Humble Bundle has announced changes are coming in February for Humble Choice, so let’s go over what they’re going to be doing.
First up, they’re moving back towards how it started with Humble Monthly. There’s only going to be one single tier at $11.99 / £8.99 / €9.99 - with regional pricing and more regions supported, except if you’re on the Classic plan you continue to be billed in USD. The amount of games will fluctuate, and hopefully mean they will be better and you will get access to all of them.
Humble said: “Our focus is to bring you maximum bang for your buck through an expertly curated mix of awesome games. The exact number of games might vary each month, but no matter what our scouts choose, our mission is to always bring you a ton of value that’s well worth the price of admission. And as always, you can skip a month whenever you want or cancel anytime.”
Next up, they’ve decided you need another launcher with the Humble app, which will only be supported on Windows. This will be required for the new, additional, Humble Games Collection. This will contain a “growing” list of curated games. On top of that the Humble Trove is being renamed to the Humble Vault, which they say will remain “DRM-free” but it will also require the Humble app.
If you pause (now called Skip) or cancel, you lose access to the Humble Games Collection and the Vault.
Humble Store discounts are also changing. It’s no longer a set 10% or 20%. Instead, it’s based on how long you keep going.
- 1-2 months: 10%
- 3-5 months: 15%
- 6-11 months: 17%
- 12+ months: 20%
It’s clearly Humble Bundle grasping at straws to try and make their business work, as clearly a lot of people were pausing (skipping) months. Reducing the store discount, and taking away parts of it if you do that, they’re of course hoping more people keep it up.
Having more in an app does make some sense, even if I groan at yet another app, as it will remind people more often about what they offer. For Linux users though, having it as Windows-only will likely mean no more Linux builds for the Trove / Vault for example, so a step backwards there, but we’re still a small market they don’t exactly need to care much about.
Once the app is out, we’ll take a look and see if it can be made to run with Wine or set as a launcher in Steam to run with Proton.
The changes come into effect on February 1. Humble have said these changes do not affect the rest of the store or bundles they will do.
What do you think about the changes?
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Although some of the games I received though Humble Bundle were not ones I would have ever purchased normally but ended up having a blast on them and led to follow-on purchases.
Kimyrielle Jan 12, 2022
And now this.
First, they can stuff their launcher in a very dark place. I -hate- launchers. I use Steam to organize my games, and that's where I want them -all- to be. Every launcher on top of/next to Steam is just a total waste of time it requires me to start and click though it.
I am not even going to comment on the Windows-only thing, other than saying it's 2022. There is no excuse NOT to deploy on all PC platforms anymore, except indifference and/or ineptitude.
Whether or not I stay subscribed, only time will tell. If I see too many more months with lackluster games I won't ever play anyway, even $12 is too much.
QuoteThere’s only going to be one single tier at $11.99 / £8.99 / €9.99 - with regional pricing and more regions supported,
If they do add regional pricing for Brazil (and local payment methods), that would be a huge improvement that would make up for all the negative changes they have been making.
Other than that, I feel they are simply chipping away at everything that makes them unique; they might not become worse, certainly not all the time, but I don't think they will remain relevant. Another subscription, might be a good deal once in a while or for some people, but it will compete more directly with everything else.
StalePopcorn Jan 12, 2022
Quoting: BlackBloodRumAs for launchers.. nah... we've got more than enough launchers jeez, I have launchers for my launchers launcher that has a launcher.Yo dawg...
QuoteNext up, they’ve decided you need another launcher with the Humble app, which will only be supported on Windows
Hm, yes, I see. Windows only again. The GOG approach, as it were. Because if we learned anything, it's that the best way to attract new customers is to piss off your existing ones.
pleasereadthemanual Jan 12, 2022
Quoting: ixnariQuoteNext up, they’ve decided you need another launcher with the Humble app, which will only be supported on Windows
Hm, yes, I see. Windows only again. The GOG approach, as it were. Because if we learned anything, it's that the best way to attract new customers is to piss off your existing ones.
I personally don't mind at all that GOG Galaxy is not available on GNU/Linux, and I'm not sure I want it anyway. I use Lutris for GOG games. They make their games available DRM-free with an offline installer, and it's not tied to the Galaxy client in any way.
From the sounds of it, the only way to get games from the Humble Games Collection is through the launcher, and no statement has been made on whether they will be DRM-Free. Humble Trove is being renamed to Humble Vault and they will apparently continue to be DRM-Free, but it's unclear if they'll only be accessible to download from the launcher from February 1st. I am considerably less okay with this if my speculation is on the mark.
Quoting: pleasereadthemanualI personally don't mind at all that GOG Galaxy is not available on GNU/Linux, and I'm not sure I want it anyway. I use Lutris for GOG games.
Well, Lutris doesn't offer cloud saves unfortunately, so that's a big downside of Galaxy being Windows-exclusive.
Last edited by Termy on 12 January 2022 at 8:07 am UTC
pleasereadthemanual Jan 12, 2022
Quoting: TermyThis is a downside that doesn't really bother me, as I tend to play particular games on particular computers. Or maybe I just haven't tasted the convenience of cloud saves before, because I'm used to losing all my progress when installing a game on a different computer.Quoting: pleasereadthemanualI personally don't mind at all that GOG Galaxy is not available on GNU/Linux, and I'm not sure I want it anyway. I use Lutris for GOG games.
Well, Lutris doesn't offer cloud saves unfortunately, so that's a big downside of Galaxy being Windows-exclusive.
I can see how this might be disappointing for other users, but in the end it is a convenience feature. I'm sure one day minigalaxy will include a feature that allows you to setup your own server as a central point for cloud saves, in the same way that there's a self-hosted alternative to AnkiWeb.
Maybe someday.
Quoting: 3zekielHmm one thing that confuses me, they say you will still be billed in dollar if you are on humble classic... But if there is only one tier, then what is the point of classic ? And why still in dollar ?~
Honestly, in the last year, the only times I did not skip was because I forgot to. I kept my subscription for classic "Just in case", and because I thought I might grab the discount one month if there was a decent game I did not already have. And it never happened.
So, I guess I can just cancel now.
acording to the FAQ, the classics will still have the 20% discount.
The new account will start with 10% and increasing per subsequent renewal...
Quotehttps://support.humblebundle.com/hc/en-us/articles/4411127626139
All active members of Humble Choice will receive up to a 20% discount on the Humble Store when the changes go live on February 1st. All new members will receive up to a 10% discount on the Humble Store, with a growing discount rate based on consecutive months unlocked, as seen below
Besides the app having both trove (DRM-free) and Humble Games Collection (presumely non drm-free) and beeing windows only, there another anoying thing for the pausers out there:
Still from the FAQ
QuoteCan I still pause? What is skipping?
Pausing a month has officially been renamed "Skip" to better reflect the functionality provided. Just like with pausing, you can choose to skip a single month of Humble Choice while maintaining your plan. Once the current month of Humble Choice concludes, your plan will continue as usual and bill for the following month unless skipped. **Skipping also resets your growing discount back to 10%** if a higher percentage has been reached.
(emphasis mine). So pausing a month you'll miss the 20% discount on the next months. It will then rise to 20% after 12 continous months without skipping...
Last edited by nullzero on 12 January 2022 at 1:03 pm UTC
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