[Megathread] Humble Bundle & Other Digital Sales

[bbr]

the new choice is up https://barter.vg/bundle/7397/

[Kiria]

the new choice is up https://barter.vg/bundle/7397/

Not a bad one at all this month, few games there i'll be trying.

[Dezerte]

Indeed, first time in years I've subscribed to Humble Choice.

Only one duplicate - Victoria 3, PM me for gift link. 100+ posts required to be eligible.

[Frostfred]

the new choice is up https://barter.vg/bundle/7397/

Nice one. I'm also thinking about resubbing this month, mostly for Humankind.

Fanatical also has a really nice bundle, it's a bit older, but I haven't seen it posted here. https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-an...ditions-bundle It consists of complete editions, addressing one of my main peeves with many bundles, i.e., in many instances they only contain the games' base editions and not the complete packages. Some nice things in there, even just going for the 2 games tier, 3.50 for Frostpunk + something else is a steal.

[Tziva]

I've been so much more pleased with Fanatical bundles over the last 5+ years than HB. They often have ones where you can pick up a ton of great indie games or older big games for almost nothing.

Since HB greatly diminished its commitment to charity (which was a huge draw for me) and its bundles are largely inferior to my tastes anyway, I seldom find myself buying standalone bundles from them anymore, but I pick up up Fanatical bundles regularly.

This one has several good ones in it: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-an...-wonder-bundle

[icedwarrior]

This one has several good ones in it: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-an...-wonder-bundle

Wow, it feels like I've not bought a bundle in ages... but Oddworld: Soulstorm Enhanced Edition for $1? Sign me up. The original Oddworld game was one of those games I adored growing up, so even if Soulstorm is bad... whatever, it's a dollar.

[bbr]

I'm a little worried about humble lately.
Aside mixed reviews bundles, they got rid of ALL of their staff on discord.
All of em, there is literally nobody on staff left.

Support ticket response times have gone up for 2-3 days to 6-7 business days.
Humble is not doing well.

Meanwhile GMG and Fanatical have an active community with active staff.

[lanerios]

I'm a little worried about humble lately.
Aside mixed reviews bundles, they got rid of ALL of their staff on discord.
All of em, there is literally nobody on staff left.

Support ticket response times have gone up for 2-3 days to 6-7 business days.
Humble is not doing well.

Meanwhile GMG and Fanatical have an active community with active staff.

Yikes.. doomsday level thinking already? "oh no, 1 thing happened. HB is in trouble!!!".. no

[Kiria]

Yikes.. doomsday level thinking already? "oh no, 1 thing happened. HB is in trouble!!!".. no

In fairness HB has been going down hill for quite a while now, this months bundle has been the only one im interested in due to the callisto protocol, but I have frozen each month many times as late.

[Pendulous]

I've been so much more pleased with Fanatical bundles over the last 5+ years than HB. They often have ones where you can pick up a ton of great indie games or older big games for almost nothing.

Since HB greatly diminished its commitment to charity (which was a huge draw for me) and its bundles are largely inferior to my tastes anyway, I seldom find myself buying standalone bundles from them anymore, but I pick up up Fanatical bundles regularly.

This one has several good ones in it: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-an...-wonder-bundle

I agree. I love the pick em bundles, and they have many of them each month. The ones like the one you linked I always take advantage of, and grab a game for a dollar.

[Tziva]

Yikes.. doomsday level thinking already? "oh no, 1 thing happened. HB is in trouble!!!".. no

Getting rid of an entire section of your staff is usually an objective indicator that things are in a downturn, and a tripleling in support wait times when there's been no changes to cause an increase in ticket volume suggests other departments are also affected. It's not doomsday thinking to express concern this may be a sign of them struggling; it's a logical conclusion.

No one is saying they are going under or anything, just expressing some concern that they are not doing as well as they were.

[lanerios]

Getting rid of an entire section of your staff is usually an objective indicator that things are in a downturn, and a tripleling in support wait times when there's been no changes to cause an increase in ticket volume suggests other departments are also affected. It's not doomsday thinking to express concern this may be a sign of them struggling; it's a logical conclusion.

No one is saying they are going under or anything, just expressing some concern that they are not doing as well as they were.

Discord staff are generally volunteers. Claiming that they are getting rid of (quite probably) volunteers means a company is struggling is a stretch to say the least.

If you were talking about their declining bundle quality, bad support etc? Sure.. but pointing to discord? neh

[Tziva]

Discord staff are generally volunteers. Claiming that they are getting rid of (quite probably) volunteers means a company is struggling is a stretch to say the least.

If you were talking about their declining bundle quality, bad support etc? Sure.. but pointing to discord? neh

If they were volunteers and not cs employees, then why would they have gotten rid of them? Usually the free workers are the ones you keep regardless.

But I mean, okay, if you know they were actually a volunteer staff and not part of the support team; I'm not in the loop to their company structure. In my experience, Discord mods are volunteers in informal/community groups but usually paid when they are there on behalf of a business, so I drew conclusions based on that.

[lanerios]

If they were volunteers and not cs employees, then why would they have gotten rid of them? Usually the free workers are the ones you keep regardless.

But I mean, okay, if you know they were actually a volunteer staff and not part of the support team; I'm not in the loop to their company structure. In my experience, Discord mods are volunteers in informal/community groups but usually paid when they are there on behalf of a business, so I drew conclusions based on that.

I wish I knew the details of HB, but most companies I have seen/work with use volunteers as discord mods. It's a lot easier, and you have your biggest fanbase to support and promote your product. Now my knowledge mostly stems from stuff like TTRPG, Boardgame, kink and other discords but most high end companies there have volunteers.


Also, I was not trying to defend HB. Don't get me wrong, I have 0 faith in that they're doing well. Speaking purely from "feely-craft", they seem to be in the mindset of "We were the first and biggest, nothing will ever stop us" while ignoring any competition. Which is really dangerous

[Frostfred]

I've been so much more pleased with Fanatical bundles over the last 5+ years than HB. They often have ones where you can pick up a ton of great indie games or older big games for almost nothing.

Since HB greatly diminished its commitment to charity (which was a huge draw for me) and its bundles are largely inferior to my tastes anyway, I seldom find myself buying standalone bundles from them anymore, but I pick up up Fanatical bundles regularly.

This one has several good ones in it: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-an...-wonder-bundle

I personally prefer Fanatical mostly due to their pick your stuff bundles, whereas most of the bundles on HB are more or less fixed (they have tiers, but you can't mix and match). Still, over the past few years, I bought maybe 2/3 of my bundles on Fanatical, and about 1/3 on HB, not counting some others outside of those. Now and then there are some interesting ones.

As for the HB support issue: I don't know when that started, but my experience with them was very good. Though, granted, it was only a single instance. A few months back I had an issue with a region-locked key, as I forgot to change it in HB when moving, and Steam was already set to the new region. I wrote them, the issue was handled within a day, and I got a new key which worked here.

[bbr]

If they were volunteers and not cs employees, then why would they have gotten rid of them? Usually the free workers are the ones you keep regardless.

But I mean, okay, if you know they were actually a volunteer staff and not part of the support team; I'm not in the loop to their company structure. In my experience, Discord mods are volunteers in informal/community groups but usually paid when they are there on behalf of a business, so I drew conclusions based on that.

HB's discord staff weren't volunteers.
They barely talked to begin with, but i've had a chat with a few after the layoffs - stuff is definitely afoot.