Hello and welcome everyone to our first installment of The Rant (which may or may not get a name change). As you already guessed by the title, lo and behold, I have an opinion about the Humble THQ Bundle! And so does the entire internet apparently, with ridiculously exaggerated claims that the Humble Bundle is selling out, damaging it's integrity, profiteering and whatnot. Frankly all of that is complete bullshit. THQ hasn't been spared either, being accused of only attempting to gather positive PR or last ditch money before they bail out and declare bancruptcy. So let's get to it and refute (at least as much as I care to, you have common sense too after all) some of the more common arguments and comments.
Greedyness Argument
This is quite blatantly false after you realise just how big of a company THQ is. It costs them tens of thousands or more to simply function and keep the lights on. With an average price of around 6$ per bundle, the few millions they've earned thus far (and that is an optimistic estimate) will hardly save the company, line anyone's pockets or even do much in the long term. It's simply short sighted hate in the direction of a publisher, for the sake of it, and without making a distinction between THQ, Activision, EA or Ubisoft.
The Integrity Argument
This one's a doozy. Humble Bundle never branded itself as indie-only. It's not in the name, or anywhere else on the site. Nor is the No-DRM policy. Those were bonuses. As far as I'm aware they never advertised themselves as indie-only, and there is no integrity to be lost. You can still give the money as you want, pay what you want, and have an option for charity. That's what the Humble Bundle has stood for, in my mind, and frankly telling a business (because that's what they are in the end) how they should run themselves and what you consider integrity, is plain silly.
PR for the sake of PR
Hypocrisy at its finest. Every single day major gaming news sites report PR blunders by major publishers. Hitman: Absolution's nun assassins, the Tomb Raider trailers, most of the marketing behind Medal of Honor: Warfighter, the list goes on. Endlessly it would seem. Yet when THQ decided to simply give away games via the Humble Bundle, it raised just as much rage. Apparently we don't like good games for cheap and charity? It's simply mind boggling, it's PR by reaching out directly to the consumer and giving them a good deal, isn't that what we all want at the end of the day?
DRM
I already covered why I think Humble Bundle themselves owe you no DRM free version nor did they ever advertise that as their only model with games. Why don't THQ give us DRM free versions though? Think about it for a minute. All of the games in the bundle are steam only, except for Company of Heroes. Secondly, all of them are pretty big, several gigabytes at the least. Do you expect THQ and Humble Bundle to provide the servers and bandwidth for millions of downloads of all those games? It's ridiculous.
All in all, it's gamers being fickle and whiny for no reason, once again. It's the people who lamented always online DRM, on disc DLC, being nickel and dimed for everything and in general treated with no respect by publishers, yet the vocal minority returns none of that respect that THQ gave them with this bundle. I made a lot of generalizations, and yes it's a rant so they'll be there, but know this is after reading pages of comments on various sites, there is certainly a vocal minority there, and frankly they are full of crap and make us all look bad. Initiatives like this should be supported and praised, it's a good deal for everyone involved and it helps a great publisher keep going, as well as keeping their studios running. Pay what you want, give it all to charity if you insist (even though giving money to THQ at the moment is effectively charity), but don't condemn what you do not understand or judge with morals founded in lala land. Games are a commercial product in the end of the day and Humble Bundle is about games. Indie or AAA, it does not matter and it should not matter. You do not have a moral high ground if you're ‘indie’ – hell the term itself is already nebulous and undefined. Show THQ and the industry in general that we are a positive and respectful community. Childish, brainless whining and preaching does nothing but hurt everyone.
This is quite blatantly false after you realise just how big of a company THQ is. It costs them tens of thousands or more to simply function and keep the lights on. With an average price of around 6$ per bundle, the few millions they've earned thus far (and that is an optimistic estimate) will hardly save the company, line anyone's pockets or even do much in the long term. It's simply short sighted hate in the direction of a publisher, for the sake of it, and without making a distinction between THQ, Activision, EA or Ubisoft.
The Integrity Argument
This one's a doozy. Humble Bundle never branded itself as indie-only. It's not in the name, or anywhere else on the site. Nor is the No-DRM policy. Those were bonuses. As far as I'm aware they never advertised themselves as indie-only, and there is no integrity to be lost. You can still give the money as you want, pay what you want, and have an option for charity. That's what the Humble Bundle has stood for, in my mind, and frankly telling a business (because that's what they are in the end) how they should run themselves and what you consider integrity, is plain silly.
PR for the sake of PR
Hypocrisy at its finest. Every single day major gaming news sites report PR blunders by major publishers. Hitman: Absolution's nun assassins, the Tomb Raider trailers, most of the marketing behind Medal of Honor: Warfighter, the list goes on. Endlessly it would seem. Yet when THQ decided to simply give away games via the Humble Bundle, it raised just as much rage. Apparently we don't like good games for cheap and charity? It's simply mind boggling, it's PR by reaching out directly to the consumer and giving them a good deal, isn't that what we all want at the end of the day?
DRM
I already covered why I think Humble Bundle themselves owe you no DRM free version nor did they ever advertise that as their only model with games. Why don't THQ give us DRM free versions though? Think about it for a minute. All of the games in the bundle are steam only, except for Company of Heroes. Secondly, all of them are pretty big, several gigabytes at the least. Do you expect THQ and Humble Bundle to provide the servers and bandwidth for millions of downloads of all those games? It's ridiculous.
All in all, it's gamers being fickle and whiny for no reason, once again. It's the people who lamented always online DRM, on disc DLC, being nickel and dimed for everything and in general treated with no respect by publishers, yet the vocal minority returns none of that respect that THQ gave them with this bundle. I made a lot of generalizations, and yes it's a rant so they'll be there, but know this is after reading pages of comments on various sites, there is certainly a vocal minority there, and frankly they are full of crap and make us all look bad. Initiatives like this should be supported and praised, it's a good deal for everyone involved and it helps a great publisher keep going, as well as keeping their studios running. Pay what you want, give it all to charity if you insist (even though giving money to THQ at the moment is effectively charity), but don't condemn what you do not understand or judge with morals founded in lala land. Games are a commercial product in the end of the day and Humble Bundle is about games. Indie or AAA, it does not matter and it should not matter. You do not have a moral high ground if you're ‘indie’ – hell the term itself is already nebulous and undefined. Show THQ and the industry in general that we are a positive and respectful community. Childish, brainless whining and preaching does nothing but hurt everyone.
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