News - Humble Bundle PC codes found being resold via online retailers

[HEXUS]

Reselling these charity supporting bundle Steam codes has moral and legal implications.

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[DemonHighwayman]

I noticed in the last bundle i bought that it is just a single steam code for all humble games now. It's a good idea but annoying if you already have a couple of the games in the bundle.

Anyway I don't think 7 Entertainment is at fault here, it's just one of those things where people will try anything to make a few quid.

[shaithis]

As much as I love CD key stores, I think this is over the line. Taking advantage of charity to make money is below the belt.

[Irien]

I can see both sides of this one. Devs really should realise that selling their games for a dollar or less is bound to have a downside, which is why historically prices were much higher. This glut of under-a-fiver software has horribly devalued software, and I suspect many devs just haven't thought it through.

That said, there's no way sites should be breaking terms and conditions of sale - if the products are marked as not-for-resale then so-be-it.

Second hand sales are always a problem for the software industry, whatever form that second-hand may take. That's because in the digital age, there's little differnce between "new" and "second hand" as there would be with physical items. Second hand users expect the same service as new, but devs don't see the money. However, second hand sales are protected under EU law, so we just have to live with things. It's really up to each dev to consider how to tackle the issue, but the traditional solution has been to price new products to cover the inevitable second hand sale. The 1$ software model really doesn't take that into account, except by volume of sales.

However, the move to all-in-one keys isn't so good for the consumer. I often find that I already own one or two items in a bundle, but used to be able to give those keys to my wife or son. Now, if I already own a game, it is effectively "lost", despite me paying for it as part of the bundle.

[icemantaz]

Last bundle I bought had g2a as the largest donator. I very much so doubt they were buying just for themselves....

[Jellyfish]

I thought they had removed the keys and offered only the gift option to give to someones Steam account? Were the games from older bundles, or do they change the system for each deal on gifting/codes?

[Otherhand]

Seems overplayed to me. Remember GameInformer is owned by the retailer Gamestop. I think they're using this situation to portray key stores in a bad light, which is all part of business and GI/GS wouldn't be doing their jobs if they didn't use the situation to their advantage.

[GeorgeStorm]

For the latest bundle I bought I never see a key, each game just gets added to my account when I click on the link on humble bundle, still individually so I think I might be able to log in using another steam account and redeem a game on a different account if I wanted to.

[moeburn]

Last bundle I bought had g2a as the largest donator. I very much so doubt they were buying just for themselves....

EVERY bundle has g2a as the largest donator. They donate I think about $1000 per bundle for the save the children foundation or something, and then resell the keys they get for like $50 each, and then deduct the charitable donation on their business taxes.

[DeViLzzz]

If the world lived as one and clothed, fed, housed and gave all people a quality of life they deserve then we wouldn't have people doing things like this. Money rules the world and until commerce goes away we are going to have things like this happen.