Humble Bundle has been acquired by IGN, the popular gaming, and entertainment-centric site. Humble Bundle started out offering game bundles with part of the proceeds donated to charity. The concept was so popular that many gaming bundle sites now exist and Humble Bundle itself is now a digital storefront which offers not only games, but software, books, video, and more in its bundles. With all of the company’s success, it’s somewhat surprising it was acquired so unexpectedly.
The details of the IGN purchase of Humble Bundle haven’t been revealed yet. A press release about the deal has stated that Humble Bundle will continue to operate as an independent entity, with no significant changes to the business model or staff. IGN intends to give it some degree of support in continuing to grow the company and charity work.
Also: See More GameRevolution Humble Bundle Coverage
In a conversation with Gamasutra, IGN Executive Vice President Mitch Galbraith and Humble Bundle co-founder John Graham commented on the deal. Both executives reiterated that there is to be no change to Humble’s business plans. Galbraith said that IGN had been scoping out the acquisition of Humble for around a year and that the current idea is to funnel them the resources they need to continue to grow their company.
Graham stated, “We want to stick to the fundamentals in the short term. We don’t want to disrupt anything we’re doing right already. Because of the shared vision and overlap of our customer bases, there’s going to be a lot of opportunities.”
Whether or not Humble Bundle will expand its services or introduce new ones, and how or if IGN will integrate the company into its website is unknown at this point.
I love the idea of Humble Bundle, and I sincerely hope that it continues running as it has been. However, there is the worry that with IGN having such a large audience, it could give games that are available via Humble Bundle’s storefront extra coverage and preferential treatment. Mixing streams by both providing game news and reviews and game sales could be an ethical minefield.
We’ll bring you more on this story as it develops.
