Two weeks ago, Humble Bundle announced a controversial plan to remove sliders that allow users to customize what percent of their game purchase goes to charity. Today, Humble announced that itās rethinking that plan.
āWeāve heard everyone loud and clear and apologize for the way these changes were rolled out,ā the company wrote in a blog post. āWe are now taking a moment to pause, collect constructive feedback and be more transparent about the path forward.ā
Under Humbleās old model, people purchasing games could use sliders to adjust which percentage of their game purchase went to developers, Humble, and the charity a particular bundle supported; this allowed buyers to give their entire purchase price to the charity. Humbleās initial plan would have replaced those sliders with buttons that only allow for fixed charitable donation amounts, capping at 15% of the total purchase. Humble users were angry about the change and the limits they felt it placed on donations.
Notably, todayās announcement doesnāt indicate that Humble is just going to leave the flexible split in place. Humble writes that while itās going back to sliders for now, it will ācontinue to iterateā on them, taking into account user feedback. āPart of that future development will include exploring different approaches to the sliders and how splits work, along with new ways to incorporate charity into other parts of the user experience,ā Humble wrote. ā[W]eāre committed to sharing our plans and getting feedback from this incredible community beforehand to ensure any changes we make live up to our mission and values.ā
Itās good to see the company rethinking its unpopular plan, even if the blog post doesnāt clearly indicate a complete change of course. At the very least, the company seems to have heard usersā complaints, many of whom felt the move wasnāt just a UI change, but a betrayal of Humbleās dedication to charity.
āWeāre just as committed to supporting charity as we were when we launched Humble Bundle,ā Humble concluded. Time will tell.
