Humble Bundle will take a 15-30 percent cut of sales starting mid-July

[Shawn Knight]

In brief: Humble Bundle is moving forward with a controversial change to its funding format that has some gamers up in arms. In short, the company will soon be taking a mandatory 15-30 percent cut of sales off the top, but gamers will still be able to allocate the remaining funds as they see fit.

From the beginning, Humble Bundle has allowed buyers to dictate how their payment amount gets distributed between publishers, charities and Humble itself. But back in April, the company quietly started experimenting with removing the charity slider. The move outraged gamers and publishers alike, and prompted Humble to backtrack a month later and reinstate the slider for all.

In a recent blog post, Humble revealed that it’ll be rolling out a new iteration of sliders in mid-July. In short, Humble will soon keep between 15 percent and 30 percent of proceeds; the remaining funds can be divvied up by the buyer as they see fit.

Up to this point, buyers have had the option to lower Humble’s cut to zero.

According to Humble, significant changes in the PC storefront landscape since bundles first launched in 2010 necessitated the move, “and we have to continue to evolve with it to stay on mission.”

"The change to sliders lets us continue to invest in more exciting content so we can keep growing the Humble community which will ultimately drive more donations for charitable causes. We’ll also continue to create more ways to give back such as with our 100% to charity bundles."

Worth mentioning is the fact that Humble Bundle was acquired by IGN Entertainment, a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, in 2017 for an undisclosed sum. In 2019, Humble Bundle co-founders John Graham and Jeff Rosen exited.

To date, Humble Bundle is approaching $200 million in charitable donations.

Image credit Casimiro PT

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/90289-humble-bundle-take-15-30-percent-cut-sales.html

 

[Dimitriid]

Yeah well guess what? If there's a charity that I would really like to contribute I'll just donate directly and wait for games to be on sale on other stores.

Sorry but just about the scummiest thing a company can do is try to turn profit out of what's supposed to be a charity effort, I'll refrain from stronger words not to get censored but I think my feelings are pretty clear.

 

[BSim500]

"Worth mentioning is the fact that Humble Bundle was acquired by IGN Entertainment, a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, in 2017 for an undisclosed sum. In 2019, Humble Bundle co-founders John Graham and Jeff Rosen exited"

You should have just put that at the top. Little more needs to be said, does it?

 

[kapital98]

Yeah well guess what? If there's a charity that I would really like to contribute I'll just donate directly and wait for games to be on sale on other stores.

Sorry but just about the scummiest thing a company can do is try to turn profit out of what's supposed to be a charity effort, I'll refrain from stronger words not to get censored but I think my feelings are pretty clear.

Most charities give very little money to charitable causes. As long as they are a charitable non-profit, they can avoid taxes and pay their employees (ie, executives) almost any amount.

Now, many charities aren't this scummy. But many/most are. Being a charity is great press for a musical festival (that donates less than private companies). It's a tax haven for political advocacy groups (like the NRA & Scientology) -- that otherwise couldn't exist if taxed.

If a person wants to donate to a cause they should check out "GiveWell" or similar organizations to make sure that their charity is being used effectively. Just giving out random money feels good -- but usually doesn't do much good.

 

[Dimitriid]

Most charities give very little money to charitable causes. As long as they are a charitable non-profit, they can avoid taxes and pay their employees (ie, executives) almost any amount.

Now, many charities aren't this scummy. But many/most are. Being a charity is great press for a musical festival (that donates less than private companies). It's a tax haven for political advocacy groups (like the NRA & Scientology) -- that otherwise couldn't exist if taxed.

If a person wants to donate to a cause they should check out "GiveWell" or similar organizations to make sure that their charity is being used effectively. Just giving out random money feels good -- but usually doesn't do much good.

Yep, full agreement. The point I made is more simple but everything you said still applies: If there's anyone that's worst than most "charitable" organizations that pretty much work as corporations anyway then that's definitively Humble Bundle that now enforces a take for their own transparently for profit to reduce the few dollars that actually helped any of the causes down even more now.

 

[ziffel66]

Sell out to IGN, what could possibly go wrong?

 

[RudyBob]

See...It never works. Minimum salary 70k? Out of business

 

[MaestroIT]

They are not getting the 15-30% cut from me, I am leaving the site, hopefully forever.

 

[m4a4]

Are people reaaaaally making a big deal about this? You can still get cheap games with the ability to choose that most of the money goes to charity (vs the publisher or organizer). And they're transparent about it.

Like, you wouldn't be looking for compensation for donations if you actually cared. Talk about entitlement lol

 

[kiwigraeme]

Most charities give very little money to charitable causes. As long as they are a charitable non-profit, they can avoid taxes and pay their employees (ie, executives) almost any amount.

Now, many charities aren't this scummy. But many/most are. Being a charity is great press for a musical festival (that donates less than private companies). It's a tax haven for political advocacy groups (like the NRA & Scientology) -- that otherwise couldn't exist if taxed.

If a person wants to donate to a cause they should check out "GiveWell" or similar organizations to make sure that their charity is being used effectively. Just giving out random money feels good -- but usually doesn't do much good.

Most charities give very little money to charitable causes. As long as they are a charitable non-profit, they can avoid taxes and pay their employees (ie, executives) almost any amount.

Now, many charities aren't this scummy. But many/most are. Being a charity is great press for a musical festival (that donates less than private companies). It's a tax haven for political advocacy groups (like the NRA & Scientology) -- that otherwise couldn't exist if taxed.

If a person wants to donate to a cause they should check out "GiveWell" or similar organizations to make sure that their charity is being used effectively. Just giving out random money feels good -- but usually doesn't do much good.

Are people reaaaaally making a big deal about this? You can still get cheap games with the ability to choose that most of the money goes to charity (vs the publisher or organizer). And they're transparent about it.

Like, you wouldn't be looking for compensation for donations if you actually cared. Talk about entitlement lol

I mostly concur - if you get a bundle and you are happy with the price - go for it - some will go to Charity - Amazon Smile has only given about the same amount. Every once and awhile they will have an important campaign for a cause - and some folks give thousands - sometimes anonymously - this is where it hurts - those should have a set limit - eg $50.00

 

[Nobina]

I used to subscribe to their monthly deals a couple of years ago when they had a couple of good games thrown in there and other were indie titles. Since some time ago, they offer mostly random indie games, AAA titles are rare and their deals overall got worse. I didn't know they were bought by IGN, a dog **** company. Regardless, I'm not interested in them anymore.

 

[eforce]

The problem isn't IGN but the owners of IGN, they destroyed gamespy and fileplanet.

 

[Puiu]

I used to be a monthly subscriber until a few months ago. It's a shame what they are doing. They already had a cut of the regular store and I'm sure that the number of subs is not insignificant. Now they have to ruin the charity bundles too (

I guess all good things must come to an end eventually.