“If it's not broken, don't fix it,”

October 13, 2017 1:50 PM

Humble Bundle has been acquired by media giant IGN. [Gamasutra] “Media giant IGN announced today that it has acquired Humble Bundle, the company best known for selling packs of indie games at pay-what-you-want prices. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. This is potentially a big deal for game developers, since Humble has expanded beyond its bundling business to publish games, pay devs to make games for its subscription-based monthly game club, maintain a subscription-based online game trove, and operate an online game storefront. However, a press release confirming the deal also noted that Humble will continue to operate independently in the wake of the acquisition, with no significant business or staffing changes.”
posted by Fizz (31 comments total)

However, a press release confirming the deal also noted that Humble will continue to operate independently in the wake of the acquisition, with no significant business or staffing changes

For how long?

I haven't read an IGN review for probably 15 years, but somebody still has to go to that site. What does that mean for the quality of the games (and who know maybe the reviews at IGN somehow get worse) when the review site is now a distributor and a publisher too?
posted by thecjm at 2:04 PM on October 13, 2017

I love how this dude is so full of PR bullshit that the truth spills over in the last paragraph:

"We want to stick to the fundamentals in the short term. We don't want to disrupt anything we're doing right already," added Graham. "Because of the shared vision and overlap of our customer bases, there’s going to be a lot of opportunities."

posted by Foci for Analysis at 2:09 PM on October 13, 2017 [14 favorites]

What does that mean for the quality of the games (and who know maybe the reviews at IGN somehow get worse) when the review site is now a distributor and a publisher too?

Well, Amazon is a publisher as well as distributor, and they own Goodreads, and... bleargh. It probably means:

1) Most people won't notice any difference.

2) Some good people will lose jobs.

3) There will be some highly-promoted games that really don't deserve the attention, and some great games that they try to sweep under the rug. But those will both be minorities.

4) All of the changes will take a while to filter through to different areas of the two websites.

5) It's time for me to cancel my subscription to Humble Monthly.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 2:27 PM on October 13, 2017 [10 favorites]

.
posted by snuffleupagus at 2:27 PM on October 13, 2017

I read a lot about gaming/news and IGN is still on my list of sites to check with regards to video game news, but the past few years IGN has very much become focused on "infotainment" and not so much about actual gaming. This only makes me worry about what they'll do to Humble Bundle and how they'll find a way to monetize this so that it only benefits them.
posted by Fizz at 2:30 PM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

I don't know what the little lock icon next to each item in a Humble Bundle means. Sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not. I don't get it!
posted by ODiV at 2:50 PM on October 13, 2017

RIP
posted by Nelson at 2:54 PM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

Sequoia Capital wants their return, and Humble had exhausted the easy ways to increase revenue. I'd have expected Amazon to be interested, since they're aggressively moving into gaming and there's a lot they could do alongside Twitch.
posted by skymt at 3:09 PM on October 13, 2017 [6 favorites]

Humble had exhausted the easy ways to increase revenue

I suppose, "sell awesome games to lots of people" isn't considered easy revenue. I shudder at the possibilities of what they'll try to do instead/in addition to that.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 3:12 PM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

ErisLordFreedom: "I suppose, "sell awesome games to lots of people" isn't considered easy revenue. I shudder at the possibilities of what they'll try to do instead/in addition to that."

Humble Bundle did a funding round in 2011. If you've never personally experienced the terrible voracity of a tech investor, you are a lucky person, but you'd also be surprised at how many good companies VCs ruin in pursuit of hyper-growth.
posted by TypographicalError at 3:17 PM on October 13, 2017 [9 favorites]

With the Steam sales losing their epic sheen and the Humble Bundle going into the IGN black box, it feels like the end of another golden era of cheap PC gaming.
posted by MrVisible at 3:21 PM on October 13, 2017 [10 favorites]

I don't play a lot of new games, but my SO's hooked on Humble Bundle to discover new stuff. Not happy to hear this. :(
posted by mordax at 3:31 PM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

This means I should download all of the stuff I've gotten from Humble Book Bundles, doesn't it?
posted by sleeping bear at 3:41 PM on October 13, 2017 [7 favorites]

Yeah, I told myself I should download everything I had purchased from various places way back when gog.com pulled their ill advised PR stunt. Still haven't gotten around to it.

One day...
posted by ODiV at 3:45 PM on October 13, 2017

Christ, what a synergistic opportunity!
posted by srboisvert at 3:53 PM on October 13, 2017 [15 favorites]

Download EVERY digital purchase, as soon as it's made or as soon as possible afterward. No digital purchase site is safe, and those of us who've done ebooks for a long time measure our age by dead stores. (RIP Fictionwise; killed by B&N so they could get access to a now-defunct DRM system.)

Don't assume it'll be there next month. Licensing policies are subject to sudden changes; the publisher can get into a fight with a distribution company and *poof* every one of that publisher's works immediately get yanked from every sales site they can reach.

Get a portable drive, download everything to it, and sort later. If the book comes in several formats, download them all; you don't know which one will be most useful in 3 years.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 3:54 PM on October 13, 2017 [15 favorites]

GOG is still independent, right?
posted by SansPoint at 3:57 PM on October 13, 2017

GOG is still independent, right?

As independent as they've ever been. (They've always been a project of Polish company CD Projekt Red, best known as the developer of The Witcher series).
posted by firechicago at 4:00 PM on October 13, 2017 [8 favorites]

““I’ll keep it short and sweet. Family. Religion. Friendship. These are the three demons you must slay if you wish to succeed in business. ””
posted by Fizz at 4:15 PM on October 13, 2017 [7 favorites]

Ziff-Davis continues its project of turning properties into a pile of mediocre suck
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:27 PM on October 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

The IGN review (warning: autoplays) of Hob is the main reason I'm playing it now. And it's a lot of fun!
posted by homunculus at 4:44 PM on October 13, 2017

Hopefully the founders are at least getting a decent paycheck out of it. Maybe Jeff Rosen can go back to focusing on leporine beat-em-ups.
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 5:40 PM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

I would never have thought of HB as a thing that might have investors, or VC, or founders, or otherwise be another aspect of the SV style startup hellscape. But I guess everything is just a resource to be strip mined now, even modest and unassuming good ideas.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 5:45 PM on October 13, 2017 [6 favorites]

If it turns to shit, something else will take it's place. If they are trying to turn it into a Steam rival, they will fail.
posted by Brocktoon at 6:45 PM on October 13, 2017

I just hope there continues to be a comic bundle I care about once a year or so. I'd hate to actually catch up on reading these gigabytes of CBRs
posted by DigDoug at 6:48 PM on October 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

Yeah, good deal for those with equity, but this is what happens when you take VC.
posted by rhizome at 8:55 PM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

That's what they said about National Geographic.
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:19 PM on October 13, 2017

I vaguely remember that GoG got their hands dirty during GooberGate. Have they cleaned up their act?
posted by seyirci at 6:30 AM on October 14, 2017

I'm guessing the slider that determines how much of the pay-what-you-want for a bundle goes to Humble, how much to the game devs, and how much to charity will be the first thing to change. (My ratios will certainly be different until the option goes away.)
posted by straight at 10:22 AM on October 14, 2017 [6 favorites]

"A press release confirming the deal also noted that Humble will continue to operate independently in the wake of the acquisition, with no significant business or staffing changes"

If I had a nickel for every time I've heard that line after an acquisition, I'd have bought Humble Bundle.
posted by dances with hamsters at 8:32 PM on October 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

"Our incredible journey, yadda yadda yadda."
posted by rhizome at 9:01 PM on October 15, 2017