Humble Bundle alters terms of sale: Difference between revisions

[[Humble Bundle|'''Humble Bundle''']], a digital storefront offering activation keys for video games, altered their terms of service on December 24 2024 and retroactively enforced a 3 year expiration period for keys bought and not redeemed via their service.

[[Humble Bundle]] is an online market place that started operations in 2010, initially  offering collections of (mainly indie) game keys at a price determined by the buyer splitting the revenue with charities and the game developer.<ref name="ars">

Monthly subscriptions with similar revenue split schemas have been offered since 2015.<ref name="gamasutra">

}}</ref>, however as of July 2024 the Humble games division is, according to the company, restructuring and all the employees have been laid off.<ref name="">

==Limiting key validity period after the sale==

In December 2024, Humble Bundle modified their terms of service to include wording that allows them to remove unclaimed game keys from accounts after a period of 3 years, with no obligation to reimburse the buyer.<ref name="new-terms">

}}</ref> but has reportedly been applied retroactively to all previous purchases on the platform.<ref name="reddit-1">

In addition to the limited time to redeem the keys there is also the issue of limited supply of keys, highlighted in the same section of the TOS, that may result to periods of unavailability. According to the terms of service as of the time of or writing <ref name="new-terms" />

This may add complexity for users who may purchase their keys during a period of unavailability and be unable to redeem them immediately and could possibly result in keys being declared "expired" before a user has an opportunity to download the game they correspond to.

According to one user report on reddit that has been corroborated by others the expired status has been added to keys that have been "revealed" in the platform (claimed at a time they were available) and not redeemed to download the game. These keys were still found to be valid after they were deemed "expired" by Humble Bundle bringing into question the purpose of retracting the codes from use. <ref name="reddit-1" />

Humble Bundle has not issued a public statement regarding the change of the terms and the possibility of refunding or compensating users. Users have not as of now reported on how Humble Bundle's costumer support regarding keys that are unavailable to redeem and coming close to expiring.<ref name="reddit-3">

As this change has been rolled out without much notice the users who have noticed their keys showing up as expired that also have unredeemed keys on their accounts have been trying to get answers from support without much reported success.<ref name="reddit-3" /><ref>{{cite web

}}</ref> Many have been criticizing the change as stressful and questioning its legality in the EU and Australia <ref name="reddit-1" />.

 

*[[Retroactively amended purchase]]

*[[Post-purchase EULA modification]]