After a bit of an uproar from customers, Humble Bundle have decided to ditch their idea of replacing sliders that let people customize where their money goes.
In their original blog post, they mentioned the sliders that let you adjust the amount you give to Humble, Developers, Charity and Partners would be replaced with a static two-tier system that was giving a lot more to Developers and Humble. Now though, in a fresh blog post they're backtracking.
Today, we’ll be turning sliders back on for all customers on our bundle pages while we take more time to review feedback and consider sliders and the importance of customization for purchases on bundle pages in the long term.
It seems they've learned the hard way that rolling out big changes to their original business model, while they're a smaller store isn't going to cut it without a lot more thought put into it. The new bundle page style is still going to be rolling out that they showed off previously, but it will still have sliders.
Some things will still change in future though by the sounds of it, as they will be "exploring different approaches to the sliders and how splits work, along with new ways to incorporate charity into other parts of the user experience" but they will be sharing more and gathering feedback in future instead of just doing it.
As a Humble Bundle Partner, we're glad to see that they're willing to listen.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Last edited by Phlebiac on 5 May 2021 at 5:48 pm UTC
Or, if developers similarly want to opt for a minimum percentage, just make that obvious in that title's sliders at checkout (not all will; some will be fine if people want to put a huge chunk to charities instead - give them the choice).
Even charities have overhead, so I can understand if they need to make that sort of change as a for-profit business.
So a certain game could be like:
Humble: (Min 15%)
Dev: (Min 10%)
Charity: (Max 75% because math)
And then let you drag the sliders around within those bounds, pick the charities and their distribution, etc.?
Keep their new/rolled back presets as just... 'reset to X' buttons that move the sliders back to those numbers.
"exploring different approaches to the sliders and how splits work, along with new ways to incorporate charity into other parts of the user experience"
IMHO:
This is PR speak. They made a change they thought or hoped no one would either notice or care about, with the express purpose of forcefully increasing their profits per bundle sale.
IGN is only backtracking now because people did notice and did care and IGN figures they will lose more than they stood to gain if they kept the changes.
The quoted statement is completely unnecessary in the context of the original sliders, which give buyers complete choice on how the money they spend is split. Which of course could mean, for any given buyer, $0.00 for IGN.
The quote is only valid if they want to limit buyer choice in the sliders in the future, obstensibly to ensure a minimum percentage cut per sale. My gut tells me they'll either wait a bit, then re-introduce with some made-up back story as to why it's necessary (a story they don't have currently) OR, they will try to sneak the changes via smaller incremental ones.
Beemer
Personally I don't care.Yeah Humble Bundle was great, I loved the very first years with all those Linux bundles, they were so funny with those Arnold impersonations :)
Anyway, in time they shifted more and more from the original "humble" spirit, for all I care they can put the sliders back, and take them out again, I couldn't care less.
They're just a bundle "that I used to know".
hardpenguin May 6, 2021
Personally I don't care.Personally, I don't care that you don't care!
Personally, I don't care that you don't care that they don't care!!Personally I don't care.Personally, I don't care that you don't care!
>Personally, I don't care that you don't care that they don't care!!Personally I don't care.Personally, I don't care that you don't care!
Doc Angelo May 7, 2021
They really died when IGN bought them.Huh? I mean, IGN being involved in anything is just generally a bad thing.
But afaik, they are not involved in Humble Bundle, but some other bundle site? I might be wrong, though.
IGN acquired Humble Bundle in 2017.They really died when IGN bought them.Huh? I mean, IGN being involved in anything is just generally a bad thing.
But afaik, they are not involved in Humble Bundle, but some other bundle site? I might be wrong, though.
JSVRamirez May 8, 2021
Sliders were useful, mostly if the "charity" for a particular bundle was rather bad.
This.
This was exactly why I used sliders. If I had an issue with the charity, I throw the slider down to '0' and give Humble and the developers more...
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