In a surprisingly short amount of time, the developers of five indie games have earned over $1,000,000 to be distributed amongst themselves, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Child's Play (after credit card fees). Each of the five developers has thus far earned about $144,641.
The Humble Indie Bundle can be purchased for whatever price you deem reasonable, and the distribution of yourfunds can be customized to favor the developers or non-profits, or to be split evenly between both.
Above: The included games, World of Goo, Aquaria, Gish, Lugaru HD, and Penumbra: Overture, are all worth your while (Aquaria is pictured)
The success of the bundle is a good sign for indie developers and digital content distribution in general. Human expression has value! That seems like an obvious statement, but it's a hostile environment for those who wish to profit from their creative labors without the support of entrenched distribution channels. Though we like what Steam is doing, the more success that indie developers have selling their games without middle-men, the more indie developers will produce, and the more great games we'll have to play. It's a business model that we want to work, and while we doubt thatanyone will be retiring on their personal cut of these earnings, we hope they're comfortable and motivated to make new games.
The bundle isstill on sale, and for the price of whatever you feel like, it's massively worth the purchase. All of the games are DRM free, and are available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
May 11, 2010
