Humble Bundle updated their terms of service on Dec 24, 2024 to state the following:

"In some cases due to various reasons, a key may not be available to replenish and in such cases, Humble Bundle may offer the same game on a different platform (“Alternate Keys”) if this is a possibility. In cases where Alternate Keys are not available to replenish, Humble Bundle is not obligated to provide them. Keys, including Alternate Keys, for all games, whether bought in a Bundle, Humble Choice subscription, or individually, must be redeemed within 3 years from the purchase date. Humble Bundle shall not be obligated to provide any keys, including Alternate Keys, to games that are unredeemed within aforementioned timeframe and thus become expired."

Source

I mean - three years is a long time.
That timeframe should be plenty to redeem your keys.

What would you say if GOG applied the same rule for it's non-freebie codes ?

I mean - three years is a long time.
That timeframe should be plenty to redeem your keys.

Oh , those poor key hoarders . How will they be able to sell / trade their stuff now ?

Just so you know, GOG does employ expiring keys. Or at least, did at some points.

Can confirm.

The keys themselves are still valid if you redeemed them from humblebundle but did not activate them. You just have to write them down before they disappear and hope you never gonna need a proof where you got the key(s) from.

As if I needed more reason to be vehemently against online-based-DRM. *pats his portable drive full of his GOG offline installers*

BreOl72: Three years is indeed a long time, but stuff happens.

I don't think I've gone three years, but I know for certain there are games on GOG that I went more than a year before downloading and installing them. These would be ones I either bought when offered for very low prices or one or two I received an offer to redeem for free.

For example, in September of 2023, so almost a year and a half ago, I bought Divine Divinity and Wing Commander 3, 4, and 5 when they were on sale for very low prices (not that they're expensive to begin with, but whatever). I didn't get around to trying Divine Divinity until late last year, and I still haven't installed any of the Wing Commander games. (bought the WC games for nostalgia reasons and to not need the four or five disc CD versions I already owned)

But I don't have to worry about losing access to any them like I might if they were tied to expiring keys...

It’s really a non-issue tbh. 3 years is more than enough time to redeem a key. As others have stated, even Gog does or has done this as well. It’s a DRM free shop. If you don’t redeem and then download the files…that’s a “you” problem. I have never understood this keyhoarding mentality. Actually…I somewhat do. The hoarding is done in hopes that a game may be delisted so that the key can be traded or sold at an inflated price. Some may say they hoard keys as gifts…but I find that debatable. It’s always about getting more than was invested at the root of it all. Again….3 years…more than enough time……..try that with a lottery ticket.

Well, the gift codes I bought on Gog in 2012 will eventually expire. I don't think that's enough time though. Might have to contact Gog for an extension. I'm thinking until Dec 31, 10000002199 @ 2PM

As a totally unrelated question. If the sun goes supernova will the Earth still have months?

Amazing how Humble Bundle can still offer keys for some games that have been delisted for years yet there are others it immediately ceases all sales. I wonder why they uphold such double standards for their keys.

The same way they always did as this change doesn't affect them at all.
However It does affect people like me who only reveal and redeem keys they want to play and keep the rest for friends/family as gifts down the line, although I wouldn't be against an occasional trade/swap with a complete stranger once in a blue moon.

Our sun will not go supernove, it does not have enough mass. When it runs out of fuel, it will first turn inot a red giant, then become a white dwarf.

However, when it does run out of fuel, the time it will take to expand from its current size, to its maximum size (which will mean it is possibly goin to engulf the earth) is going to take about one billion years, before it start contracting into a white dwarf.

edit - in other words, you will have time to redeem the Humble keys.

It’s not a double standard, it depends on the publishers of the games. Humble doesn’t generate the keys, they receive them from publishers. If a publisher provides them with batches of 50 keys, then once the game is delisted and they run out of those keys, that’s it. If the publisher had instead given them a batch of 1,000 keys, they can continue distributing them until the batch is depleted.

However, digital stores cannot sell new copies of games on their own. Online digital stores act as middlemen, facilitating sales between publishers and buyers. If a publisher decides to stop selling a game, the store must immediately comply. The store’s role is to process the transaction, take a percentage cut of each sale, and send the rest of the revenue to the publisher.

This is different from a physical store, where the retailer buys copies of the game directly from the publisher and then sells them to buyers at a markup. In that case, the interaction between the store and the publisher ends at the point of purchase, after that, it’s entirely up to the store what to do with the remaining stock.

(this is also why a physical store can sell at sales however they want, but a DD store can only have sales in agreement with the publishers)