IGN acquires Humble Bundle (update)

Humble Bundle, the charity-supporting digital distribution service and game publisher, has been acquired by gaming and entertainment outlet IGN, the companies announced today.

Financial terms of the deal, which was first reported by Gamasutra, were not disclosed.

“We chose IGN because they really understand our vision, share our passion for games, and believe in our mission to promote awesome digital content while helping charity,” said Jeffrey Rosen, CEO and co-founder of Humble Bundle, in a blog post. “I can’t think of a better partner than IGN to help Humble Bundle continue our quest.”

Rosen and fellow co-founder John Graham started Humble Bundle in 2010, and launched the very first Humble Indie Bundle — a pay-what-you-want package of Aquaria, Gish, Lugaru HD, Penumbra: Overture, Samorost 2 and World of Goo — in May of that year.

While game bundles have remained the company’s bread and butter, Humble Bundle has since expanded its operations to include a digital storefront, the Humble Store; a monthly subscription service, Humble Monthly; and a game publishing business. Rosen said today that since the company’s inception, it has raised more than $106 million for charity from over 10 million customers.

Humble Bundle announced its game publishing initiative in February, and its slate of projects includes the console versions of Gears for Breakfast’s platformer A Hat in Time. Of course, the IGN acquisition could present conflicts of interest, since IGN may want to produce editorial coverage of games that Humble Bundle is publishing.

Gamasutra reports that Humble Bundle “will continue to operate independently in the wake of the acquisition” with “some degree of support from IGN [...] in terms of accelerating growth and raising more money for charity.”

Update: A representative for Humble Bundle provided Polygon with the following statement from Mitch Galbraith, executive vice president and general manager at IGN: “Editorial integrity is something we take very seriously at IGN, and I am confident that we will strike the right balance when it comes to our coverage of Humble Bundle and the games they sell. Our readers and customers have always come first — and that won’t change.”