MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
The fifth offering from Humble Bundle has broken all records on the indie sales platform, raising over $2 million in under 24 hours, and has just cleared the previously unmet $3 million mark with ten days to spare.
When the Humble Bundle first launched in 2010, it came as a revelation, offering customers a chance to set their own price, but rewarding them with additional games should they beat the average contribution.
The unique pricing scheme, and the dedication of the platform to providing games for Mac, Windows, and Linux drew massive amounts of press, and contributed greatly to the upswing in the fortunes of indie developers.
The Humble Bundle has since offered about a dozen different collections at the same pricing scheme, and raised millions for charities such as the Electronic Frontiers Foundation and Child’s play.
This new collection breaks the mould, testing the boundaries of what some might call indie by offering titles already released through major publishers.
The Hunble Indie Bundle V contains Psychonauts, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Sword and Sworcery, and Limbo, with Bastion available to indie fans of more than average generosity.
Mingling several IGF heavyweights with Psychonauts – the first title released by Tim Schafer’s studio Double Fine – makes this arguably the most consumer-friendly deal ever offered by the Humble Bundle, and perhaps the least ‘indie’.
The indie games scene has come a remarkable distance since the Humble Indie Bundle first appeared.
Minecraft set records for an indie title with over nine million sales, Tim Schafer kickstarted crowdfunding into public attention, and the phenomenal success of the Humble Bundle and titles like it have all proven indie is more than a niche.
Indie games are big business.
It may be difficult for the bundle to repeat the success of its current offering, but $3 million raised in a matter of days is a milestone worth noticing.
