NOT SO HUMBLE? A few hundred grand here, a few there—pretty soon you’re talking real money
millions
2
1. 8
1. 6
1. 4
1. 2
1
. 8
. 6
. 4
. 2
0
Humble Indie
Bundle 1
$1,270,000
Humble Indie
Bundle 2
$1,800,000
Humble
Frozenbyte
Bundle
$744,000
Humble Indie
Bundle 3
$2,169,090
ub
Humble Frozen
Synapse Bundle
$1,100,000
Humble
Voxatron
Debut
$902,453
Humble
Introversion
Bundle
$778,575
A Humble $9 Million
The Humble Indie Bundle is making indie games huge by PC Gamer
Five years ago, if you asked a successful indie developer if it would like to sell its entire back catalog for a minimum of one cent, its founders might have
been offended. Now, it’s one of the highest
honors and most lucrative opportunities
out there. The Humble Indie Bundle was
started by a few talented but not hugely
famous developers, Wolfire Games, in May
2010. They’d noticed that certain bundles
of games sold well on Steam, and wanted
to combine elements of those offers with
other features they liked: cross-platform
compatibility, no DRM, pay-what-you-want, and a custom charitable donation.
The result, seven bundles later: “We
have raised about $9 million total,” says
one of the organizers, Richard Esguerra.
“That’s meant about $5 million raised
for developers, more than $3 million
for charity, and less than $1 million for
Humble Bundle through the optional
humble tip.” The first bundle contained
six games, including Wolfire’s own rabbit
fighting game Lugaru and perennial
favorite World of Goo. Later bundles
included Braid, Trine, VVVVVV, Frozen
Synapse and Darwinia, the bundles taking
an average of $1.2 million dollars each.
They claim the
next bundle will
“melt keyboards”
The organizers are making a good
faith gesture toward gamers, trusting
that there are enough people willing to
give something back to out weigh those
determined to pirate. The result of that
faith is one of the fastest growing indie
publishing schemes in history.
The trailer for each bundle explains
what’s interesting about the games in an
accessible, funny way, and they’re all cool
ideas you haven’t played before. When
you buy, you decide not only how much
to pay, but exactly who your money goes
to—customizing the split between the
developers, charities and organizers.
Everything about the process is easy, quick
and accessible.
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