Option to Purchase Humble Bundles Directly Through Desura Thread

As a fan of the Humble Bundle sales and a regular user of Desura, I prefer to use Desura to manage my Humble Bundle software. It would be convenient for me to be able to make the purchase directly from Desura. I'd also like to know what sort of compensation Desura receives from the Humble Bundle people for offering Desura as a download/management platform for those services. I want to be able to show my support for Desura as well as the Bundle, so having an option to give a portion to Desura (as a part of or alongside the ‘Humble Tip’, for example), that would be nice.

Can someone tell me how these things currently work, and maybe about how they could work in the future?

Desura is not going to be within the HiB's anymore not for the foreseeable future anyway. We received no compensation other then allowing people to use the service.

So it will be impossible for Desura to be able to sell or receive compensation for the HiB. It is not our product we have no hand in it.

:-(

I was afraid that was the case, and that such would be the inevitable conclusion.

I'd much prefer to both pay Desura as part of my Humble Bundle purchases and continue to receive the Desura service for those titles than to do neither. I'll bring this request to the Humble Bundle people as well, and I hope something fair can be worked out.

Desura provides an unmatched service for Linux users especially, and it hurts to see Steam keys available with none for Desura. As a Linux gamer I also have few options outside of those titles for which multiplatform support is a specific goal (like most of the Humble Bundle purchases). I want Desura to be a viable and successful delivery platform, and it disappoints me that many of my Linux gaming purchases don't allow me to put my money on Desura's success as well.

Check out www.indieroyale.com which is our bundle service. Not all the bundles will have linux games but we will support them if they are available.

Henley wrote: Desura is not going to be within the HiB's anymore not for the foreseeable future anyway. We received no compensation other then allowing people to use the service.

Compensation? For charity services? Pfff, how could they be so selfish with you guys.

macacos2 wrote:

Henley wrote: Desura is not going to be within the HiB's anymore not for the foreseeable future anyway. We received no compensation other then allowing people to use the service.

Compensation? For charity services? Pfff, how could they be so selfish with you guys.

It's not entirely charity. Charity is an element. Most of the money goes to the developers of the games (which is definitely not charity), and some goes to the organizers of the Bundle (also not charity). The bandwidth and administration costs involved for Desura are probably non-negligible, given how many people purchase and download the Bundles. I'm totally fine with compensating Desura for that, and in fact I would prefer to opt-in to such a payment if it were possible.

Part of the problem as well seems to be that the games in the Humble Indie Bundles are by various authors, only some of which may have their games already in Desura's catalogue. Different authors have also had different packaging systems in the past, etc. So getting the various games to become available on Desura must require some cooperation with their individual authors, as well.

Henley wrote: Check out www.indieroyale.com which is our bundle service. Not all the bundles will have linux games but we will support them if they are available.

Thanks for the tip, Henley. I'll take another look at it when the next bundle's contents are announced, but I should say that a large part of what appeals to me about the Humble Indie Bundles is that they promote cross-platform gaming by explicitly demanding it. If they didn't do that, there would not be, for example, a Linux port of Braid. When it comes to major-major studio titles like Skyrim, I'm generally willing to fire up Windows for a weekend to play it. But in general, because indie titles are shorter, cheaper, and have less social momentum (read: marketing, peer pressure) involved in their appeal, they have to stand on their own in a way that makes Linux incompatibility a formidable obstacle toward my decision to purchase and play them.

I feel exactly the same way, pxc.

It's a shame, because all of the Humble Bundle games have Linux ports as a matter of principle. Not being able to use Desura to manage them is a big turnoff for me though. I bought every single Humble Bundle up until now, but will probably pass on the Introversion one. The games look like fun, but I don't have the time to keep track of updates, and dink around with menu entries or tarballs in some cases.

I'm interested in Indie Royale, but without Linux ports for all the games it's a no-go for me. So far I've already owned copies of the few Linux games that were in the bundles. If there were some new Linux ports making a debut, I'd jump on it for sure.

We continue to push to get desura supporting the hib and expect nothing in return. It isn't an easy sell as users are mostly content with steam keys so we are presenting a case for our many awesome Linux users.

I appreciate your affirmation on that, Scott. :-)

(And I'll be sure to pass on some words of encouragement to the studios in charge of the games in the current Bundle with regards to adding Desura support.)

I also want to add my voice to this discussion. HiB and Desura are a perfect fit for any Linux system. Without this collaboration i'm not likely to buy another HiB, because i, as was said before, am not willing to chase down patches for single games. In the end, Desura is more important to me right now, so i'll probably take what i get here.
Indie Royale sounds great, but i haven't spent any money on Windows only games in the last 6 years and i will certainly not start now.

Thank you for you ongoing support and promotion for gaming on the system of my choice, it's really appreciated, even though the games available right now are not exactly what i'm looking for. I'm certain that will change over time.

Desura keys should hopefully be coming soon: Indiedb.com

Yeah, knowing the games are DRM-free and cross platform is a big part of the HIB for me. Where the Indie Royale falls down is not insisting on the games being DRM-free and cross platform. I bought the Launch Bundle very near the start, and at that point the platforms list for Sanctum said Windows and Steam. I took this to mean that it was available as both a standalone installer and on Steam, I was pretty disappointed when I discovered it was Steam only.

p.s.

INtense! wrote: Desura keys should hopefully be coming soon: Indiedb.com

This is very much appreciated.

Pardon the gravedigging but does this mean we will be able to redeem the remaining bundles on Desura? If so that is excellent news If it wasn't for the HiB I wouldn't have stumbled onto Desura to begin with, and I've already purchased Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Would love to be able to add VVVVVV, GSB, and all the other games I have bought through the bundle.

IndieRoyale is a no-go for me. I am a Linux gamer, and also a strong opponent of DRM. The fact that HiB is DRM-free and marketed with a "If you want to be a rotten egg and pirate it, we are not gonna punish the people that won't by making them jump through hoops" attitude is to be honest the reason that I have bought every bundle released so far. That, and the fact that all the games are 100% cross platform.

HiB + Desura = WIn

Edited by: noccy80

noccy80, Only two games from the bundle have been added, one from the bonus with the other possibly following. But HIB and Desura can do nothing to get the other games on. It is up to the developers, and then maybe HIB will pass out keys if they all agree to it.

Like others here, the Indie Royal doesn't really cut it. pxc described the situation perfectly.