Ceci est une ancienne révision du document !
For this month I decided to give a nod to the good folks at Humble Bundle and all of the goodies that they bring to the Linux landscape. Way before Valve brought us its Steam OS along with the much needed support for Linux games, the Humble Bundle was a leading pioneer in bringing what at the time were mostly independent games to Linux. In fact, before being called the Humble Bundle, the original name was the Humble Indie Bundle, with emphasis on Indie because they were focused on delivering bundles of independent developers not just to Linux but also to Microsoft Windows, OS X and shortly thereafter to Android & iOS as well. During those early releases it became very clear, not just to the Humble Bundle people but to other bigger players (such as Valve for example), that Linux gamers were willing to not only pay for games but predominantly pay much, much more than their Windows & Mac counterparts. This was perhaps one of the turning points in Linux gaming. Before the Humble Indie Bundle, there was a fear from game developers & publishers that Linux was not a lucrative investment which in turn was preventing them from bringing games over to Linux. It was one of those chicken and egg scenarios where the companies didn’t want to bring games to Linux out of fear they wouldn’t sell while at the same time there were no Linux game sales to validate or contradict such fear because of the lack of games with which to prove or disprove this theory. All of those doubts and fears were put to rest when the Humble Indie Bundle arrived, which definitely and without a doubt proved that if games were brought over to Linux, gamers would buy them (and in many situations even pay more than premium price for these games).
What was once a small idea from a couple of guys working out of their parent’s garage has grown into a 60-person operation that was just recently bought by IGN. There may be some criticism as to whether this was a good move to make or not. Since its foundation, the Humble Bundle has been involved in donating part of its proceeds to charity. One of the things I’ve always liked about The Humble Bundle is that they donate to a variety of charities and let the consumer decide which percentage of their purchase will go to each charity. This is one of the main selling points of The Humble Bundle and has been since its inception. With the recent acquisition by IGN we are left to wonder if the original vision of what the Humble Bundle was and the impact it’s had since its birth will continue or if the Humble Bundle will sell out and become another part of the corporate machine. So, I’ve decided to sort of freeze the moment of what the Humble Bundle had to offer and where its money was going at the time of acquisition by IGN, then at a later time we could revisit and see what changes have taken place. We’ll begin by looking at the three-pronged portion of what is The Humble Bundle video game store. You can read more about the Humble Bundle & IGN merger at: https://techcrunch.com/2017/10/13/ign-acquires-pay-what-you-want-game-shop-humble-bundle/
Humble Bundle game bundles
The Humble Bundle has a special place in my heart because of its contribution to the Linux game scene. Back when few games were available for Linux, the Humble Indie Bundle began to offer game bundles which offered games that were Linux compatible. Originally, these bundles contained primarily games from small & independent publishers/developers. In fact, the early bundles were called Humble Indie Bundle and they were a hit among Linux gamers. The average price paid by Linux gamers was considerably more than the average price paid by Windows/Mac gamers. This phenomenon sent a clear signal to many in the game industry. The message was simple: Linux gamers were willing to pay top notch for Linux games. One interesting factor about these bundles is that you literally name your own price for each bundle, as long as it’s $0.01 or more. Times have changed and these bundles are no longer exclusively made up of independent games but two things that haven’t changed are that these bundles continue to offer games that can be played on Linux and you can still name your own price for each bundle.
Nowadays, the Humble Bundle has expanded into more than just games. Currently there are eight bundles on offer at the time of this writing. Some of these bundles continue to offer Linux games but in addition to these, there are also bundles that don’t contain any games at all. In fact, on any given month, you can count on finding at least one Humble Book Bundle which can be made up of books and/or graphic novels. There are also bundles that offer software, videos and more. Also there’s the Humble Mobile Bundle which is comprised exclusively of games for mobile systems such as Android & iOS. It’s always a good idea to periodically look at what bundles are available; you never know what you’ll find.
Humble Monthly
In addition to the regular bundles, there is also The Humble Monthly subscription for the low price of $12 per month. The Humble Monthly usually has a handful of top notch AAA titles that could each cost up to $40 or maybe even more for each title. Also, every month, the subscription includes other games that maybe you haven’t heard of which often can turn into hidden gems that you wouldn’t have discovered if they weren’t included in the subscription. I’ve been paying for a subscription for a few months and some of the games I’ve gotten that run on Linux include Total War: Warhammer, Pillars of Eternity and Dirt: Rally. To name but a few.
Humble Store
Last but not least, there’s the Humble Bundle Store which is much like other online video game stores & offers a very wide selection of games that you can buy the regular way which is one game at a time. These games usually run for about as much as they would cost if you were to get them from other places such as Steam or GOG. However, just like any other store, there’s the Humble Store’s weekly sale prices which can include games for 25%, 50% or even up to 90% off for a limited time.
Humble Bundle charity donations
Since its inception, when you buy one of the offered Humble Bundles you’ve been allowed to pick where your money goes. You’ve been previously allowed to choose between the following three things:
• Game developers • Charity donations • Tip for the Humble Bundle store
Then there’s more choices under each section ordinarily. For example under the charity section, you’ve been allowed to then pick which charities your donation is going to or divide it among any other number of charities any which way you want. The tradition is still the way it’s done today. We, as consumers must periodically check to see whether this tradition of the Humble Bundle organization is still being true to its origins. Otherwise it might be hard to continue calling it The Humble Bundle after it’s lost its humility and turned into yet another for-profit corporation.