There is a new way to buy games, which has taken the indie gaming market by storm! In May 2010, The Humble Indie Bundle brought us a new way to buy games, with a name-your-price scheme which allows the customer to distribute their money between developers and the project’s supported charities American Red Cross and Child’s Play as they see fit. Through this selling point, and the power of word of mouth in the indie gamer community, they have sold over 400,000 bundles to date for over $2 million, and are into their 4th bundle!
They always seem to have the best indie titles out there, and have recently been adding betas and even game soundtracks to the line-ups.
First, you select your price, or type it in, fiddle with the distribution of finds, and pay via Paypal. You then receive an email including a link back to the site which will list out your purchased games, along with any bonuses which you can download straight from the site. For the moment, the 4th Humble Bundle has ended, but you can subscribe to get an email once they start HB5! Check it out here.
A new site has now sprung up, in the same vein, releasing their first Bundle 2th December 2011 in time for Christmas. They’ve had good success, too, with 40,000 bundles and counting (in under a month!?) sold so far, providing similar pay-what-you-want features, and supporting charities Save the Children italia ONLUS and Child’s Play.
This time, they include a selection of albums, too, giving the lesser known artists out there a bump up in the community. Once you’ve placed your order, you’ll receive a nice long email listing out all the games and albums you’ve bought, including any of the special bonuses you got for donating over a certain amount. Most games are downloadable through Steam using unique codes, and the music can be downloaded through the artist’s sites.
Check it out here –but be quick! The current bundle ends 6th January 2012!
All this is a great thing for indie game developers and the growing games industry, as well as gamers, and of course, the charities. I’m sure sites, projects and initiatives like these will continue to grow and multiply into the future!
