Starting off on a personal note, one of my morning tasks is to hunt down great deals on digital PC games. Lately I've started stockpiling titles as if the world was coming to an end, pulling them in left and right from online retailers like Steam, GameFly, GamersGate, Green Man Gaming and many others. My theory is that it's best to get them when they're on sale now for $10 or less – especially if they're mere Steam codes – and install them later when I actually have time to play (read: obsession).
Moving along, one of the deals I stumbled upon this morning was the incredible Humble THQ Bundle. This package contains Darksiders, Metro 2033, Red Faction Armageddon, Company of Heroes, Company of Heroes: Opposing Forces, and Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor. The beauty of this package is that you set your own price, but if you pay over the current average of $5.69, then customers will also receive Saints Row The Third. DRM-free soundtracks in MP3 and FLAC formats are also included in the bundle.
Thing is, there's really no catch: it's up to you to set the price. Customers also determine how their bundle payment will be distributed: give it all to THQ, give it all to charity (Child's Play Charity, the American Red Cross), or set specific amounts for each. There's even a meter for leaving Humble Bundle a tip for those who want to donate to the site's cause. Payments can be provided in quantities of $100, $50, $25, $15 or a custom amount.
As of this article, the bundle has earned $2,424,857 USD (the number keeps increasing as I write), with just under 426,000 purchases. The average purchase gamers are forking over is $5.69, but many payments have reached as high as $1,050 USD from the likes of Jason Rubin (THQ president, Naughty Dog founder) and Turtle Rock Studios. All payments are made through PayPal, Amazon Payments and Google Wallet.
"When THQ expressed interest in our pay what you want plus charity model and willingness to let us bundle so many top tier titles, we couldn’t believe it at first,” a Humble Bundle rep explained to RPS. "But trying to turn up our noses at this epic chance to make gamers happy and help worthy causes like Child’s Play and the American Red Cross could only have been defined as arrogance. We had to try and we were extremely curious to see what would happen."
The rep said that THQ's bundle passed the $2 million mark in sales in just 16 hours. "We are hopeful that this excitement is growing our community in a way that can only help our future promotions, and rest assured that indie bundles will continue to be an important part of our business," the rep added.
Typically Humble Bundle's packages consist of indie games that don't require DRM. But this special THQ bundle is for Windows only and requires a Steam account. For more information, or to donate funds to The American Red Cross and the Child's Play Charity, head here.
