You set the price, you get a pack of games. That’s the idea behind the Humble Indie Bundle by Wolfire which produces independently produced video games. In the first 24 hours, the sale has earned developers a quarter of a million dollars. The money will be donated to charity.
DRM free. No middlemen. You set the price. Money will be donated to charity. It sounds like a dream come true for gamers and the BSAs worst nightmare made real. Even better, it’s becoming hugely successful. Yesterday, Wolfire announced the Humble Indie Bundle.
“Basically we’re taking 5 classic indie games: World of Goo, Aquaria, Gish, Lugaru HD and Penumbra Overture and bundling them in a pay-what-you-want sale.” John explains, “Please remember though, we’re just humble indie developers and the more you contribute, the easier it will be for us to make awesome games in the future.”
The posting contains a well put together video explaining the whole idea too:
The campaign started yesterday and, according to their sales/donations page the campaign has earned a total of over a quarter of a million dollars. The charities to where the money goes to includes Child’s Play and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
It’s not entirely insane to make money this way really. This is what happens when you get the right idea and run with it.
If you’d like to donate and get your copy of the game bundle, check out their donation page.
[hat tip: anonymous submitter]
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@Sam I Am
There is definitely something to be said about not feeding trolls like you but, I just wanted to point out that companies spend millions of dollars a year in marketing teams and reports designed to ascertain how much people are willing to pay for their products.
These independent game devolopers obviously get that, and are skipping that step, instead allowing consumers to pay only what they are willing to pay.
Those who would have been pirates and paid nothing will now be much more likely to spend 1 euro or 1 dollar to purchase it.(just thought i would cut you off here before you argue that earning 1 euro is nothing bla bla bla, the fact is 1 more euro is better than 1 less euro, 1 more consumer is better than 1 less consumer) This is the way to combat piracy, by showing you care about consumers, and realizing that you can have the best product in the world but set the price too high or take away too much of its perceived value through drm,etc and you wont sell even a single copy.
People love their purchased media and want to share it with their friends, this is why people invite their friends to watch movies and tv series with them, and why they share media through youtube,facebook,etc. The solution to piracy is simple:
Offer a legal service which allows consumers to share and watch their purchased media with their family and friends online and allow for the formation of communities based upon similar likes.
in laymen terms simply charge people for or impose a tax upon what people are already doing and make it legal
thanks for the nice information. nice article .
$250,000 dollars. That’s hilarious. What is that? A modest salary or two Maybe an urban business rent for a few months? Maybe a decent computer production set-up with no place paid to actually put it?
Thank you ZeroPaid, for proving our point. When “pay what you wish” returns overhead, investment, salaries, risk, taxes, utilities, promotion, rents, insurance, retirements and other reasonable business expenses, then it becomes a viable model. Until then, good luck with your begging cup.
$250,000. heh
That is $250 000 in a day, for games that have been out for a significant length of time, and small indie titles no less. These are not multi million dollar block buster games. You also have to remember that these games have been available in packages for far less than the $50 they are claiming it is worth. Heck I think I paid $5 for World of Good on Steam. Not that you will believe me, when I state that I buy content, in fact buy it in greater volume than most people I know. As of right now I have just over 100 games on Valves Steam service. Of course you probably said the same thing about In Rainbows, that it was a failure, meanwhile it was a success. It did after all generate more revenue than their past albums. Sure that is not a definitive measure, but it does show that the exercise was not a failure.
Notice the terms “indie” and “24hrs” Sam “Ass” Man.
@”… proving …”
You are oblivious to the meaning of ‘proof’.
Actually, not all the money paid goes to the charity. Buyer can itself choose how big part goes to game developers, how big part to EFF, … Just to make it clear.