Humble Games Wasn't Killed, It Was Murdered

[@BellularNews]

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[@LaylaSpellwind]

Might recommend to my mother, she's been vaping to quit smoking for about a decade now. So it's not going well. XD Edit: I'll suggest something else. Fum = Bad.

[@QUITTERMAKER]

Fum killed my father.

[@fredhurst2528]

Nope.

[@michaelmaguire4147]

You're peddling an essential oil inhaler now? That shit will actually probably destroy your lungs faster than a vape omg.

[@michaelmaguire4147]

@@LaylaSpellwind Don't do it. inhaling essential oils is arguably worse than smoking.

[@abbiearcher4716]

This seems to be a repeating theme. 1. Company gets successful doing what it does 2. Gets bought out by company that fundamentally doesn't understand the industry 3. Company gets gutted and loses all the people who actually knew what they were doing. 4. Company wonders why it's not a money printer like the advisors said it would be.

[@Bos_Meong]

crazy companies keep repeating same mistakes for eternity

[@loganmedia4401]

Even when they understand the industry the purchaser often comes in wanting to squeeze out every last drop of possible profit while the founders only wanted to make a good living.

[@crazyfingers619]

The people who know what they're doing are aging out. These are the elbow brushing crazed graduates of our modern ivy leagues. All money, no experience. All hat, no cattle.

[@gdutfulkbhh7537]

You can thank the modern MBA model for this unending series of disasters. Look what happened to Boeing when the MBAs greased their way into the boardroom and ousted the engineers.

[@nice-uc2ec]

it is not done by accident: it is cheaper to buy out competition and dissolve them than increase budget on games continuously.

[@Absnerdity]

Humble Bundle was murdered when it was sold to IGN to begin with. When IGN first took over, they FORCED the numbers, giving charities only 5% (this specifically was the "Against Asian Hate" yaoi bundle)!! Once they started letting you change the distribution they were still forcing you to give money (20%!!) to Humble, taking from charities. That was when I broke partnership with them and never bought from them again. Humble was HUGE and didn't need that money from users, they let you give it all to charity if you chose and they STILL had tons of money. IGN not letting you give it to charity and taking it for themselves felt so sleazy.

[@pedrojustice]

exactly. the writting was on the wall. after they sold to IGN, devs who chose to get published by them should've be prepared for "money comes first" atitutte. Also also, its just their employess getting fired, right? devs don't care about people. but if theirs publishing still gettting done.

[@gizmomogwai1041]

you know what's the fishest thing Humble do? when you buy a bundle, the default for game bundles is: 65% game studio, 30% humble, 5% charity (already too much money for Humble) but "extra to charity" is 57,5% game studio, 27,5% humble and 15% charity. Basically game studio lose 7,5% but bundle only 2,5%. Humble be like "we care about charities but we care more about keeping our commission high" .....

[@ab7483]

I was weirdly in the opposite side. I gave most the money to humble to sort of help offset everyone else giving to charities. After the forced change i just stopped using Humble at all.

[@Mavendow]

The way U.S. taxes work, giving 100% to charity through Humble would let them write off that much in taxes, so they'd get the full sale price as a tax writeoff. But you see, IGN already gets massive tax writeoffs through the usual corporate tricks like asset depreciation and debt. IGN doesn't need your goodwill; it already forcibly takes that.

[@3nertia]

Welcome to capitalism!

[@Surkk2960]

Kinda proves that video games are like growing wine grapes and corpos seem to be more interested in growing bean sprouts.

[@dizzykong123]

Its like a christmas tree farm compared to a twice a year wheat & soybean farm.

[@ValkyrieTiara]

This is a good analogy.

[@Splarkszter]

Companies make money, not quality products. It frustrates me so much that nobody does anything about these stuff

[@3nertia]

@@Splarkszter Capitalism is the perfect trap. What are we to do? We can't boycott because we've got bills to pay and we can't fight back because the system has a monopoly on violence ...

[@Homiloko2]

@@Splarkszter You're generalizing. Companies tend to start prioritizing short-term money over everything else only when they become publically traded, that's the real issue.

[@EmileeKieffer]

Oh hey I'm the Emilee from this video lol! After almost 3 months, I'm still looking for a job after all this! The state of game development is truly fucked right now unfortunately. Glad that people are still talking about this honestly, it's been a difficult time not just for me but for so many devs who've been impacted over the last couple of years and I hope we keep talking about the multiple mass layoffs that have happened not just to all of us at Humble Games, but across the entirety of the game industry. Thanks for this, it's appreciated 💖

[@JohnClarkW]

I am so sorry for all of you. I thought game dev work was bad pre pandemic ( I was at Bohemia ).

[@ivenstorm]

I'm sorry to hear about this happening. My own employer recently did something like this to me as well. I worked as an IT Analyst. He claimed he was getting "complaints from customers" about me, told me on the phone they were "heading in a different direction", but on the termination form it said "due to lack of work". I'm still looking for work as I type this, but my unemployment is paying me almost as much as I was getting paid per pay period. My family looked a little deeper into it, and the guy was getting government subsidies up until the week I was laid off, so instead of paying me out of his own pocket he cut his losses. Meanwhile, no complaints were made aware to me up until that point. Hopefully you find work soon, if not start making your own game.

[@alexforest4190]

(Just a random gamer here.) I hope you and game development team members of Humble Games are able to get a stable and well paying job doing what you love. My brother is a big fan of Slay the Spire, playing over 500 hours. I am grateful for all the work game developers put into these games and the immense effort and time required to end up with a polished game. So, thank you.

[@TheAyanamiRei]

So sorry that you're still being fucked by this 3 months after, a long with too many others 😢

[@simonebernacchia5724]

Am. honest with you: for how game dev political climate is right now i would look for a government job and do games as hobby, is THAT bad :(

[@realNoMee]

So basically.... Ziff Davis saw video games making money, wanted that money, bought the publisher despite not understanding how video games work, realized it didn't make them money fast enough and threw it in the trash. Fucking with the lives of innumerable people in the process. Awesome.

[@ShorlanTanzo]

otoh, it cost them money. That's just how the world works. With that in mind, stay away from anything they buy up, as an informed consumer, and hope that they do less damage to the world in the future.

[@maxinealexander9709]

@@ShorlanTanzo what a weirdly patronizing comment

[@TonyTheTGR]

You do realize that "SMTP" described here is literally the patent on e-mail formatting, right? We'll have to never touch an email inbox ever again to do this.

[@Ylyrra]

ZD have been involved in the game industry since the 80s. They know more about how the industry works than the idiots who wrote this script. That said, selling your company to them is like selling to EA.

[@flandersnatch2285]

That's how rich people work mah dude. Why do you think philanthropy is a thing? People from all walks of life do charity work and donating, but only rich folk make a big deal of it because for them its offsetting the awful things they do to make money. The only way you can make vast amounts of money is off the back of someone somewhere

[@AoshiStark]

Things we have learned from the past decade from the industry: - Always publish your own game if you can help it - If a venture capitalist comes knocking, tell them to fuck off - Don't sell your company/IP to anyone without first reading the contract THOROUGHLY or hiring a Lawyer to do it for you - If there's something in that contract you don't like, CHANGE IT or tell the investor to fuck off - They want your company/IP/game because they lack the creativity and passion to make anything themselves. This gives you a lot more leverage than you realize.

[@ahettinger525]

"Don't sell your company/IP to anyone without first reading the contract THOROUGHLY or hiring a Lawyer to do it for you" This should read "Don't sell your company/IP to anyone without first reading the contract THOROUGHLY AND hiring a Lawyer to do it for you, then still don't"

[@magnusm4]

If a venture capitalist comes or anyone says to go public. I'll give them a Dr Doom worthy speech. Look at my work, my creation. You want to come to MY work and tell ME how to do MY own work? No. You come here cause it's mine. You didn't make anything, you can't think anything, you're not a person. You are an inferior human. A simple calculator people wave pretty numbers to make you giggle. If you want to talk to me. Argue, debate, innovate or leave the check here and I give you results. I don't have patience to listen to short term drivel. You want money. I create value. And people pay me to get it. And you. Do NOT understand people.

[@markfreeman4727]

@@magnusm4 this went alot harder then it needed to be

[@julianlowrise4981]

@@magnusm4 Damn. If I was a hero and the villain gave me this speech, I think I'd have to change sides.

[@Isnogood12]

Sure. And when they come in and give you a few million dollars for your IP, I'm sure you'd totally tell them to jog off. It's easy to moralize when you ain't got money in the game.

[@SticksAandstonesBozo]

I just don’t get how we continue to see the same stories of suits whose daddy’s gave them careers treat gaming development like it’s just a normal retail business.

[@Zuranthus]

more importantly, why do creatives keep letting these people take charge of their companies?

[@SticksAandstonesBozo]

@@Zuranthus Because this is how late stage capitalism works. This is what everyone says they want. So enjoy.

[@rampagegamingg8434]

​@@SticksAandstonesBozo who tf besides wealthy people and the right say they want late stage capitalism😂

[@OryxAU]

​​@@Zuranthus Because in many cases, they have no choice but to go under or be acquired. And at least if they're acquired, they have a chance. It also doesn't help that executives are trained to gut and maximise quick profits with no understanding of the importance of longevity or long term investment in tangible assets that don't directly generate profit right away.

[@ElDaumo]

Especially when they also suck at retail business. American nepotism is a global threat

[@davidcummins8125]

I don't care so much if a big soulless company like Ubisoft hamstrings themselves, but it stings when high quality indies are affected like Humble and Anapurna. I wish CEOs would stop buying companies that they don't understand or care about. It screws over fans, employees and to a certain extent the acquiring companies too!

[@tobyzilla2.074]

@davidcummins8125 that's why whenever I start making and publishing games I will refuse to sell my studio to some soulless company where some greedy soulless people in suits can't ruin my works of love and passion

[@deadby15]

The CEOs are just being good capitalists.

[@snickle1980]

Understandable. Annapurna was an old one. Reminds me of losing maxis to EA back in the day. Its all been streamlined and dumbed down. But every gaming company has a golden era and an era of decline. Im just glad i have little interest in AAA titles. Those folks have it the worst.

[@TMS-Oddbot]

To be fair, Ziff Davis was buying IGN, and IGN was buying Humble Games / Bundle. It's just sad that those transactions affect each other in such a direct manner.

[@Phobos11]

Maybe if the original owners were not only seeking profit and sold as soon as they had a proposal in their hands, these things could be avoided?

[@UGotSerbed]

I unsubscribed from the Humble platform the instant they pivoted from being a non-profit charity to a for-profit publisher, that was the writing on the wall. What a hare-brained decision.

[@LaylaSpellwind]

Same, I get wanting money, I'd love money too, but I'm more interested in helping needy people get money, rather than publishers get richer.

[@Baraz_Red]

Has the percentage of sales that goes to NGOs and to developers changed ? As far as I know: no. I don't support the publisher and corporation, but I also look at actual behavior and facts. Here, I see how they treated employees of that gaming studio. Since the Humble Bundle Store gives more to devs and to charities than Steam, I rationally have to prefer Humble Bundle whenever I can or whenever it makes sense (no, I don't buy games only on super rebates or as a bundle). In both cases, someone is getting rich. It is a odd choice, where I am actually still giving more money to gaming studios and also to charities via Humble Bundle.

[@AceStrife]

Bought by IGN, if it wasn't mentioned in the video. Shortly after that they went downhill, increasing prices for choice (and reducing benefits, until enough backlash hit them), and increasing minimums for bundles, and defaulting split WAY more towards them than they should. Can only wonder when they'll finally end the grandfathered choice subs.. that's when I bail entirely. Hopefully not before they end the 20% global* discount on the store. *sans specific games, especially ones on discount already.

[@Bambeakz]

Can’t care less if they want to make a profit. They have a deal and I take a look if I like the deal. It is that simple. Got the Jurassic evolution bundle because it was much cheaper than Steam ever. If I want to support charity …well I support charity 😅 Never done the subscription thingy though

[@Soawano]

When did this happen? I didn't even realize they stopped charity !

[@CrowMercury]

Moral of the story: Ziff Davis is a MASSIVE clown. Like 90% of the people who have money.

[@haxalicious]

@@CrowMercury 100%*

[@Byrvurra]

Not a clown, a sociopath. You don't make it to the top with a conscience. You have to be the sort of person who can lay a bunch of people off an still get sleep at night.

[@err0rc0degames]

Ziff Davis isn't a person, it's a company

[@Medusas_Barber]

The OP and 1st two commenters are 1d10ts ffs. The video literally explains it's a Company name not a person lol

[@BozesanVlad]

Ziff Davis is a clown company *with money* vs. clowns without money It is better. Depends for whom, I suppose.

[@HalfLegendary]

2024 have been a very exhausting year with the numerous stories of big corpos ruining all the fun of gaming companies and just pumping profits over everything. It's like we can't have anything anymore without them coming in and screwing us over and not suffering any kind of real retaliations. Good coverage as always Michael. Thanks for always keeping us informed.

[@honeybadger6275]

I mean its more than just games, its every industry, really at this point we're watching the beginnings of full scale societal collapse. I've watched louis rossmanns channel where he talks about all the companies like lg apple and samsung doing this crap and i also watcha lot of mechanics channels where they all say that parts for vehicles and tools they use are all crap no matter the brand. If you've been paying attention you've probably noticed the drop in quality of the food we eat.

[@ForeverConsciousResearch]

@@honeybadger6275 Agree with everything you said as we are definitely seeing the collapse in real-time. The food quality has been bad since the 90s...,well actually the late 80s but by the 90s & early 2000s is when many companies started tainting the food supply. It's just gotten progressively worse and worse ever since. Finding real food and being an educated shopper can really take a lot of time, money, and effort. Even many of the so-called organic non-gmo products out there are really bad for us. One thing is for certain...we will see major systemic changes in the very near future (and sadly it won't be for the better).

[@mikeity2009]

@@honeybadger6275 Yup, We're watching the years of unsustainable profit margins finally catch up with us. The writing's been on the wall since the 80's, the chickens are just coming to roost.

[@honeybadger6275]

@@mikeity2009 I mean really the writing has been on the wall since the creation of the federal reserve. Given its the same people who run that as the people that are the shareholders for said corporations pushing for unsustainable profits.

[@jacksmith-vs4ct]

not just games unfortunately they are doing it with dentists and veterinarians as well not to mention places like Sears and toysrus

[@blkwng]

How in the hell have we allowed a world where copyright is abused in order to stop creativity and also monopolozation laws are just for show?! This type of companies have so much freaking power under them and their subsidiaries that by the time the law tries to do something they're too big to even face. Wtf is going on!?

[@ReshyShira]

Corruption, plain and simple.

[@BoisegangGaming]

Because money. Also, fines only work if they aren't easy to just pay off. It's like how rich people can pay off speeding tickets because their disposable income is so much more than someone who is living paycheck to paycheck. The system isn't broken, it's working as intended, and that's the problem.

[@BeerMetal58]

Neoliberal economics. Thanks, Reagan.

[@agamemnonofmycenae5258]

@@BeerMetal58 that shit's always been there. Blaming it on one politician is plain foolishness. Rockefeller, Colonial companies, Italian Banking families, Aristocrats etc. The system will always be abused by those with the power to brute force it to their interests!

[@BoisegangGaming]

@@agamemnonofmycenae5258 Which begs the question: if the system will be abused, what is the solution to that? This isn't purely "human nature". It's an interaction between systemic issues and while certain elements of human nature can be exacerbated by it (i.e. hoarding resources because we're animals and still running on Monke v.03) due to a mix of nature vs nurture. The vast majority of hierarchical systems and unequal distribution of resources originate because bad actors thrive off a class of haves and a class of have-nots.

[@RomanBellic-ez5fh]

I trust more the local hobo bringing my $50 change for cleaning my windshield than the ceos/higher ups not laying off anyone because of their own mistakes.

[@3nertia]

The problem is that they're not seen as "mistakes" - they're calculated business decisions that minimize expenditures (laying people off) while maximizing profits (making money from those who were laid off)

[@balsalmalberto8086]

I believe some Japan CEO's take pay cuts themselves after company mistakes because they have honor. There's RARE examples of leadership in western countries not being arseholes, but again it's an anomaly.

[@synmad3638]

Everyday we wake up and see hundreds or thousands of people have their livelihoods threatened and their works unfulfilled because some guy whose work is to Seek Growth Opportunities By Maximizing Portfolio Synergy doesnt know what the fuck he's doing. I wish I believed in Hell

[@capnmnemo]

How can you not believe in hell? We live in it.

[@TopHatProductions115]

Well, it ain't too late to start believing in the existence of such XD

[@antonioruberto7077]

Well said, well said.

[@michaellane5381]

​@@capnmnemoi think they mean in an "other" space.

[@blazernitrox6329]

Sorry, kid. I can't go to hell. My boss took away all my vacation days because being out of the office doesn't promote Productivity:tm:

[@dra6o0n]

8:52 - This goes for corporation businesses like Loblaws, they don't understand what makes worker be more productive, and the command chain down the line can be ruined because of pressure. HR pressuring managers or departments to do something, which causes the management to turn on each other, or their subordinates to make them out as scapegoats, and workers at the lowest levels starts banding up into groups and 'throwing' sacrificial victims' under the bus to preserve their positions.

[@wilburtshnookums]

the investor economy model has completely gutted so many companies even outside of creative industries. they see numbers, and workers to them arent people, just another asset to be milked and discarded. you see it with stagnant wages, union busting, and refusal to offer benefits that make life outside of work easier because they cant comprehend that someones life outside of work does in fact also impact their ability to be productive

[@dra6o0n]

@@wilburtshnookums It's essentially a bubble. If you were to considered dystopian concepts. Those inside the bubble are protected and kept safe against those outside, the bubble filters the ultra wealthy maintaining control of the system, to the rest of the world outside the bubble. If you want a great reset, burst that bubble.

[@BoisegangGaming]

@@wilburtshnookums Not only that, but a laborer is no longer "a person that does x", personhood is secondary to profit potential. The whole gig economy industry and the heavy use of independent contractors vastly reduces the capability to maintain any form of institutional knowledge. Everyone is replaceable at the "lower levels", employers want to outsource training, etc. Basic, entry-level jobs are extremely difficult to come by for me personally as a mid-20-something person who has been out of college for a year. Unemployment isn't just an issue of "people don't want to work" (with the unspoken ending of "in demeaning jobs for extremely low pay"), it's "larger companies won't hire someone until they get the perfect candidate". Of course, this is because many get an absurd amount of applications. But because on the applicant side, it's expected one won't get a response, one ends up shotgunning out applications to everywhere and anywhere, which means those also have to be filtered (often with some buzzword tech like "AI") and the cycle perpetuates itself. It's a system that benefits no one in reality, but those at the top have deluded themselves into thinking that everything's fine if they just "optimize" enough and it'll magically fix the money printer machine. It would be comical if it wasn't so frustrating.

[@loganmedia4401]

@@BoisegangGaming Unless it noticeably harms their massive wealth transfer engine those at the top will never notice the inefficiency and they're never the ones to bear the brunt of their own psychopathic behaviour.

[@Isnogood12]

You forget that the HR has become the internal security for major companies, wielding more power than most managers and not having any responsibility or training for it. If a corporation was a country (we're very close to it already) then HR would be the NSA/FBI run by people with no accountability... so basically NSA/FBI.

[@MisterNightfish]

Anyone else just done with these corpo speak statements? They're so vapid and pointless.

[@Br3ttM]

They're written for the shareholders, who are almost as vapid and easily impressed by business speak.

[@anomalyraven]

It's like trying to take anything they say on cable TV seriously.

[@MPSmaruj]

Hey, you. You're finally awake.

[@TiroDvD]

Yes we should *looks at notes* it's a return to form.

[@TheTurophile]

All the corpo messaging is probably handled by AI at this point

[@PhyonesArc]

The older I grow, the more I realise that all the nice companies that I like are owned by soulless vultures and people who have absolutely no idea what they are doing. Every year things get worse, games get worse, companies I looked up to get revealed to be complete messes... Yes, money rules the world, but at this point I feel naive just for believing that not everyone wants to burn everything to the ground. How have we ended up here? How have we ended in a Cyberpunk dystopia? What did I miss in my life? Massive exaggeration, but it feels almost as if we're drifting slowly into another dark age where everything gets worse, all the joy gets sucked out of everything that might be fun, where the very concept of happiness is antithetical to existance. We live in sad times.

[@fvb7]

@PhyonesArc Sargon recently rose from the grave for a very elucidating take. Everything is much more mature these days. We market to adults. No more playplaces, no Toys R Us, Disneyworld is mostly superfan adults, not families. Paraphrasing here but "A culture that does not prioritize children does not prioritize its future and is in decline." Obviously, he said it better than me.

[@ferdgerbeler8494]

There are no good corporations as long as we're occupied by banksters and are forced to myopically focus on economics rather than demographics

[@liesdamnlies3372]

It’s not much of an exaggeration; we live in a second gilded age.

[@Br3ttM]

@@ferdgerbeler8494 The problem is that the people who own stock in those companies don't consider any long term stability, and are easily manipulated with corporate-speak.

[@ferdgerbeler8494]

@@Br3ttM The medium is the message, we let hostile aliens create this system and force it on us in our own lands... our ancestors figured out how to remove them over 1500 times in 109 nations, we need to remember our past before we have no future.

[@Kandralla]

I think it was Ryan Scott (Computer Gaming World/Games for Windows Magazine) who talked about Ziff Davis firing a bunch of people by sending them offsite for a company paid lunch where they told them that they were no longer employed and to not go back to the office.

[@marblemunkey]

"You've probably never heard of [Ziff Davis]" holy 💩 am I old...

[@Adnyeus]

They shanked all the tech sites I ever cared about

[@scimbrelo]

@@marblemunkey yeah that was my thought as well, like I know them as the publisher of the magazines I used to buy lmao

[@slaapliedje]

Ha, yeah, Ziff Davis has been around for a long ass time.

[@ahettinger525]

Yeah, I remember them published honest-to-god paper magazines that I would buy on a honest-to-god brick-and-mortar store.

[@nitehawk86]

Thinking the same thing. Fair enough, PC Magazine hasn't been relevant in a couple decades.

[@Baraz_Red]

Flushing people in the middle of project development..., especially for something that would sell, is despicable. At worse, if you actually care, you transition the team as an indy company or transition them over to another publisher who focuses on video games in this case.

[@simrock_]

Here's the thing, when you get rid of people and then later on the analysts look in and have to go "you need the people back, _these_ exact people, that deal generally does not come without a notable price tag attached. Not to mention that you gotta go their with your hat in your hands and have to admit that you have not idea what you're doing in the first place.

[@Ylyrra]

ZD don't care. They just want an exit strategy to close out an "asset" they don't want and couldn't sell. They don't really care about how much the exit strategy costs as long as it gets rid of what to them is an underperforming non-core activity. They wanted the media properties of IGN, not a game publisher. They tried to sell it as a going concern, but no-one else wanted it either. The ideal outcome for them at this point is that keeping some of the former execs on indirectly as consultants keeps things alive enough and gives those execs enough credibility to secure the funding to do a management buyout, but again, ultimately ZD don't care, they just want the asset disposed of so they don't have to keep paying for it.

[@kirbyjoe7484]

ZD has already won. They fired the entire publishing division and only had to re-hire four people as token consultants so they can pretend to uphold their half of the publishing contracts. The one way ZD loses is if all the game companies that have contracted with Humble for publishing get together and hire a good legal team to go after them for bad faith breach of contract.

[@fleurdewin7958]

Depends on how you see it. The Elon Musk treatment of Twitter seems fine with cutting off 80% of the workforce. Today you see X is still perfectly running, it means there is alot of DEI hires that are redundant

[@TheDoc_K2]

@@fleurdewin7958 "perfectly running" is a very strong phrase to say about Twitter.

[@Ylyrra]

@@fleurdewin7958 For definitions of "perfectly running" that include losing most of its advertisers because of a complete inability to stop their adverts from appearing next to hate-speech, because of sacking the majority of the workforce that handled that stuff. Sure. Also do you honestly think that 80% of the workforce were "DEI hires" as you so charmingly put it. You couldn't find that many qualifying candidates in the entire tech industry.

[@darthzkath775]

C suits ruining gaming as usual

[@shivnz]

To be fair, gamers these days themselves seem to be working just as hard to kill gaming...

[@David_randomnumber]

I disagree. They only kill their share of the gaming industry. Where is a market there will be products and if every AAA studio keeps alienating their customers the indie scene will profit.

[@David_randomnumber]

@@BoisegangGaming They always had the capability but their recent flirting with DEI is tipping the scale towards smaller games.

[@kristoffer3000]

Capitalism ruining everything as usual.

[@KraziEyevin]

@@shivnz please go on, I'd love to hear your ideas

[@halodragonmaster]

The funniest thing is that businesspeople don't expect gamers to have pattern recognition.

[@TwoSevenX]

Ziff-Davis has been sketch since the days of Electronic Gaming Monthly aka the game magazine that was a money laundering operation for the mob and had twice as many ad pages as content pages per issue.

[@makani9004]

My first online forum was on the EGM Boards, what a throwback.

[@FengLengshun]

That title reminds me of Cleanprincegaming and "LawBreakers didn't just die, it was murdered." Man it's been so long.

[@aldoblack5982]

Hahahahaha i was looking for this reference.

[@Jumpyfoot]

I remember that. I think the guy ended up operating and selling a couple of channels behind the scenes. Something about like retro gaming or some such. His name was Tyler.

[@spademagna2672]

True, whatever happened to him?

[@Jumpyfoot]

@@spademagna2672 I think he went on to start the Nerdstalgic KZbin channel and sell it later.

[@SeraphicSolicitor]

Oh, hey, Bo's dev team is based in my hometown. It's pretty rare to see any mention of that place internationally :D

[@missitheachievementhuntres560]

This story still hurts so much. I knew i was gutted back in the summer when this story broke as I'm such a fan of the games humble Games published.

[@Necropheliac]

These shenanigans are poisonous to their business model. The moment gamers think there is a possibility that a digital game distributor won’t survive, they’re going the way of Google Stadia, and that company is persona non grata as a market.

[@Chyguy]

I hope that some day we're able to free the gaming industry from suits that serve no purpose but to ruin everything they touch with profit chasing. Learn to go for the sustainable option instead of purposefully making shit and losing money when people wise up.

[@PainterVierax]

We can say this about any branch of economics.

[@adakahless]

I felt so bad for Stairway Games, devs of Coral Island, who lost the ability to publish on the Switch. Now the studio has to scramble to find a new publisher while fielding angry customers who have been waiting for the Switch release of their game. :(

[@crapshot321]

Why are the customers angry? It is not Stairway Games fault that Humble publishing went under. They were caught offguard like everyone else.

[@slushg3326]

Because a lot of players don’t actually look at all the information (nor do some even care in the first place). Without any context it could seem that they just did something scummy. The reality is, of course, very different.

[@chronicallychic]

Exactly, I was wondering if someone would mention this in the comments. So many console owners are sending them harassment and hate because they aren't receiving the same patches. I get that it's frustrating, but it's pretty much out of Stairway's hands and they don't deserve that kind of treatment.

[@omegaprime223]

@@crapshot321 Your average person doesn't pay attention to the 'backroom' stuff, they only see the first logo on a product and immediately blame them for any and all issues.

[@kaijuultimax9407]

That's fine, let them mald about it

[@Lordradost]

"Humble Games" ... *HUMBLE!* The main missing element in this timeline.

[@AustinHarsh]

This is why you don't hire MBAs.

[@frankmckenneth9254]

Man, I can't help but look at Ziff Davis and smell an antitrust suit incoming with how much they are aquiring.

[@cuddlecakes7153]

Im still so sad about Them's Fightin' Herds. From being an MLP fangame that received a C&D, to becoming its own fully realized project with the help of Lauren Faust (the literal creator of MLP), and even with the voice actor of Applejack in it, everything about it was just so unique and wonderful. Extremely underrated because it was a "pony game." It had so much potential. Will forever be sad about the beautiful characters, music, and story that will most likely never be used again now.

[@TiroDvD]

it's the only fighting game I think that actually teaches you how to play fighting games e.g. hitboxes.

[@Ferodra]

If only greedy CEO's would know about the life hack that involves empathy, being a reasonable human being and actually knowing your products and industry. Tons of companies run like that are flourishing long-term

[@Martin-jm8wi]

You don't understand, CEOs know "business". Empathy just costs money and for knowing the industry and product you hire other people! /s

[@Bleiser3]

Some biggest ceos are psychopaths, meaning they fundamentally don't get what is empathy nor care for it anyway

[@jacksmith-vs4ct]

honestly not sure many companies are like that or ever have been like that lol unless they are worker coops

[@LaylaSpellwind]

KZbin says this video is "Unpacking"... Because of 30 seconds from 9:15. Silly youtube.

[@DRida64]

There was certainly a lot to unpack here.

[@TheVexinator]

I know their name from reading "PC Magazine" and "Computer Gaming World" in the 80s and 90s.

[@stage6fan475]

Ziff-Davis was on a lot of things.

[@clicksclacks]

EGM and OPM were a couple of big ones too. Oh wait, you probably can't even google those acronyms to get the same results anymore... Electronic Gaming Monthly and Official PlayStation Magazine lel

[@The_Nametag]

You should hear the fiasco that happened with the partner program. Shut down without warning most people (only warning through a "newsletter" that many people never got, if they were older than it it appears to have not been automatic), just pages going 404. Which means people can't even look up their final status, it's just gone, but all the pages and links for things are still there, just don't work. The new one is third party, which the sign-up was broken originally, and the payout is MUCH lower, plus has a yearly fee. Worst hand-off I've ever seen.

[@pyrioncelendil]

3:17 the last time I'd ever heard of Ziff-Davis was all the way back in the late 90s when PC Magazine was still a Thing.

[@whosaidthat84]

@@pyrioncelendil EGM Magazine for me. Them ZDTV which became Tech TV.

[@chrystalclear500]

For those who don't remember, Alan Patmore was the man who, while not taking the CEO/COO titles, functionally took over as head of Humble Bundle as the founders left. AFAIK he was not some Humble Games dept lead who was laid off like the rest, and the fact that he splintered off to a new partner company gives me a lot of pause.

[@AlpakaWhacker]

I only just learned last night that Humble also just axed their in-house partnership/affiliate program at the start of the month and thus removed all their partners (which as a partner myself, I was pretty pissed off that I hadn't even received an email letting me know of this). They do have a new partnership/affiliate program but it's now outsourced to an outside third-party.

[@Munenushi]

lol in Real Estate, that's called "Flipping" i believe

[@kirbyjoe7484]

Lovely.

[@penguinmonk7661]

I absolutely love your delivery and the way you boil this all down in a no nonsense fashion, thank you for making this piece of real journalism.

[@2005Guyver02]

I have no idea what goes into publishing a game (Yet) but the moral of the story is to be your own publisher.

[@bwcbiz]

Ziff-Davis also played a big role in early Science Fiction publishing as the owner of the seminal Amazing Stories->Analog. They also played a role in comic book publishing.

[@bluephreakr]

tl;dw: William and Bernard adopt a cat made astray from a kennel, then realising it costs too damn much to manage, _killed it._

[@BloodwyrmWildheart]

Bill Ziff Sr.: "Being of Jewish ancestry and motivated by the power of Nazi Germany during the 1930s, Ziff became one of the most prominent American endorsers of Revisionist Zionism." -Wiki ...Every. Single. Time.

[@clicksclacks]

Ziff Davis... I know that name, they were involved with a bunch of vidya mags I used to read back in the day.

[@aphoxema]

It's hard to watch things like this when you choose to partner with people like Fum

[@aphoxema]

Have some standards? Maybe?

[@jarnobot]

I don't see anything wrong with the product? Am I missing something?

[@starsINSPACE]

@@jarnobot a lot of products marketed as smoking cessation aids actually result in people smoking more. Also, FUM uses essential oils which would be bad to inhale into the lungs. And some essential oils are dangerous to pets (cats, dogs and especially birds).

[@LivelyCapybara]

@@starsINSPACE to add onto this, it doesn't seem like they have any peer reviewed studies, all done independently. Doesn't prove that their science is faulty, but their findings are unproven

[@YevhenRawrs]

What the heck do you mean you don't see anything wrong with the product??? It's just a useless stick that offgasses chemicals slowly and costs a bundle. It's trash. Useless. More useless than half those "As seen on TV" kitchen gadget unitaskers. It's like the AirUp water bottle. 😂 ​@@jarnobot

[@arcticridge]

*Humble Games didn't just die, it was MURDERED*

[@SlainMascot]

lol came to the video just to find this comment haha. Glad someone else wanted to fix it as well 😂

[@arcticridge]

@@SlainMascot (points at profile pic)

[@SimuLord]

As the title screen of Cuphead taught us, don't deal with the devil.

[@TheExileFox]

I boycotted Humble Bundle when they went anti-linux.

[@nitehawk86]

Gamers and online people don't know who ZiffDavis is? God I am getting old.

[@Bobbydewit]

my comment wont matter or even be read, but i TRULY miss the back and fourth of you and matt, it really is NOT the same show without him, i hope hes well and it wasnt a bad fallingout causeing his absence, i really see no information on the split online quite odd

[@TheDanishGuyReviews]

I only use Humble Bundle for the very occasional game bundle, and a comic book bundle every other month. Otherwise it slowly began including bundles that just never interested me. And the ones that did, I had to go to Kobo to make an account to get. No, Humble Bundle, I already have an account with you. I shouldn't have to do more than that to get my stuff. They are also long overdue for their manga bundle. It should have arrived in September, but it didn't. Really hope it shows up today.

[@whentheyD]

crazy how zpf understands video games more than actual AAA companies

[@dragonmaster1500]

And isn't that a sad thought...

[@5371W]

Flavored air cans, flavored air sticks, flavored air water bottle. I really need to figure out the next air grift so I can make that money.

[@chelsey8737]

This ones even worse bc inhaling essential oils is proven to be terrible for your lungs. The "tests" the company did are proven to be by payed off "scientists"

[@DerSolinski]

And that's why you only "self publish" on Steam. Steam is already a fairly decent publisher on its own. They are so many drama stories from devs loosing access to their -own- game. Publishers are not your friends, to borrow a phrase from the crypto bros "Not your keys, not your bitcoins"

[@jacksmith-vs4ct]

crypto bros are part of the problem lol

[@DerSolinski]

@@jacksmith-vs4ct Not the point.

[@michigan_616]

If I was founder of Humble, I'd feel absolutely dead inside to see your project end up like this

[@mr.anderson1202]

Moral of the story, don't sell out to gigantic megacorporations and expect anything good out of it.

[@kirbyjoe7484]

Sweet summer child. Once a company is publicly traded you don't have any say in whether it gets bought out or not. If the big bad wolf comes a knocking, you get down on your knees and beg it to only reem you raw once or twice instead of doing it everyday for the next year or so until it eventually consumes everything you have built and leaves the gutted remains for the vultures in suits to pick over.

[@lindenstromberg6859]

If you're a console gaming fan and were on the Internet or reading gaming mags/watching gaming TV shows before 2010, it's likely you've heard of Ziff Davis. They owned a fair chunk of gaming media. They owned PC Mag, EGM, 1Up, Eurogamer, IGN, ZDNet, Computer Gaming World, GameTrailers, Gamespy, and AskMen to name a few.

[@Carakav]

Imagine buying a thing that makes money, but you don't understand how it makes money, so instead of just stepping back and letting the thing make money, you destroy it to sell it for parts.

[@Aldenfenris]

@@Carakav pretty much, they get a golden goose, and decide to kill it and do an autopsy to get all the eggs instead of waiting for each one. And that works as fine as one might expect. Remember, long term gains don't matter, just what you can show NOW.

[@Carakav]

@@Aldenfenris The line must go up... but not later, right NOW!

[@whodis4097]

TLDR: Humble Games was sold to IGN, which was sold to Ziff Davis, who didn't understand that games take time to release and make money. They fired Humble Games employees, who then went to form the Good Games Group. Ziff then hired the Powell Group to consult for them, and Powell rehired the Good Games Group as a partnership (Not employees with actual benefits).

[@BoisegangGaming]

The thing about the "money machine" mindset that investors and shareholders and other "moneybags" people don't seem to understand is that, uh, it's not a machine. It's not something that just prints money by existing. There is someone on the other end who has to go "this is worth my money". These big companies aren't owed anything from the consumer. I'm not an economist, but I can pretty accurately say that without laborers to produce a product and without consumers that want a product, you don't have anything. An economy does not exist without people to make a thing and without people to want a thing.

[@RecordToDeathToBoredom]

I like this guy. The way he talks sounds like he has so much fun telling everyone these crazy stories because of just how ironic they are. I don't know what "partnership" really entails, but I'm guessing ziff davis has a lot of advantage with this.

[@GladeRiven]

I am guessing they got hired back but are being paid quite a bit more as an outside company than in their old jobs.

[@xKB616]

I’ve known who Ziff Davis was from young childhood (late 80’s-90’s). Besides Nintendo Power, Ziff Davis published just about all the gaming and PC magazines I grew up reading, in the US.

[@lindenstromberg6859]

Sorry to be the pedantic guy, but "killed" is actually more correct than "murdered". Murder is when a person illegally and intentionally kills another person. And killing/murder is synonymous in that context.

[@AliceinEntropy]

I'd love if we lived in the kind of world where a court heard this story and said "you can't just do that, and the punishment should fit the crime. A fine would do nothing to you. Your entire company is dissolved and everyone you own is now on their own and up to be purchased."

[@varundattoo9512]

Ok so we're moving into a future where corpos are saying buy our shite and pay us? Just wow, simply knowing of the bell curve is disturbing. The generation of gamers that care for studios and creativity are probably less than 10% at this point, the masses that are just in it for popcorn flicks will fuel this spiral for a long time.

[@mesmorrow]

I been saying this for years, the video game industry needs to be regulated on an international scale, game developers are still being treated as if it's 1959.

[@LeoSiegfried]

The title immediately reminded me of Cleanprincegaming

[@MetalJoshi156]

Glad it wasn't just me that noticed

[@seanabsher5577]

Ziff Davis made ZD's website in the 1990s, but also had a ZDNet TV station and hosted some great shows, including some hosted by Leo Laporte and Kate Botello. As well as a few other shows including a videogame show, all of which became sold to / run by G4 eventually.

[@TheRexblisar]

4:04 Alright that sponsor is too far for me. Personal preference. You do good journalism but i fundamentally disagree with promoting any form of smoking. As such i will take my views and go. Been a fun ride.

[@Temporal7Lizardo]

@@TheRexblisar Fume isn't a smoking product. No nicotine, tobacco, or flames. However, it is an essential oil diffuser, and there are some health concerns r/e direct inhaling oils.

[@YevhenRawrs]

Lmao it's not smoking, nor vaping. It's just essential oils in a stick you inhale the offgassed fumes from. It's absolutely only something an idiot would buy but it's not giving you any of the nice things nicotine does, and it costs MORE than vaping. Not to mention it's just one company and not a whole industry. People really need to stop falling for this junk. Your favorite KZbinrs would likely LOVE to tell you "dude this is obviously totally garbage don't ever buy this I already got paid lol" but they obviously can't ever say so. You should give these products no more mind than you would some infomercial BBQ that burns your house down. 😂

[@DelightfulCoolCats]

Fume is used to quit smoking....

[@nickjohansen9038]

Thanks for reporting on this. I had no idea this was happening. I will no longer be supporting humble games or any of the companies you showed.

[@captainzib]

Never heard of their name? I used to have an EGM subscription!

[@steveintentionallyleftblan3398]

Keep going with the Citizen Journalism! Good job. I love this.

[@silenthalo07]

The cleanprince vibes are through the roof

[@jamestortorella5171]

I paid for humble bundle for years and probably cancelled about a year ago. They used to have amazing collections and even their "off" months had hidden gems. I remember getting the spyro and crash remakes and thinking how much i spent the past months waiting for an offer like this and realizing i probably spent about 3-4x the retail prices for them and a ton of shovelware.

[@nowlwane9623]

Half of the job is actually done. All the workers have to do now is to get back together and cut the management team out of the team projects. It shouldn’t be too hard to find a publishing contributor to fund their games all they really have to do is get clients to pay them.

[@ethanshoop3848]

@@nowlwane9623 have you ever had someone back out of a contract? There is much more than just finding a new person, you have to actually draft up a new contract, then find someone willing to take it. Except here you are the person who was told the contract is voided without reason

[@Twangaming]

@@ethanshoop3848drafting a new contract is not the difficult part. The main concern is IP law

[@secretchefcollective444]

@@Twangaming Hopefully those contracts stipulated that the IP was not owned by the party breaking the contract. If not then, well that's another lesson in business.

[@triplebog]

At this point, every publisher agreement should have a clause in there that triggers in the event of the shutdown of the publishing company or the firing of all it's staff

[@donaldpetersen2382]

They changed, nothing will be missed

[@Gaze73]

Humble is another case of a hero living long enough to become the villain. It's hard to find a company that doesn't do that.

[@TMS-Oddbot]

"I died... But I lived!" Yeah that is a crazy thing, huh? Man, even indie games are not safe from corporate greed. Which is strange, because actually ARE those indie games if they have a publisher? Lately I'm not 100% sure what indie means.

[@duskgaming18]

Indie mostly means like a smaller team and smaller budget. So Squid Shock for example is an Indie Team cause their personal development team is very small, maybe a few dozen people at most compared to companies like Nintendo who have hundreds of employees working on different projects. And Squid Shock also has maybe a couple hundred thousand dollars of budget, maybe a million or two if their Kickstarter did really well somehow. Compared to Nintendo again, where something insane like 100 Million Dollar budget for a game is more like a drop in the bucket for what they can afford. It's basically just, compared to players who have been in the industry for a while, they are small fish in a big pond

[@NicholasBaldwin-om9xv]

I learned of Zif Davis when they first acquired my favorite gaming magazine in the early 2000s, possibly late '90s???

[@jonathannz10]

Unimpressed with the sponsor of this video. Undermines channels credibility. Won't be back

[@techno_otaku]

I was really looking forward to Bō's release as soon as i saw it's trailer, even followed it's social media to keep up with it. Little did I know that it's celebration upon it's release was the death of many folks' job....

[@0fficialdregs]

As a small startup gaming studio, I'm happy to contribute to gaming through AA due to the vast creativity and originality. Currently finishing up on my company's first gaming bible, Project Waterboy, an American Football video game before crowdfunding next year which I should be done with the second gaming bible.

[@redknight326]

I got scammed by Humble previously when they were charging money for free music software... the worst part is that the software had a trojan with it and every instrument was locked behind a paywall. Never touched Humble after that.

[@bitmau5]

I didn't know that Ziff was still around. I haven't heard that name in nearly 30 years. Oh, I remember their very "Humble" beginnings.

[@PlomiennyJacus]

yeah, they're committed to navigating this "transition" with as much empathy as possible. empathy towards themselves, because they made such a hard *but necessary* choice.

[@rrc3]

Private Equity buying companies they don't know how to use. Film at 11.

[@skankmcgank]

@@rrc3 congratulations, this was the most useless comment

[@robinbinder8658]

imagine living in a 3rd world country where your employer can fire you from one day to the next, no warning.

[@Engezerstorung]

"...while also allowing us to chart a new course for the future." Hey, they did shart one at least

[@meanmole3212]

Imagine publishing your indie game through a publisher and then the publisher closes doors while owning your IP.

[@chappieindahaus2509]

here in the first 5 minutes humble bundle is dead??

[@rensten4893]

It died a while ago. This is that story.

[@Steve-xh3by]

@@rensten4893 Humble Bundles are NOT dead. I still purchase them regularly.

[@noticiasinmundicias]

They gotta release Humbler Blunder

[@caretaker808]

I love the title! Brings me back to the mid to late 2010's with clean prince gaming lol

[@navi2710]

I like the information in your videos but can you also maybe post good news from time to time? Would be nice to hear that the gaming industry isn't completely corrupt and shit

[@DeadEye364]

Well, there would first need to be some actually good news to report on.

[@synmad3638]

to be fair they do cover some good news, see the recent AoE video

[@jikal9032]

I stopped even looking at the site after they changed from "pay what you want" to "if you don't pay this amount you ain't getting shit"

[@prokjohnny7414]

39 seconds 0 views. Fell off

[@silverblood9632]

Gone with the wind