Just been reading some of people's thoughts about the state of bundles over time and it's interesting. Myself I started out with Humble a few years ago, then IndieGala, then Bundlestars and a few others to a lesser extent over time. Of all the bundle sites my personal favourite is Bundlestars as they've put on a lot more bundles over time than any of the others seem to and have more active bundles at any given time so there is always a lot of selection, but more important than that for me is that I've found more games I'm personally interested in from Bundlestars than any other bundle site overall. I think I own about 18 or so bundles on Bundlestars. Next to that I think I have about 7 or 8 bundles on Humble, then about 6 or so on IndieGala. The rest it is just the odd one here and there.
I bought a lot more bundles the first year I started buying than in the last 12 months per se. and I'm not quite as excited about them now as I was unless something special comes along or something that has some really interesting titles that appeal to me personally. That happens from time to time but my (perhaps incorrect) perception is that most of the bundles out there are games that for my tastes I consider to be low quality 8-bit retro shovelware indie games and the like. I know some people love those type of games and hey - all the power too them if they are in demand and people love and buy them. They just don't appeal to me at all so when I see a bundle that has "8-bit kungfustars" or "Retrogeddon!" or YARL (yet another rogue-alike) I yawn and can't close my browser fast enough. Literally. I mean, I have considered writing a Firefox extension that will close the page faster than I can click my mouse, or perhaps using voice activation that picks up the sound of me sighing deeply and just does the magic for me. :)
Anyhow... :)
What I find now is that many of the bundles that are coming out are repeats of things from the past that I do already own or much more rarely a repeat that I missed before and am able to get now which is also nice, or they're those cheapo retro 8-bit platformers or shmups that I stopped caring about in like 1988 or so. I do like seeing the bundles with bigger named games whether new like the Humble Squeenix bundle, or the ones that included Batman, Starwars, or other big name games over time whether current or 10-15 years old. It's a nice way to pick up new or classic games from the wishlist when they show up with a great price like that. I only wish there were more of them, such as an id Software bundle for example... but that wont happen. :)
So while I have the perception that the bundles are less interesting now, I have to admit that part of the reason is that I've bought a lot of them in the past so I own a lot of it already, and I own a lot of games outside of that so over time it's more likely than ever that a new bundle is going to conflict with stuff I already own, or be less appealing. Also, as my catalogue grows, I become a bit more picky about what I'll buy too. There are definitely some bundles that I bought early on which I wouldn't even consider buying now because the games are overall more mediocre in some of those early bundles compared to some of the bundles I've picked up over time that include AAA titles of yesteryear etc.
Everyone has very wildly varying tastes of course so there really isn't any right or wrong about opinions of this, just what is right for the individual I propose. For me, I'm still happy with bundles overall, just not finding ones I care to get quite as often as a year ago. Nonetheless gems still pop up like the Star Wars bundle and this new Square Enix one although I haven't bought the Squeenix bundle as I own the Hitman series already, Deus Ex Human Revolution, Tomb Raider - in that case I really only want Thief and Murdered Soul Suspect, but not sure I'll go for it just for those two titles. If the first tier included 1 or 2 games that I wanted i'd buy the bundle in a heartbeat. Instead I'll probably wait it out for a future bundle that is more attractive or perhaps even get lucky on steamgifts or whatnot. It isn't a bad bundle though especially if someone wants but does not own Hitman Absolution, it is a very cool game IMHO. Don't care about Android games being mixed in with PC games though, I don't own android devices so that is useless to me. I hope they don't start a trend like that, I'd rather see PC game bundles and separate Android game bundles personally. :) Oh, and the Sleeping Dogs tier... would liek that game but an extra $10 to get that tier which includes a game I already own isn't interesting, especially when that game will be $5 in a 75-80% off sale in 1-3 years anyway. :)
Some of the bundles sites have just dried up completely with regards to titles I remotely care about. Nowadays only Bundlestars, Humble and IndieGala appear to ever have anything of interest, but like I said they're more spaced apart now in terms of games that interest me in a packageset/price that work out for me, so I am more choosey nowadays and less whimsical too.
As for whether bundles are destroying the industry, I think that the industry tries to anticipate what people will like and try to make products we'll buy at prices that we'll accept, then they adjust the prices/packaging/promotion of those products over time to find business models that work for them. We in turn spend our money in ways that we think give us value for the dollar that we find attractive enough to part with the money and they cash in on our purchases. It will always work like this and while the type of content that is created will change over time, the way it is packaged and delivered, bundled, priced will change over time, ultimately we wont buy what they have to offer if we don't like what we're getting for the price, and they will always be trying to make something we want and some will be successful at it and others wont. The unsuccessful will fail to the wayside and be replaced by those that are more successful at it, but they're only successful at our wallet's opening.
In other words, I believe in the efficient marketplace of supply and demand, and voting with our wallets. I have no fear of the market disappearing or of them not making games anymore that are interesting because "bundles destroyed the universe" or anything like that. We have fistfuls of dollars to throw into the wind and someone will always try to make products to grab our money - always, there will never be a shortage of games. If anything there will be an increasing overabundance of them, which is all any statistics could possibly even show right now.
It is the best time ever in history to be a gamer. Best selection with the most titles of any type of game imaginable, and best prices ever, best distribution methods ever. I believe that it can and will only continue to get better, with or without bundles. :)
