Humble Bundle is pulling back on removing their sliders after a backlash from the community, but the company seems to be ready to try and make money.
Last month, Humble Bundle was looking to change their interface and UI. Among the changes they planned was to remove the sliders that determine how much goes to charity. As they pull this back, there is a sneaky default on the site right now.
According to reports, the company has their sliders default so they get a bigger cut. These seem to indicate that the company is looking for ways to improve their cuts.
Humble tried to cap charity donations to 15% max
The Humble company has tried its best to offer several ways to create good monetization for their business model. For years, patrons went with the company to buy game bundles and give money to charities.
Last month, the storefront tried to push for a rollout that removes the monetization sliders. These sliders determined the ratio of money that goes to each of the recipients, namely the devs, Humble itself, and a charity of your choice.
Without the sliders, charity seemed to have taken a back seat to potential profits. The default settings only give 5% back to charity, compared to the previous unlimited.
Charities would have gotten a maximum of 15% in total in the “Extra For Charity” option. These were paltry numbers that received heavy backlash from the community.
Humble pulls back after heavy criticism
Humble Bundle rolled back on the removal of their sliders, as they posted in a blog. In it, they noted the extreme backlash they received from the community. They also note how they’ll try to learn from the experience.
“We recently announced our initial plan for redesigned bundle pages which would no longer include sliders that let customers fully control what percentage of their order went to Humble Bundle, charity and publishers/developers,” said Humble in their blog.
“We’ve heard everyone loud and clear and apologize for the way these changes were rolled out. We are now taking a moment to pause, collect constructive feedback and be more transparent about the path forward.”
Even with these apologies, there’s no mention of their current default values. In the new default, sliders are hidden behind a dropdown menu that would need some extra clicks to access. Every purchase contains a different cut for Humble.
For example, the ratio for game bundles will include 65% for publishers, 30% to Humble and 5% for charity. For books, 55% goes to the publisher, while 40% goes to Humble Bundle and 5% goes to charity by default.
Featured image courtesy of Humble Bundle/Youtube Screenshot