't always able to afford that.
And I do get their lesser bundles still from time to time but many times it's the sheer number of personal repeats in them that makes me skip.
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Now you only have while the bundle's running if you want to increase your payment.
Not quite, you can still raise your order after the bundle has ended, just tested it with the Humble Strategy bundle, whose $1 tier I bought and which had ended last Tuesday. I can still increase it. I cannot do the same for the Indie bundle tho, which started beginning of March, so it doesn't seem to be quite a month, but definitely longer than the bundle's duration.
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As far as I know you can still upgrade purchases within 7 days after bundles end. This is pretty convenient if you ask me. ;)
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Yeah I got a little carried away when I read "early bundles". I read, the truly early bundles, not those later Origin and stuff that were already on the Dark Side™
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The pay at least $1 came about when Valve ran some competition at the same time as a bundle. People kept making Steam accounts, paying 1 cent for a bundle so that their new account would qualify, then entering. Credit Card fees for each transaction were way more than 1 cent, so Humble lost money.
So I blame the credit card companies for the $1 minimum.
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This was during a winter sale. You had tasks in games that would give you rewards, and some of those games were in the then current Humble indie bundle.
I think a $1 minimum is fair anyway.
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I blame the credit card companies for the $1 minimum.
A credit card transaction doesn't cost $1 though.
But as Fnord mentions, a $1 minimum isn't shocking. My point was just that "Pay what you want" became a lie when they introduced that minimum.
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Please say the bundles will get better rather than worse! I wonder if this why HB was pushing so aggressively for new customers?
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I don't exactly know how profit-oriented Humble Bundle is, but it seems that they didn't make enough money, which would also explain their aggressive marketing.
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I've listened to indie developers & publishers talk about bundles & sales, and I don't think Humble is really to blame for the more recent sportiness of their bundles, beyond Humble possibly being a bit too keen on releasing a new bundle every week (if they released bundles more rarely, they could be a bit more selective). Rather, it's a change of the market. When Humble Bundle was new, nearly 10 years ago, bundles were a great marketing tool. Developers reported increased sales of their games weeks and even months after they had been in a bundle, thus even if their earnings from the bundles themselves were low, the effect of the bundle was a good one for them. But the bundle market got saturated, suddenly being in a bundle stopped meaning anything, it was no longer good marketing to be in a bundle. And on top of that, it feeds keys into the grey market, which means that being in a bundle can easily harm the long-term profit of a game. So basically, there's not a big incentive to put games in bundles anymore. Not for games that are still earning the developers money at least.
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and what better bundles you expect? Monthly bundles outstanding and good, other bundles.... well, you know, not enough quality games get released to full monthly 3 good bundles. Also, repeat sometimes required for those who missed the bundles and don't want to pay a fortune for shady resellers.
I am actually expecting more bad bundles as time goes, not because of bundle sites, but because of developers whose now realizing bundling games not essentially good for them.
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There's no lack of games they could put in regular bundles. Currently steam has over 30k games on it. I have several hundred games on my barter wishlist that haven't been bundled, nearly all of which have very positive ratings, and that's just the games I'm personally interested in.
Saying there aren't enough quality games for good weekly bundles is simply not true.
That said, your second statement is correct in that many devs realize bundles can be bad for business.
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I mean, better bundles is always good.
But also, let's not pretend here that Humble's not releasing good bundles already. A single dollar will currently buy you Serial Cleaner, Stealth Inc 2 and The Little Acre. I hope we're not becoming some total divas that need the newest AAA releases for their single dollar. If 3 well reviewed games with around 5-10 hours of gameplay each for what is essentially $0.33 per game with you even having the chance to just put it all towards a charity isn't enough for you, then I must ask, what is? Gaming's the cheapest electronic entertainment medium that there is. Imagine going to a cinema for around $0.03-$0.06. Imagine getting around 20-80 high quality movies to own for $12 per month, each month, with you choosing when you want to buy them and when you want to skip.
You'll never get this anywhere else. This amount of quality, this amount of stuff for such a small price and for such flexibility on whether you even want to reward people for their hard work or if you even want to pay the site for it to operate.
I'm hoping that you're just talking from a Devil's Advocate/"always for the consumer" viewpoint and not from an actual normal person's viewpoint. Because right now we're in the golden age of video games where an unemployed person can get so many games that they don't have the time to even play them, all for so little money that you could literally just use coins that you pick up off the street.
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You name 3 games that are repeats, The Little Acre being an overrated game that lasts one hour (there is even an achievement for it.
And that's the trend lately that also of games in bundles are just repeats (of repeats, regardless if they are good or not, and yes with 8000 games that will happen often for me) that personally makes it for me there aren't good bundles lately (might be different for you or someone else), nothing else.
But all bundle sites are struggling to get new games in (why Groupees is struggling financially), the big days of bundles of how it was, are a bit over.
And I am not at all looking for bundles with the newest AAA Games, i love retro and indie much more, i'd been waiting on a new sierra bundle (with Zork) or an Ys game like Humble had in the past, i even got many of the indiegala bundles (when i could afford them) many would frown upon, but lately even those i would not get if i could afford them.
New stuff that doesn't have to be AAA at all, that isn't also just $1 (crap) and new.
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Yeah... getting games for pennies isn't enough. Helping charities around the world isn't enough. Gotta be constantly new stuff. Doesn't matter that if you were to buy the $1 tier for a year, you'd have 75-150 games easily, with around $25 spent.
Nah, that's the reasoning that starts coming when people get entitled about their position. I get that it's always good to strive for more and better things. But also, you're an extreme. I'm an extreme too, but I'm not even anywhere compared to you. You have 8000 games. 8000... And you're wondering why you're not getting deals that cater to you. 25% of the entire Steam library. This doesn't come from just casual observation. You're an avid collector. The thing is that not everyone's always checking these things and most people will not be able to just keep taking advantage of deals the minute they come out. Whether they can't afford it, whether they can't run them at that time, whether they just miss the bundle, people won't always just get everything off the first go. Also, we're not pretending that just because the game's a repeat, that it means it was always the same deal? That it was always on the $1 tier with the exact same games on the exact same store? Because I can tell you right now, that's not the case. Satisfying extreme enthusiast level customers like you (and the other 500-1000 people in that tier) will be impossible. Extremely good deals, constantly having to top yourself on a weekly basis... it's not realistic. The 1400 games that I have are mostly from bundles. Bundles that I've paid such small amounts for. If you're a collector, then these will never be products for you because a consumer like you will never be satisfied. Doesn't matter that you own 25% of Steam's games, because you don't want to play them, you want to own them. And like with any collecting, you'll have to dig deeper because mainstream stores will never cater to you. Your type will be picky and you'll always be conservative with your spending (since you own so much already and since you're more savvy with the products on offer).
Just in case saying, even though you probably get it, but it's not a jab against you. You're just not the demographic for these bundles. Your interests just force you out of more normal/every-day stores. There's a reason you don't see coin collectors getting change at stores, shoe collectors only at shoe stores and so on. Catering to them just isn't financially viable.
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What constitutes a 'good bundle' is something that has to be evaluated on a person-by-person basis. Because there are more games atp then anyone could play within their lifetime, and with games being so cheap (not even counting all the free games), everyone who buys games with the intent to play them has to ask themselves; "will I really get around to playing this at some point?"
If a person doesn't feel they'll ever play the games in a bundle then no matter what the bundle is priced at or what it contains, it's probably not going to be a good bundle for that person. Sure they might buy it just to increase the number next to their library, or to give away, but for most people those aren't good reasons to buy a bundle.
The whole argument kind of reminds me of those bargain bin 1000-in-1 game CDs that used to be sold back in the 90s. I mean, how could anyone pass up such an awesome deal? :P
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If a person doesn't feel they'll ever play the games in a bundle then no matter what the bundle is priced at or what it contains, it's probably not going to be a good bundle for that person.
Well, of course, but I'd say that you can still say whether a deal's good or not by just looking at the games. The worst that Humble will bundle will be games with 'Mixed' reviews. Those games will always be popular AAA releases. Otherwise all games are 'Mostly Positive', 'Very Positive' and 'Overwhelmingly Positive'. Are we really going to compare a game that most of the audiences recommend to a bargain bin bundle disks that were notorious for having low quality homebrews and downright broken programs? Also, yeah, some of those were good, but unlike with Humble, you couldn't really see a general consensus on the product. Right now we can. To pretend that Humble's making shitty bundles while the games are almost always well reviewed, is just a downright lie. Humble makes limited amounts of bundles and they're periodical with their releases of bundles. Yeah, no wonder that the customer isn't a zombie that's fine with every product out there and every genre to exist.
You will always have three real answers when declining a bundle:
1) It's too expensive. In which case it'll be REBUNDLED at some point, most likely for a cheaper price, like with the games I listed to Lugum)
2) The games just aren't for you. In that case you'll just wait for another bundle because every genre has been catered to so far.
3) You personally just don't like the games. Much like with the second option, you'll just have to wait for another bundle. What you can't say however is that the games are bad. Objectively looking at it. Obviously people who bought it liked it, so to an extent they have to be good for the average consumer of that game.
That's my point. You have a site where you can pay a buck for well reviewed video games. This isn't a bargain bin situation. These are games that are of quality. This has never changed so far. Sure, some bundles are better, but that's impossible to avoid. No shit you'll have better successes. So, I still think that Humble hasn't got bad bundles in a more objective viewpoint. If taken personally, you can call everything trash or good or whatever. Your personal opinion can never be verified and therefore shouldn't play a role here.
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"My experience with free-to-play and social gaming is actually pretty applicable to a digital storefront like Humble," said Patmore, who will take the role of executive vice president and general manager at the company. "There are a lot of similarities in terms of process, development, economics, and even ethos.
I don't know which f2p games he's worked on, so I'm rather that things will get worse.
As for why bundles have gotten worse, that's mainly because Humble is putting out more of them. So they can't stick a game you'll like and don't already own into every bundle.
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I'm not sure if this is good or bad news.
Whenever leadership of a company is about to change it's often due to mismanagement.
Thanks for the news.
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Mismanagement in what way? The old leaders mismanaging so it's 'fixed' by them going out of the picture, or by the old leaders not wanting to be part of it anymore because of mismanagement by everything around them?
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Both might be possible and I'm afraid the real reasons remain hidden for the time being.
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Looks like Humble Bundle has become a bit less humble.
I really hope this doesn't turn sour. While I do miss the bundles they used to have, The last few monthlies have been really good and I hope Patmore keeps that going.
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I read that as Alan Partridge and got very confused
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first time i'm reading about "Patmore", and, like, don't care (i may recall smth about Zynga, tho...).
what makes me think are those two leaving.
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studio general manager at Zynga [...] vice president of product development at Double Fine
My experience with free-to-play and social gaming is actually pretty applicable to a digital storefront like Humble, [...] In addition, my experience with traditional development and publishing lends itself well to the publishing side of the business. For me, it's a perfect fit -- I get to flex my muscles on both sides.
After seeing a resume like that, I'm glad I'm not working in HR for Humble.
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general manager at Zynga
Doesn't really sound very good
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hopefully it goes back to pay what you want, i miss being able to get entire bundles for $1
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In the early days you could pay $.01 for an entire bundle.
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I never bought the first two HiB, but i know that i never played 1c for any of those early bundles
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Zynga and Double Fyne...there goes the neighborhood.
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So we get worse bundles now? Probably yes , sure it's possible .
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I haven't purchased anything on HB in over a year. I used to buy plenty of bundles before, but nothing has caught my interest anymore. I don't want to sign into their monthly subscription either, which is where most of the best games end up at.
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damn ign and damn ceo coo they will ruin hb time to panick! ;_;
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if it permits to stream the music files, why not (in that case please add it to the android client as well).
for the rest, the web page is more than enough and works even on possibly unsupported hw.
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Well, that's a sure, Epic said few days/weeks ago they start partnership with Humble to sell games.
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I don't see a problem with Epic bundles. They aren't going to affect the exclusivity problem.
I'll probably skip them and buy the game at a later date and higher price though. The Epic client is crap.
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Not sure how I feel about the highlight being most experience in free-to-play games and I've avoided Zynga like the plague for a decade, I vaguely remember them asking for lots of phone permissions and collecting personal info. I hope we are still going to get decent games and not turning to "in-game" loot.
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I still have some humble wallet funds to use. Hopefully those don't go away.
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I have my subscription active till december so I can only hope to not get any EPIC games in them now...
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Humble Bundle co-founders Jeffrey Rosen and John Graham have stepped down from their roles as CEO and COO of the company, GamesIndustry.biz can reveal.
It marks the end of an era for the digital storefront, with both Rosen and Graham having led the company for a decade. However, it is also the start of a new era, with seasoned video game executive Alan Patmore taking charge of Humble Bundle's "day-to-day operations" with immediate effect.
(...)
While Patmore hasn't managed a digital storefront specifically, his experience in the industry is broad and undeniably impressive. Recently, he was chief product officer at Kixeye, before that he was studio general manager at Zynga, and before that he was vice president of product development at Double Fine.
With Humble Bundle now an established publisher, as well as a distribution platform with a wide variety of business models, Patmore's track record is a better fit than it might appear at first.
"My experience with free-to-play and social gaming is actually pretty applicable to a digital storefront like Humble," said Patmore, who will take the role of executive vice president and general manager at the company. "There are a lot of similarities in terms of process, development, economics, and even ethos.
"In addition, my experience with traditional development and publishing lends itself well to the publishing side of the business. For me, it's a perfect fit -- I get to flex my muscles on both sides."
Read More: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-03-29-humble-bundle-exclusive
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