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Ever since they've been bought out by IGN, humble's strategy has been baffling. They switched from Monthly to Choice but quickly had issues because they had to

by sersi 5y ago

Ever since they've been bought out by IGN, humble's strategy has been baffling. They switched from Monthly to Choice but quickly had issues because they had to provide a lot more games (reducing the quality of each individual games), the price for new subscribers (20 usd) was too high and existing users who were grandfathered could easily skip a month (I'm pretty sure they still made money on those who forgot to skip a month). Now, they're returning to a similar model as the Monthly, but long time subscribers end up paying more than new subscribers (due to currency exchange fees). They should have fixed the amount to something like 14 usd so that long time subscribers would stay to keep their discounted price. And, to prevent skipping a month, they now reset the 20% discount on the humble store to 10% every time a month has been skipped and only increase it back to 20% after 12 consecutive unskipped months. It could be a good strategy if not for the fact that the humble store is not cheap, the 20% discount barely made it competitive with other online game stores. So, instead of incentivising people from not pausing months, they're just incentivising people to not buy from their store. And then finally, I have no idea for the reasoning behind locking the games behind a launcher. Why couldn't they keep the DRM free games for platforms not covered by the launcher?

VonGuard 5y ago
Easy to explain: Some MBA who likes games has been given THE spreadsheet for the Humble company. He or she is now moving things around on the spreadsheet as a daily function of their job.
andruby 5y ago
I didn’t know IGN bought Humble. That really explains a lot.
- schnevets 5y ago
  It just introduces more questions. Namely, "Why did Ziff Davis (a mostly media and marketing company) feel the need to buy a gaming storefront?"
  - Ekaros 5y ago
    Synenergy is there. If you could push referrals from your media to your own store. As a whole it makes lot of sense. Not that I think it got implemented.
  - falcolas 5y ago
    I imagine the sales pitch went something like: "Portfolio diversification and a committed customer base for cheap".
  - yawnxyz 5y ago
    it sounds like the same reason why AOL + Time Warner merged, or whatever it is Yahoo has been doing in the last 20 years...
Pxtl 5y ago
They also killed their android app, which as much as it was awful, having an app was very good for Android security because you could whitelist it in the OS as a source while still blocking apps from the browser. Half the time when you download an Android app from their site, it doesn't even come down as an APK but a zip instead and you have to rename it to APK.
- sersi 5y ago
  Yes, the android app was awful but it was better than nothing. I did enjoy having a huge library of games on android back when the app was maintained. But nowadays, a lot of games don't even work on modern android and aren't updated either.
  - Pxtl 5y ago
    I have more trouble blaming them for that - many of these games are abandoned by their developers, and Android is a viciously moving target for development. I'm sure there are some cases where the Humble version is stale compared to the Play Store version, of course, but those are the exception to the rule. Android itself is mostly to blame for this pain.
    - sersi 5y ago
      Yes, but I also remember more than a few games that were updated in the play store just not on humble's platform.
  - schnevets 5y ago
    It's baffling that the Android doesn't have a "Steam-like" game store app. Humble was close to that, but the company did not invest any resources into that realm. I can only assume there's some other factor that prevents publishers from building an Android store, because right now it seems like a clear market need.
    - rchaud 5y ago
      "Free to play" works better from a $$$ point of view. There is a never-ending supply of kids who can't pay money up front but are willing to sit through 30-second ads for every 2 mins of gameplay.
pvg 5y ago
I don't understand their approach either but it hasn't helped them one bit that the market for 'subscription-like games for PC' became much more competitive and a lot of the competition is either a far better deal or 'free' - Microsoft's Game Pass, Amazon Prime Gaming, the Epic Store giveaways, etc.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- Ekaros 5y ago
  They also want to move to the 'subscription-like' for Windows. That is what this move essentially boils down to. Simplify pricing, get rid of cheapest tier. Simplify offering, remove Linux and Mac miniscule part of market. Get your launcher with your titles to the gamers. Not that their offerings are that great or partly already not included to others...
  - toyg 5y ago
    Removing Linux and Mac because "minuscule" is such a classic MBA-driven move. Linux and Mac is where you get the power users who sell you, by word of mouth, to their circle of friends and family on PC. You don't just lose goodwill, you lose sales even in your target market. But you can't see that on a spreadsheet, so... This sort of thing smells of vicious downward spiral.
    - neutronicus 5y ago
      IDK, in my experience hardcore gamers are on Windows and actively hostile to Mac users. If you're trying to recruit hardcore gamers to proselytize, Windows is a great place to find them
    - akoster 5y ago
      Funny because for this developer [1] [2] it appears that small user base more than pulls its weight for submitting high quality bug reports. (That alone seems like great value that should encourage supporting alternative platforms like Linux that even a MBA-holder can understand). [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28978086 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28978086 [2] https://old.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/qeqn3b/despite_having_just_58_sales_over_38_of_bug/ https://old.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/qeqn3b/despite_hav...
Fnoord 5y ago
> Choice members will be able to access the titles in the Humble Games Collection by downloading the new Humble app for Windows PC. (Note that you’ll lose access to these games if you skip a month or cancel your membership.) > In the new Humble app, you’ll also find more than 50 DRM-free indie games, experimental oddities, and other experiences inside the Vault, which you can download while you’re a member and keep playing even after your membership ends. That's not DRM-free. DRM-free is that you buy it once, and then are able to use it forever. That you can access downloading these games with a browser of your choice. Its also odd to stop distributing binaries of previously released games. They still work perfectly fine, right? Very strange... I currently got Classic, and it means I pay 12 USD (10 EUR) for about 10-12 games of which I play maybe one per month. Most games require Windows, might work in Steam/Proton though. The 20% discount is nice, but I usually buy stuff when its discounted on Steam (my primary client anyway). I can tell you this: altering the deal all the time doesn't give me confidence that I want to stay around. But perhaps they don't want me and want new people instead. With regards to skipping: I never do this. I just give away keys to random people if I don't want them (already have for example).
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
stonemetal 5y ago
>(I'm pretty sure they still made money on those who forgot to skip a month) It used to be opt in, not opt out to skip a month. IGN is basically trying to figure out how much they can extract from the good will they purchased.

by sersi 5y ago

VonGuard 5y ago

Easy to explain: Some MBA who likes games has been given THE spreadsheet for the Humble company. He or she is now moving things around on the spreadsheet as a daily function of their job.

andruby 5y ago

I didn’t know IGN bought Humble. That really explains a lot.

schnevets 5y ago
It just introduces more questions. Namely, "Why did Ziff Davis (a mostly media and marketing company) feel the need to buy a gaming storefront?"
- Ekaros 5y ago
  Synenergy is there. If you could push referrals from your media to your own store. As a whole it makes lot of sense. Not that I think it got implemented.
- falcolas 5y ago
  I imagine the sales pitch went something like: "Portfolio diversification and a committed customer base for cheap".
- yawnxyz 5y ago
  it sounds like the same reason why AOL + Time Warner merged, or whatever it is Yahoo has been doing in the last 20 years...

Pxtl 5y ago

They also killed their android app, which as much as it was awful, having an app was very good for Android security because you could whitelist it in the OS as a source while still blocking apps from the browser. Half the time when you download an Android app from their site, it doesn't even come down as an APK but a zip instead and you have to rename it to APK.

sersi 5y ago
Yes, the android app was awful but it was better than nothing. I did enjoy having a huge library of games on android back when the app was maintained. But nowadays, a lot of games don't even work on modern android and aren't updated either.
- Pxtl 5y ago
  I have more trouble blaming them for that - many of these games are abandoned by their developers, and Android is a viciously moving target for development. I'm sure there are some cases where the Humble version is stale compared to the Play Store version, of course, but those are the exception to the rule. Android itself is mostly to blame for this pain.
  - sersi 5y ago
    Yes, but I also remember more than a few games that were updated in the play store just not on humble's platform.
- schnevets 5y ago
  It's baffling that the Android doesn't have a "Steam-like" game store app. Humble was close to that, but the company did not invest any resources into that realm. I can only assume there's some other factor that prevents publishers from building an Android store, because right now it seems like a clear market need.
  - rchaud 5y ago
    "Free to play" works better from a $$$ point of view. There is a never-ending supply of kids who can't pay money up front but are willing to sit through 30-second ads for every 2 mins of gameplay.

pvg 5y ago

I don't understand their approach either but it hasn't helped them one bit that the market for 'subscription-like games for PC' became much more competitive and a lot of the competition is either a far better deal or 'free' - Microsoft's Game Pass, Amazon Prime Gaming, the Epic Store giveaways, etc.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
Ekaros 5y ago
They also want to move to the 'subscription-like' for Windows. That is what this move essentially boils down to. Simplify pricing, get rid of cheapest tier. Simplify offering, remove Linux and Mac miniscule part of market. Get your launcher with your titles to the gamers. Not that their offerings are that great or partly already not included to others...
- toyg 5y ago
  Removing Linux and Mac because "minuscule" is such a classic MBA-driven move. Linux and Mac is where you get the power users who sell you, by word of mouth, to their circle of friends and family on PC. You don't just lose goodwill, you lose sales even in your target market. But you can't see that on a spreadsheet, so... This sort of thing smells of vicious downward spiral.
  - neutronicus 5y ago
    IDK, in my experience hardcore gamers are on Windows and actively hostile to Mac users. If you're trying to recruit hardcore gamers to proselytize, Windows is a great place to find them
  - akoster 5y ago
    Funny because for this developer [1] [2] it appears that small user base more than pulls its weight for submitting high quality bug reports. (That alone seems like great value that should encourage supporting alternative platforms like Linux that even a MBA-holder can understand). [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28978086 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28978086 [2] https://old.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/qeqn3b/despite_having_just_58_sales_over_38_of_bug/ https://old.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/qeqn3b/despite_hav...

Fnoord 5y ago

> Choice members will be able to access the titles in the Humble Games Collection by downloading the new Humble app for Windows PC. (Note that you’ll lose access to these games if you skip a month or cancel your membership.) > In the new Humble app, you’ll also find more than 50 DRM-free indie games, experimental oddities, and other experiences inside the Vault, which you can download while you’re a member and keep playing even after your membership ends. That's not DRM-free. DRM-free is that you buy it once, and then are able to use it forever. That you can access downloading these games with a browser of your choice. Its also odd to stop distributing binaries of previously released games. They still work perfectly fine, right? Very strange... I currently got Classic, and it means I pay 12 USD (10 EUR) for about 10-12 games of which I play maybe one per month. Most games require Windows, might work in Steam/Proton though. The 20% discount is nice, but I usually buy stuff when its discounted on Steam (my primary client anyway). I can tell you this: altering the deal all the time doesn't give me confidence that I want to stay around. But perhaps they don't want me and want new people instead. With regards to skipping: I never do this. I just give away keys to random people if I don't want them (already have for example).

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

stonemetal 5y ago

>(I'm pretty sure they still made money on those who forgot to skip a month) It used to be opt in, not opt out to skip a month. IGN is basically trying to figure out how much they can extract from the good will they purchased.