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The new indie bundle with a Bitcoin obsession
The new indie bundle with a Bitcoin obsession
 

May 16, 2013   |   By Mike Rose

Comments 3 comments

More: Console/PC, Indie, Business/Marketing





A new indie game bundle has launched, with a significant difference to those that have come before it -- it can only be bought using the Bitcoin digital currency.

Not only that, but the developers behind The Bitcoin Bundle are getting paid in Bitcoins too. Those involved say that the move will hopefully prove an important step towards making players feel closer to the game creatives.

The bundle is being run by Eufloria dev Alex Amsel, with other notable indies involved, such as Omni-Labs' Rudolf Kremers, Felix Bohatsch at Broken Rules, Kyle Gabler from 2D Boy, and Marek Plichta at Spaces of Play.

The games included are Spirits, World of Goo, And Yet It Moves and two versions of Eufloria.

"For me personally it's a 'Fight the Power' type thing," Kremers tell us. "An alternative to greedy bankers and financial institutions, and another way for indies to do things their way."

More information on why the bundle has been put together can be found on the official website.
 
 
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Comments

Nooh Ha
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Given the massive valatility in the bitcoin market, this is a huge gamble for the indie devs

Jamie Mann
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Not really. All of the games in this bundle have been around for a while, and the developers have (presumably/hopefully) long since recouped the development costs. As such, there's no real risk in trying a new distribution channel: any revenue from this will be pure profit.

Then too, all the games have featured in at least one previous bundle - WoG in particular has been in at least three bundles (and has been offered as a bonus in several others). At this point, I'd guess that they're effectively mined out as marketable IP; a novelty like this is a good way of rekindling attention.

With that said, I'd guess that revenues from this bundle are likely to be low - and I'd also guess that a significant percentage of payments will come from people who want to "validate" Bitcoin as a currency, rather than from people who want the actual games. Either way, it's still going to be profit for the developers ;)

Andreas Zecher
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Yes, the games have been around for a while and made money on other platforms, so it's not a huge gamble. It's more an interesting experiment. Any revenue is not "pure profit" however. There is some cost involved in building the website and backend, and have it running on a server. Contrary to popular belief the cost of digital distribution is not zero.


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