Humble THQ Bundle

[KingIsaacLinksr]

I'm kind of surprised no one has posted about this:

https://www.humblebundle.com/

Seven of THQ's games are up for pay what you want:
Saints Row the Third (above average)
Darksiders
Metro 2033
Red Faction Armageddon
Company of Heroes
Company of Heroes Opposing Fronts
Company of Heroes Tales of Valor

PC Steam only versions. All but Metro 2033 get a soundtrack with your purchase.

Also, Humble Indie Bundle 7 is coming up after it. I got all of these games as Darksiders has been on my interest radar for a while now and I'd like to see if I have any interest in the GTA-genre of games or not, so Saints Row will be that test.

I know this will probably come up so I might as well say my 2cents, the fact that this is PC on Steam only doesn't bother me and I don't think Humble Bundle has "sold out" like so many are claiming. I think its pretty dang fantastic that a AAA publisher is giving its customers a choice in how much they want to pay for these games. Considering a couple years ago this choice was never even remotely thought of as an option.

Would it be nice if THQ made these cross-platform and DRM-free like all the prior Humble Bundles were? Yes. And does it suck that THQ didn't? Yes. But what many people seem to forget is that THQ is answerable to their Investors. (Indie developers usually aren't). I think said Investors/Stock holders would lose faith in THQ if THQ decided to waste time and money porting 7 games over to platforms that are a small minority of the desktop gaming market when they, THQ, could be working on developing the next new games to hopefully save a troubled ship. I'm all for supporting multiple platform releases but I get the feeling that with THQ's games, its not as easy or cost-efficient for them. Otherwise they would have done so by now.

I don't know. I guess I'm slightly ranting at this point and its weird to see me defend DRM, even Steam DRM, but it amazes me how people have been attacking both Humble Bundle and THQ over this. Especially when its entirely optional to buy this Bundle. Or is it just the vocal minority screaming over this as its sold over $3million with 9 days to go? Thoughts?

[Echo35]

Joke's on you, THQ IS the charity.

[KingIsaacLinksr]

Joke's on you, THQ IS the charity.

Touche'

[madcow]

Have a mac, so don't care. I admit I'm a little disappointed to see humble bundle drop the cross-platform bit. But I'm not going to whine and throw an e-tantrum about it. I'll just avoid this outing.

[keith.lamothe]

Yea, unless the HiB folks somewhere previously promised that they'd always do cross-platform and/or drm-free and/or can-get-games-for-1-cent, I don't see how their integrity could be questioned over this.  Locking your business model into "always (X), no matter what" isn't generally a good idea, unless X = "don't lie", "never violate our conscience" or something like that.

It is encouraging to see AAA games showing up in PWYW deals like this (there was also that one on GoG not long ago, iirc).  Granted, it's understandable that they're less willing since the games cost so much more to make, etc.

[Aklyon]

You can't get things for 1 cent anyway, unless you are fine with no steam keys and no above average games.

Other than that, I don't remember a promise about it, its just how they've done it so far. Having gotten that many of those quality games, plus more musics, is still not a bad deal, eh? The next non-focused HiB will probably be back in cross-platformity

[KingIsaacLinksr]

Yeah, I don't recall them promising to always stick to no-DRM or cross-platform either, it just happened to work out that way for the past releases.

[LaughingThesaurus]

I don't think I said this but
While I think this is fantastic, TB has been covering in his content patches lately about how terribly things are going for THQ. The first thing I thought was "Damn, THQ needs money so badly that they're getting a humble bundle." The humble bundles haven't really struck me as charity for the developers, rather I'm with TB's opinion of it being where game sales go to die, so to speak. What is it, a 2 week period where you sell a bunch of your games for potentially only about a dollar each on average? There are the guys who pay thousands and all that, but looking at the average prices, it makes sense. If people on average are paying like 6$ for 7 games, that's not even a dollar per game. That's an insane discount, and anybody who ever hears about it during that week will have the games forever at an absurdly low price. The fact that THQ is going along with something like this speaks volumes for anything I've heard about their own problems.

So I mean, take it for what it's worth. It's great and all that we get lots of triple-A titles for a low price,  but it's a bit depressing at the same time.

[tigersfan]

That's one perspective. But, the other one is that the bundle has sold $3.3 million as of my typing this. That's a good deal of money, and for what? THQ has had to invest very little time and effort into this. These are all their older games. I realize they don't get anywhere near all of the $3.3 mil, but, even if they get 1 million out of it, that's $1 million of almost pure profit. Will that be enough to pull the company out from where they are? I have no idea, but, it can't hurt.

[LaughingThesaurus]

It can't hurt, for sure, and like you said it is for older games that may not sell that much. But, how often do you see these kinds of games dropping in price by 90%+ on any kind of sale at all? It's an incredibly deep discount compared to what you'd expect from this kind of game. So I mean, I never really meant to say that it wouldn't be helpful, more that it strikes me as a bit of a desperation move.

[Aklyon]

Well, theres been an article on RPS now about this and the comments seem to generally be "I might not like THQ a ton because they're huge or other reasons, but they still make more games I like than ea/activision and it would suck to lose them."

Not a bad reason, but LT does really have a point. It is a seriously huge discount out of nowhere that isn't from steam or other places near christmas, and the average is awfully low for the quality of the games.

[tigersfan]

Yeah, sure, maybe it's a bit of a desperation move. But, it's not like it was a secret that they are struggling. I think a desperation move is ok.

[KingIsaacLinksr]

It can't hurt, for sure, and like you said it is for older games that may not sell that much. But, how often do you see these kinds of games dropping in price by 90%+ on any kind of sale at all? It's an incredibly deep discount compared to what you'd expect from this kind of game. So I mean, I never really meant to say that it wouldn't be helpful, more that it strikes me as a bit of a desperation move.

If you watch Steam during Christmas, quite a number of AAA games go on sale for 90% off. It is less common than 75% and they are usually lower but it does happen. Either way, even if it is a desperate move, well, if it helps keep them in business, who cares at the end of the day?

Also, it seems this has strengthened their stock prices as they have been rising since this Humble Bundle started.

[Echo35]

Also, it seems this has strengthened their stock prices as they have been rising since this Humble Bundle started.

Up 40% actually.

[LaughingThesaurus]

I'm glad that it worked out as well as it did. 40% is such a huge increase.
but I did want to point that out. I forgot why, by this point. Audition's come and gone and my brain's kind of on a "Yay, callbacks, now to design a whole game in a couple hours tomorrow". This week, man... My brain doesn't seem to work so well.