Humble Bundle reinstating charitable donation sliders following outcry over removal
Plans for fixed donation cap temporarily shelved.
Humble Bundle has reversed its controversial decision to remove charity sliders from its bundle pages - a move that would have significantly reduced the percentage of payments players were able to donate charity.
Humble Bundle has long permitted customers to choose how they want to split their bundle payments between a charity, a game's publisher, and Humble Bundle itself, even allowing them to donate 100% of their money to charity if they so choose - a split determined by shifting a number of sliders.
It's a system that's so far helped Humble Bundle raise a whopping $195m USD (around £140m) for charity over the decade it's been in operation. Last month, however, the company announced it would be doing away with bundle sliders (and admitted it had already quietly removed them for some users back in March as a "test"), replacing them with a toggle system offering a fixed payment split instead - a move the company said it was making to bring its bundle pages "more in line with how our other products support charity".
By default, the new toggle system would see 5% of a payment going to charity, 10% to Humble, and the rest to a publisher. An alternative "Extra to Charity" option would see the charitable donation increased to 15%, Humble's cut reduced to 5%, and everything else once again going to publishers. Even so, 15% to charity is still considerably less than the 100% option previously available, and Humble's customers were less than pleased at the news.
Following a considerable backlash, Humble Bundle has now apologised and confirmed it will be reinstating bundle sliders - for now at least.
"We've heard everyone loud and clear," the company wrote, "and apologise for the way these changes were rolled out. We are now taking a moment to pause, collect constructive feedback and be more transparent about the path forward."
"Today, we'll be turning sliders back on for all customers on our bundle pages," it continued, "while we take more time to review feedback and consider sliders and the importance of customisation for purchases on bundle pages in the long term".
As part of this U-turn, Humble will begin introducing its previously announced bundle page redesign in the coming weeks, but these will now retain the original slider method of payment splits rather than the controversial new toggle system.
It doesn't sound like sliders have earned a permanent reprieve, however; the company says it still plans to explore "different approaches to the sliders and how splits work, along with new ways to incorporate charity into other parts of the user experience."
"We're just as committed to supporting charity as we were when we launched Humble Bundle," it concluded. "Be on the lookout for some updates soon, and thank you for your candid feedback and continued support."