IGN, a game and entertainment media company, has acquired Humble Bundle, a distributor of video games that raises money for charities:
Media giant IGN announced today that it has acquired Humble Bundle, the company best known for selling packs of indie games at pay-what-you-want prices. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
This is potentially a big deal for game developers, since Humble has expanded beyond its bundling business to publish games, pay devs to make games for its subscription-based monthly game club, maintain a subscription-based online game trove, and operate an online game storefront.
However, a press release confirming the deal also noted that Humble will continue to operate independently in the wake of the acquisition, with no significant business or staffing changes. It will have some degree of support from IGN (which is itself owned by digital media giant J2 Global), specifically in terms of accelerating growth and raising more money for charity.
I think I stopped using Humble Bundle when they started removing the Electronic Frontier Foundation as a charity option for some bundles.
Also at VentureBeat and Humble Mumble (official blog).
(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Saturday October 14 2017, @08:07PM (5 children)
At a minimum, Wikimedia Foundation [wikipedia.org] and the American Red Cross [wikipedia.org], two orgs that have been supported by Humble Bundle, have some problems. Thought about including it in the summary for a second, but pulled back.
https://www.propublica.org/article/the-red-cross-secret-disaster [propublica.org]
http://www.npr.org/sections/ombudsman/2017/09/01/547905034/npr-grills-red-cross-official-over-hurricane-harvey-donations [npr.org]
(I don't agree with Andrew Orlowski on everything, but he has been on point with the Wikimedia Foundation)
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/12/20/cash_rich_wikipedia_chugging/ [theregister.co.uk]
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/10/08/wikipedia_foundation_money_in_wrong_place/ [theregister.co.uk]
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/01/12/wikimedia_dumps_elected_trustee/ [theregister.co.uk]
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/12/16/jimmy_wales_wikipedia_fundraising_promise/ [theregister.co.uk]
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/12/19/jimmy_wales_breaks_promise_more_chugging/ [theregister.co.uk]
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/06/07/golden_handshakes_at_wikipedia/ [theregister.co.uk]
American Red Cross in particular has hit back forcefully against against spending allegations over the last 3 years, probably because they have been coasting on their reputation for decades and could lose a serious amount of money if the public ever gets wise to the waste there:
https://www.propublica.org/article/red-cross-demands-corrections-to-our-coverage-our-response/ [propublica.org]
http://www.redcross.org/news/press-release/Red-Cross-ProPublica-Response-10-03-17 [redcross.org]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 14 2017, @09:20PM (2 children)
Wikimedia is fully prog-converged [conservapedia.com]. Its leader, the outlaw Jimmy Wales, is a known atheist. [conservapedia.com]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday October 14 2017, @09:32PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2017-02-27/Op-ed [wikipedia.org]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 14 2017, @11:31PM
Citing the site Conservapedophilia, on charity? Seriously? Or maybe not. Well, I guess Andrew Schafly needs some help, as well.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday October 14 2017, @11:36PM (1 child)
What was their rationale for pulling the EFF donation option?
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Sunday October 15 2017, @12:41AM
Here's the long ass list of bundles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Humble_Bundles [wikipedia.org]
You'll see the first ones had EFF and Child's Play, then they would sometimes switch out EFF for something else like American Red Cross. Monthly bundles from 2015-now have had single charities (AFAICT). Charity: Water is in there a lot lately too.
One of their FAQs has this:
https://support.humblebundle.com/hc/en-us/articles/204527298-Top-20-FAQ [humblebundle.com]
What is Humble Store? Their attempt to sell games 24/7 without the limited time bundle concept?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]