Hmmm. I don’t know how I feel about this one. Okay, that’s a bit of a lie. I’m uneasy about IGN acquiring Humble Bundle.
This comes after recently applying to join Humble’s affiliate program so that we can refer you guys over to good bundles and earn a commission to help support the site. We’re all about pointing our readers to good deals on games we recommend, and Humble has often provided a good deal and a good cause. I’m worried that might end with IGN’s involvement.
I used to write for IGN, helped with their Vault Network, assisted with moderating their forums, and did some general customer service stuff. I remember writing reviews for some games on the MMO side of things, and I remember the harsh realities of publishers controlling review scores, publishers paying $30k+ for favorable coverage, and more. Review scores were changed when threats came in.
Speaking to Polygon, IGN stated the following:
“Editorial integrity is something we take very seriously at IGN, and I am confident that we will strike the right balance when it comes to our coverage of Humble Bundle and the games they sell. Our readers and customers have always come first — and that won’t change.”
I have a hard time believing it because I have first-hand experience with that not being true. That’s exactly why I ceased my involvement with the IGN brand.
Gamasutra is reporting that Humble Bundle “will continue to operate independently in the wake of the acquisition” with “some degree of support from IGN […] in terms of accelerating growth and raising more money for charity.”
I see conflict of interest in an area that has already been stained with mistrust and unethical practices. If IGN can keep Humble 100% intact without any interference, then I guess it’s business as usual. I’m okay with it being just business. But I do wonder what IGN is going to do if I move that slider over to 100% charity/devs and 0% IGN.
P.S. @ New IGN Overlords: If this skepticism, transparency, and honesty impacts our consideration for Humble’s affiliate program, I guess that would be telling.
You know that something is wrong with a (purposed) charity non-profit when it’s bought out by a for-profit corporation.
Something irks me badly with “charities” that happen to have a business plan aiming towards buyout by a corporation.
Humble Bundle is not a non-profit. They are not a 501c and have always said on their site that any donations were not tax deductible.
Not happy IGN bought them out.
I think this is a bit of a joke really surely? How can anyone believe that a mega-brand is acquiring these guys to simply sit there in the background and ‘have a little bit of input’. What?
If there’s one thing we know for sure it’s that these big corporate style businesses love nothing more than having meetings about ‘what to do next’, even if that means doing so just for the sake of it.
Unless they can use their might to reduce the price of these games even further then this is nothing but a bad thing and at some point we’ll see that for sure.
I guess if nothing else it opens the door for someone else to come in and do what they did so well originally.