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Humble Bundle Mojam makes nearly $500K for charity

Ben Gilbert — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 15:00:00 EST

Mojang is everyone's favorite studio to blindly throw money at these days, so it comes as little surprise that the Sweden-based Minecraft creators raised nearly $500K ($458,215.95) this past weekend during a live "game jam." The conceit was that Mojang would arrange a game jam (a "Mojam," if you will) and stream it live across 60 hours, with the resulting product being added to the most recent Humble Indie Bundle, as well as two games developed under similar constraints from Oxeye Game Studio and Wolfire Games.

What games did the three studios end up making? Mojang created an Egyptian/Steampunk-themed RTS slash shoot 'em up called "Catacomb Snatch," which we'll refrain from making lurid jokes about, while Oxeye made a game named "Fists of Resistance" and Wolfire made "The Broadside Express."

As over 81K bundles were purchased, the three studios collectively raised just under half a million dollars, all of which will be donated to Child's Play, Electronic Frontier Foundation, charity:water, and the American Red Cross. Now, if you'll excuse us, we've got some lurid jokes to make in private.

Humble Bundle Mojam makes nearly $500K for charity originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 20 Feb 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New Humble Bundle features Frozenbyte games and prototype

James Ransom-Wiley — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 14:20:00 EST

Humble Bundle's third, pay-want-you-want indie games collection, "The Humble Frozenbyte Bundle," is now available from the official site for the next fifteen days. As the name implies, the new set features the works of Finnish developer Frozenbyte, including the platformer Trine and the top-down shooter series Shadowgrounds.

The bundle also includes a pre-order license -- no, not for Trine 2, but for Splot, a mysterious (yet adorable-looking) title that's still under development. Most intriguing, Frozenbyte has tossed in the source code for a canceled project called Jack Claw. According to Edge, the developer hopes to crowd-source the game to completion and offer it for free to everyone that helps.

Like past Humble Bundles, this one is DRM-free and -- with the exception of the Windows-only Jack Claw code -- all the games are available to download for PC, Mac and Linux. Additionally, purchasers are entitled to Steam, Desura and OnLive product keys for compatible titles, as well as the soundtracks for Trine and the Shadowgrounds games.

Oh! And how could we forget? Any two portions of your purchase can be donated to the Child's Play Charity and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a public interest nonprofit that protects consumers' digital rights. Check out the Frozenbyte Bundle promotional video after the break to find out more about this most awesome offering -- or just go buy it already!

[Thanks, Luis!]

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New Humble Bundle features Frozenbyte games and prototype originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 12 Apr 2011 14:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Humble Indie Bundle 2 grosses over $500K in day-one purchases, led by Minecraft's Persson

Andrew Yoon — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 15:00:00 EST

"Humble Bundle" no longer seems like an appropriate name. In less than 24 hours upon release, the pay-what-you-want indie game collection Humble Bundle #2 earned over $500,000 in revenue and appears to be well on its way to beating the first bundle's seven-figure returns.

The Humble Bundle website offers an interesting look into purchasing trends by providing real-time stats. As of writing, over 70,000 people have purchased the pack, including Minecraft creator Markus Persson, who paid an extraordinary $2,000, and Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling, who went with a generous $500 payment. The average selling price for the bundle is currently $7 and change.

The Humble Bundle #2 includes five celebrated indie titles: Braid, Cortex Command, Machinarium, Osmos and Revenge of the Titans. Purchasers can divide their payments between the developers, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Child's Play Charity as they see fit.

Humble Indie Bundle 2 grosses over $500K in day-one purchases, led by Minecraft's Persson originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One-quarter of Humble Indie Bundle downloads were pirated

Griffin McElroy — Mon, 10 May 2010 21:30:00 EST

Perhaps you've heard of (or purchased!) the Humble Indie Bundle -- a set of five DRM-free indie games, which you can choose your own price for, the entirety of which goes to two completely deserving charities. Despite the bundle's altruism and affordability, Wolfire Games reports that over one quarter of the total downloads of the package were pirated. You read that right -- a grip of people have stolen the choose-your-own-price indie-bundle-for-charity. Talk about sticking it to The Man.

This fraction of creeps shouldn't cheapen the fact that the bundle's already brought in $716,944 for the five games, as well as the Child's Play and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, but it's still pretty disheartening. If you'll excuse us, we need to go watch Happy-Go-Lucky or perhaps a few episodes of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition until we regain our faith in humanity.

[Via Ars Technica]

One-quarter of Humble Indie Bundle downloads were pirated originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 10 May 2010 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Humble Indie Bundle: Pay what you want for World of Goo and four others

Mike Schramm — Tue, 04 May 2010 20:30:00 EST

You've commented on Joystiq posts about oppressive DRM many times before. You dutifully wear your Target-purchased indie game t-shirt every week without fail. And you read every Joystiq Indie Pitch we post. But if you want to put some money towards supporting indie games, you won't find a better way to do it than this. Wolfire Games and a few other indie developers have put together the "Humble Indie Bundle" sale, offering five terrific award-winning indie games (World of Goo, Aquaria, Gish, Lugaru and Penumbra Overture) for the low, low price of ... whatever you want.

That's right -- they're asking you to pay what you feel is right for these bundled, non-DRM, developer-owned Mac, Linux or PC games. And that's not all: You can even specify part or all of your donation to go to a charity, either Child's Play or the Electronic Frontier Foundation. That's about as selfless as it gets in gaming -- pay what you think it's worth, to charity or the people who made it.

The average donation so far is about $8.00, but individuals have donated as much as $500 to the effort. You get lots of chances to say you support indie gaming, but fewer great chances like this to put your money where your mouth is. And walking away with five great indie titles to play doesn't hurt, either.

Humble Indie Bundle: Pay what you want for World of Goo and four others originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 04 May 2010 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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