this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2024
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Do charities normally get buy-out offers from for-profit businesses?
Vulture capitalism at its finest. Yeah, eventually you've picked the carcass clean. But you just turn those profits over into another buyout and begin the feast anew.
Fair point, although actually... 🤔 I mean non-profits do get bought out (and/or abused) for their good optics. See "Open"AI.
It's just sad, looking up the company on Wikipedia (to get the buyout history right) reminded me of the very first humble indie bundles (which I participated in) and what a nice feeling it was to directly support indie studios and a good charitable cause. We could get into "consumer-activism" and what a joke/paradox that is, and maybe we should because look at what Humble Bundle is today but I still think it started out as something good.
About a century ago, there was a reaction to the industrial revolution via the Arts and Crafts Movement that inspired a lot of the modern artistic styles. That kind of anti-industrialism and peer collaboration echoed through the original indie gaming scene and still kinda exists today. Its a much more pleasant vision of consumerism than the soulless corporate shit we're deluged with advertisements by.
I don't begrudge anyone who feels sad about Humble Bundle's collapse. But I just feel like we're being inundated by video games, particularly post-COVID. The market is so over-saturated and I don't really feel like I'm being charitable when my email is full to bursting with these promotions. I just don't think the thing we're lacking right now is more cheap video games.
"Perceived".
While it is being enshittified, I think humble will always be a great way to get cheap games. Ignoring the fact that IGN profits from it, it gives money to devs and charities, unlike the grey market (cdkeys/G2A)
It's fair to continue to consider them in competition with other store fronts. Don't be fooled into thinking it will always be a great way to get cheap games, though. That brand, is EXACTLY what IGN paid for when they bought them: for the faith they built up in people like yourself, that they are and will always continue to be a trusted company. And part of the amortization of that purchase, is converting that belief into money, by enshittifying it. By taking advantage that they can make less valuable offers, raise prices, and fail to keep up with competitors innovations, on the backs of people remembering the good experiences they had with the company based on its original ownership.