A bit of history (partially for those living under a rock): humble bundle is a site that started out in 2010 with the initiative to bring small (indie) but awesome games under the spotlight, bundle them together for a small (humble) price that for a large part went to charity. On top of that, it had the intention to encourage programmers to port their games to linux. Though admittedly: when I discovered the site myself a couple years later, that latter had become a very loose optional thing (I remember a couple bundles with "never before ported to linux" games, but at best a handful).
For me, it was a revelation. As a PC gamer since the late 80's, I had only seen PC games enlarge in scale. There were some trends and breakthroughs in it (dedicated 3D cards and "the internet" heralded the time of FPS'es, RTS'es and later MOBA's), but that was considered "the future". If you wanted simple, casual games, you better got a wii and played some platformers because you weren't a REAL gamer if you disliked long loading times or expensive graphical effects. The first slew of indie titles (obligatory cave story mention) seemingly took at least two steps back in horsepower. They had less developers and, as such, cost less. And it might be my impression, but I think they were also regarded as "less" as well (as an example: magazines crammed them in the "also releases this month" semi-page while faffing on and on about large studio games). Humble bundle was one of the pillars that created the game industry we have today.
...and it's falling.
In their defense: the industry has changed in a weird way. Game editors became cheaper than ever, and game development is also easier than ever. The flipside of that good news is that every yahoo who spends a weekend on the unity engine can cram out a game. Worse: when easy money can be made, introspection takes a backseat (I...don't even dare look up how much the investment of getting a game out the door now COSTS your). In other words: steam suffers from too-many-games-itis.
The industry is neither unaware nor ignorant of the problem: admission costs rise, award ceremonies are held and there are dedicated youtube videos that separate the good from the bad indie games.
Humble bundle, however, is anything but the pillar it once was. They gradually branched out. These were little steps, but certainly on hindsight: steps in the wrong direction.
-the humble store was first. There are some non-steam games on there, but I TBH I can barely tell the difference. Yeah, "a portion goes to charity". That portion usually being 5%, so on cheap or discounted games you'll donate an embarrassingly low amount to charity (amnesty international can get by on the 5 cents from my one buck purchase, right*? ). And the amount of tie-in deals are on the rise as well. They even stack to a degree: I once added -10% of a monthly subscription on top of a -90% discount (that's -10% reduction AFTER the -90% discount) on the humble store sale, and then payed with store credit from another humble bundle. In other words: if the humble store was an actual store, I was the cheapskate coming in with all the coupons and counting out each penny. I'm not proud of that, but damnit: they encourage that behavior more and more.
Also an effect of the humble store: the more games available, the less spotlight per game. And at this point, I'm sure that their policy is at best a "when over a metacritic score of 60, you're welcome" sort of thing. I'm not against AAA-titles, but what's the point of having a site originally dedicated to indie games if you put a AAA-title directly next to it.
-the humble monthly was next. The promise of "great indie games, never before in bundles" for 12 bucks per month. No, that's not a typo: this too was originally meant for independent games, but it wasn't long until large scale games became part of it. The catch was that you had to pay before knowing which ones these were, which lead to situations like me having a bundle with 2 AAA-titles I already had.
I cannot really complain about this because from what I can see, this is the only bundle still offering genuinely interesting games. It would be interesting, though, if it had more interesting games instead of iterations of franchises.
-also new: ebook bundles. Since we're gamers, we surely like books about games, right? Or programming games? Or programming in games? Comics are fine too, right? Then it was about "life hacks" (basically feelgood books). And...well...it's not that I mind bundles about cooking books, but what does this still has to do with anything? And as hilarious as Chuck Tingle might be...it's not about gaming, right?**
-software bundles. because companies that sell software is...the same as games? In a way? If you want to stream? Perhaps? Yes?
-build your own bundle. Why do I even mention this here? It's not a bundle but a conditional sale. The argument "but how would I know I'll like the games from the bundle?" is moot for the very reason you buy a bundle: because you DON'T know whether you like it until you try it.
As I obviously have to remind people: IGN acquired humble bundle last October. I can't find the gbaemp thread about it right now, but people were pretty upset over it. I wasn't: I was curious to see where this would go. And by now, I should admit: the wrong direction.
See, IGN doesn't just have a stake "in video games". It has a stake in video games they cover, and if not for other reasons, they simply cannot cover all games on the planet. So they stick mostly with what's either already large and/or already popular. In other words: bring more spotlight to what's already on the spotlight.
It's up for debate, but at the time of writing (7th of August), I'd say the last actual humble bundle was in June (the Daedalic bundle). And even that contained some games already in previous bundles. In any case: sinceING IGN took over, AAA-titles and games from a larger studio have become more prevalent in the picks. As such, just finding out the existence of interesting games simply isn't humble bundle anymore. Heh...if it wasn't for channels like get indie gaming I would think that quality indie titles were dying out because (ironically enough) there are too many on the market.
Oh,and I forgot the latest stunt: for the upcoming humble bundle of september, you can choose between option A: sniper elite 4, tales of berseria and staxel ...or option B: Rise of the Tomb Raider. This as well is a blow in indie territory. How are you to explore new kinds of games you can choose between that and something you're already familiar with. It's like trying to diet when someone comes up and says "you know...you CAN trade those salads for this burger here".
Ahem...and this blog entry has become a much larger rant than I anticipated. Anyone reading this...do you agree or disagree with these views?
(note: this isn't a discussion. Probably nothing of what you reply will make me change my mind, so...keep that in mind )
*that is, of course, if you handpick an actually known charity enterprise. There are some charities among them that I really wonder why they're called that. I mean...backyard USA isn't a third world country, right?
**fine: he wrote a shortstory about someone getting sexually aroused by having a switch-lookalike in his ass that also allowed him to control his game. But come one: that's more an extra nail in the coffin than actually about games
For me, it was a revelation. As a PC gamer since the late 80's, I had only seen PC games enlarge in scale. There were some trends and breakthroughs in it (dedicated 3D cards and "the internet" heralded the time of FPS'es, RTS'es and later MOBA's), but that was considered "the future". If you wanted simple, casual games, you better got a wii and played some platformers because you weren't a REAL gamer if you disliked long loading times or expensive graphical effects. The first slew of indie titles (obligatory cave story mention) seemingly took at least two steps back in horsepower. They had less developers and, as such, cost less. And it might be my impression, but I think they were also regarded as "less" as well (as an example: magazines crammed them in the "also releases this month" semi-page while faffing on and on about large studio games). Humble bundle was one of the pillars that created the game industry we have today.
...and it's falling.
In their defense: the industry has changed in a weird way. Game editors became cheaper than ever, and game development is also easier than ever. The flipside of that good news is that every yahoo who spends a weekend on the unity engine can cram out a game. Worse: when easy money can be made, introspection takes a backseat (I...don't even dare look up how much the investment of getting a game out the door now COSTS your). In other words: steam suffers from too-many-games-itis.
The industry is neither unaware nor ignorant of the problem: admission costs rise, award ceremonies are held and there are dedicated youtube videos that separate the good from the bad indie games.
Humble bundle, however, is anything but the pillar it once was. They gradually branched out. These were little steps, but certainly on hindsight: steps in the wrong direction.
-the humble store was first. There are some non-steam games on there, but I TBH I can barely tell the difference. Yeah, "a portion goes to charity". That portion usually being 5%, so on cheap or discounted games you'll donate an embarrassingly low amount to charity (amnesty international can get by on the 5 cents from my one buck purchase, right*?
). And the amount of tie-in deals are on the rise as well. They even stack to a degree: I once added -10% of a monthly subscription on top of a -90% discount (that's -10% reduction AFTER the -90% discount) on the humble store sale, and then payed with store credit from another humble bundle. In other words: if the humble store was an actual store, I was the cheapskate coming in with all the coupons and counting out each penny. I'm not proud of that, but damnit: they encourage that behavior more and more.Also an effect of the humble store: the more games available, the less spotlight per game. And at this point, I'm sure that their policy is at best a "when over a metacritic score of 60, you're welcome" sort of thing. I'm not against AAA-titles, but what's the point of having a site originally dedicated to indie games if you put a AAA-title directly next to it.
-the humble monthly was next. The promise of "great indie games, never before in bundles" for 12 bucks per month. No, that's not a typo: this too was originally meant for independent games, but it wasn't long until large scale games became part of it. The catch was that you had to pay before knowing which ones these were, which lead to situations like me having a bundle with 2 AAA-titles I already had.
I cannot really complain about this because from what I can see, this is the only bundle still offering genuinely interesting games. It would be interesting, though, if it had more interesting games instead of iterations of franchises.
-also new: ebook bundles. Since we're gamers, we surely like books about games, right? Or programming games? Or programming in games? Comics are fine too, right? Then it was about "life hacks" (basically feelgood books). And...well...it's not that I mind bundles about cooking books, but what does this still has to do with anything? And as hilarious as Chuck Tingle might be...it's not about gaming, right?**
-software bundles. because companies that sell software is...the same as games? In a way? If you want to stream? Perhaps? Yes?
-build your own bundle. Why do I even mention this here? It's not a bundle but a conditional sale. The argument "but how would I know I'll like the games from the bundle?" is moot for the very reason you buy a bundle: because you DON'T know whether you like it until you try it.
As I obviously have to remind people: IGN acquired humble bundle last October. I can't find the gbaemp thread about it right now, but people were pretty upset over it. I wasn't: I was curious to see where this would go. And by now, I should admit: the wrong direction.
See, IGN doesn't just have a stake "in video games". It has a stake in video games they cover, and if not for other reasons, they simply cannot cover all games on the planet. So they stick mostly with what's either already large and/or already popular. In other words: bring more spotlight to what's already on the spotlight.
It's up for debate, but at the time of writing (7th of August), I'd say the last actual humble bundle was in June (the Daedalic bundle). And even that contained some games already in previous bundles. In any case: since
Oh,and I forgot the latest stunt: for the upcoming humble bundle of september, you can choose between option A: sniper elite 4, tales of berseria and staxel ...or option B: Rise of the Tomb Raider. This as well is a blow in indie territory. How are you to explore new kinds of games you can choose between that and something you're already familiar with. It's like trying to diet when someone comes up and says "you know...you CAN trade those salads for this burger here".
Ahem...and this blog entry has become a much larger rant than I anticipated. Anyone reading this...do you agree or disagree with these views?
(note: this isn't a discussion. Probably nothing of what you reply will make me change my mind, so...keep that in mind
)*that is, of course, if you handpick an actually known charity enterprise. There are some charities among them that I really wonder why they're called that. I mean...backyard USA isn't a third world country, right?
**fine: he wrote a shortstory about someone getting sexually aroused by having a switch-lookalike in his ass that also allowed him to control his game. But come one: that's more an extra nail in the coffin than actually about games
