EA launches Humble Bundle (and it all goes to charity)
Electronic Arts has launched a Humble Bundle. But put down your pitchforks! This is all for charity.
The latest pay-what-you-wish bundle includes six games, including the pretty-new Dead Space 3. Other games in the bundle include Burnout Paradise, Crysis 2, Dead Space, Medal of Honor, and Mirror's Edge. Paying more than the average will unlock two additional games: Battlefield 3 and The Sims 3.
The funds will help various charitable causes, including the Human Rights Campaign, Watsi, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, the American Red Cross, and the American Cancer Society. And while this is a very generous offer by EA, it does also serve as a Trojan Horse of sorts. All of the games offered activate on Origin, with select titles including Steam keys as well.
Nonetheless, it's a pretty wonderful deal. You can check it out here.
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replyAndrew Yoon posted a new article, EA launches Humble Bundle (and it all goes to charity).
Electronic Arts has launched a Humble Bundle. But put down your pitchforks! This is all for charity.
The latest pay-what-you-wish bundle...-
Wait a minute... the first Humble Bundles were DRM-free. I don't remember the DRM details of the Humble THQ Bundle (were they just Steam keys?). But what's the DRM status of these? Between Mirror's Edge, Crysis 2, Burnout Paradise and Dead Space, there's a veritable DRM smorgasbord here (and not just Origin).
A Humble Bundle with DRM that doesn't have any service in return isn't very humble at all.-
It's just Origin chief.
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And having it all go to charity is pretty humble too
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No, that was the "Indie" part, the humble part is they are offering their games for almost nothing.
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If you recall the name of the site and the URL is Humble Bundle. Nothing about that says Indie. Just because the first few bundles they did were the Humble Indie Bundle does not mean every bundle they do has to be indie. Just as long as it is pay what you want and proceeds go to charity in some part.
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Because like those indie game developers, Humble Bundle was a small startup. The original HIB didn't even have Steam Keys (they retroactively added them during HIB2).
Now that they've been around a few years they're a major player in the PC digital distribution space, to the point where now companies like EA want to work with them.
But the humility in Humble Bundle has always been charity. -
AKA, Humble Indie Bundle
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yeah the main premise of the humble bundle was definitely all about DRM...
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of course if anyone was going to find a way to complain about this, it was going to be you.
It's $5 for eight AAA games, and all the proceeds go to charity. Holy shit dude, lighten up.
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OK so since you're either being deliberately obtuse or you were somehow living under a rock when the THQ bundle went down, let's go over this again.
Yes the original Humble Indie Bundles were DRM free. And most of the ones since then have been DRM free as well.
Yes every game in this bundle requires either Steam or Origin. But it's not the first one, THQ's bundle was the first one like this. Don't like it? Don't buy it. And get off your high horse. The fact that they're doing this again means that the first one was a success. And in the five hours or so since this went live they've amassed $1.7M for charities so your indignation is misplaced.
And just to be clear: Yes the original Humble Indie Bundle was named the Humble Indie Bundle because it was a bunch of indie devs potentially ceding all of their income to charity. This Humble Origin Bundle is EA literally ceding all of its income to charity. And even providing keys for a competing platform. Separate ones, no less. The "humble" part has nothing to do with DRM, it's about the charities.
And even then, "Humble" is just a brand name at this point. The company has spun off as Humble Bundle, Inc. from Wolfire games, the original maintainers. The "Humble Store" is used by a lot of developers to sell their games DRM-free, often with Steam keys ( http://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Humble_Store ). When you buy a game through the Humble Store (usually embedded on the developer's site, like FTL's is) NONE of the income goes to charity and 95% of the income goes to the developer (which is why they'd actually prefer it if you use that because it's better than their 70% take from Steam). The Humble Bundle people are just using the infrastructure they've already built up to sell straight up games for profit. I expect at some point the company will just be named "Humble, Inc." or maybe even launch a Steam-like client called "Humble" (maybe they could acquire Desura and rebrand that)
You don't get mad at Steam because it has nothing to do with water vapor, why are you getting butthurt that Humble Bundle has a less than perfect relationship with humility?-
Heh, this is like the publisher of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy selling out. What a farce; I'll just wait for the REAL Humble Indie Bundle with DRM-free releases, instead of this insulting joke that could've just been called an "Origin Sale".
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Again, it's like when Activision hosted Call of Duty XP in 2011 and said that proceeds were going to charity, therefore implicitly proclaiming all critics of the event to be assholes... but they haven't had another one since.
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Also, when the Humble THQ Bundle was announced, THQ was in a truly humble position: on November 5, 2012, they had their earnings call where they basically said they have no financial projections due to being short on money, and they weren't taking any questions, and were ending the call after 10 minutes. The Humble Bundle initiative was essentially a desperate act to get some income going to try and keep the lights on for a month or two.
In EA's case, yes, they had a little bit of a reorg, and John Riccitiello resigned in March when it was evident that he missed the numbers, but they're doing fine. This seems like a gross PR move, where they're giving it to charity to be able to insult anyone who criticizes them. Even with the logic "It all goes to charity! Buying these hurts EA!!", I still wouldn't buy any of these, let alone sign up for Origin, in any other scenario, so why now? Also, it's a way to channel in-app purchases and DLC purchases through Origin, so it's not entirely charitable.-
It's more important to stick it to EA then give to charity in your mind? Okay...
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You don't need to claim any of the keys if you don't want the mud on your hands.
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You could just not buy any in-game DLC and support a good cause?
You find the dumbest reasons to get upset over stuff. -
You are the entitled PC gamer.
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Here... you dropped your hinge...
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Bought'd. Have most of these already and the others don't really interest me except Dead Space 3 and maybe Crysis 2. But I played some of that on PS3 and felt it was pretty meh. Anyways, charity!
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Medal of Honor on Steam: Z45GA-YVFFQ-0V2IJ
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which of these games has a steam key? I don't trust origin software
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Everything but Dead Space 3 I believe.
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An The Sims 3. Still not bad having 5 games with Steam keys though.
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Why? It's fine.
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This...is super interesting...hm...
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Even if it is, it's still money going towards charity and people getting cheap games.
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Sold! Play games for charity? Sure thing.
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As an EA employee, I was really happy (and surprised, it wasn't messaged internally) to see this today. This seems equals parts an earnest charitable project (and I'm glad that we are donating the proceeds to charities other than Child's Play for a change) and part of an ongoing effort to do better by the game enthusiast community.
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