Insane EA Humble Bundle

COYVB

Monotype wrote: »

But Humble Bundle isn't a charity, it's doubtful they'd be allowed to write off the full amount. You'd have to be a registered charity. I don't know US laws, but for most countries there has to be a set of criteria for something to be considered a charity.

They'd definitely be able to write it off, if not as a charity, then as a gift, or promotion, or advertising or any number of things. They're not giving those games away, they're covering themselves more than sufficiently, like any publisher who gives away on humble

Jonny7

COYVB wrote: »

$165m made for charity now, and EA can probably write off enough to fund 3 triple A games. everyone is very much winning here

It's at 4.1 million

Write off? they are writing off future profits on all of these games, which people are still buying (not anymore after this sale)

EA aren't really losing an enormous amount of money on this, but they are losing money. However the trade-off, and they obviously feel it's more than worth is a better image of the company, reputation, and a much bigger base using Origin.

Not completely altruistic, but everyone benefits. the gamers, EA and the charities, and of course humble bundle who are ****ing raking it in.

marco_polo

COYVB wrote: »

They'd definitely be able to write it off, if not as a charity, then as a gift, or promotion, or advertising or any number of things. They're not giving those games away, they're covering themselves more than sufficiently, like any publisher who gives away on humble

Like I said feel free to be more slighlty more specific about exactly how the IRS would allow a tax write off of tens of millions of dollars on intellectual property, that will dwarf the amount of money actually raised.

COYVB

marco_polo wrote: »

Like I said feel free to be more slighlty more specific about exactly how the IRS would allow a tax write off of tens of millions of dollars on intellectual property, that will dwarf the amount of money actually raised.

Easy, value of the product is the cost they're currently sold at by EA on their own retail store, which is just shy of $200. That's the market value of the products on offer here. EA aren't charging for them, they've given them to Humble to allow them to raise money for charity, and they'll be written off at their current retail price at the time of giving them away.

I'm north of the American border, but say we have a product here with our company, and we decide we're going to give some of them away, we write off the market value. Simple as that. No hoops, no playing with numbers, just a straight up expense as a promotion

AlmightyCushion

COYVB wrote: »

Easy, value of the product is the cost they're currently sold at by EA on their own retail store, which is just shy of $200. That's the market value of the products on offer here. EA aren't charging for them, they've given them to Humble to allow them to raise money for charity, and they'll be written off at their current retail price at the time of giving them away.

I'm north of the American border, but say we have a product here with our company, and we decide we're going to give some of them away, we write off the market value. Simple as that. No hoops, no playing with numbers, just a straight up expense as a promotion

If it is true that EA just saved themselves over $150 million in tax revenue by doing this, then why isn't every company doing this? Why did previous companies even bother taking a cut when they were doing a humble bundle? Best case scenario EA would have brought in just over $4m if they had taken a cut (and that's if every single cent went to them and the amount sold and value sold at was the same), yet by not taking a cut they get a $165m tax write off. If this was the true, then surely games/software companies would be lining up to do this just before the end of the tax year.

Imagine if Microsoft did a humble bundle giving away Windows 7 or Windows 8 and Microsoft office. They'd be able to claim at least €300 per sale (close to €1,000 if they were giving away professional versions).

If they are able to claim anything, it will either be the value that is donated to charity through HB or the cost value to them of the games. The cost value will be substantially lower than the retail price and the older ones even more so as they would have depreciated in value.

Jonny7

COYVB wrote: »

Easy, value of the product is the cost they're currently sold at by EA on their own retail store, which is just shy of $200. That's the market value of the products on offer here. EA aren't charging for them, they've given them to Humble to allow them to raise money for charity, and they'll be written off at their current retail price at the time of giving them away.

Absolute twaddle

Every company would be dumping their stock for charity if this was the case

ShadowHearth

I cant believe people still find a way to bitch about all this... I got like a half of ton of Triple A titles for a fiver. Even if all that money go to fund drugs for irish government I am still happy. Great value.

Nollog

Jonny7 wrote: »

It's at 4.1 million

Write off? they are writing off future profits on all of these games, which people are still buying (not anymore after this sale)

EA aren't really losing an enormous amount of money on this, but they are losing money. However the trade-off, and they obviously feel it's more than worth is a better image of the company, reputation, and a much bigger base using Origin.

Not completely altruistic, but everyone benefits. the gamers, EA and the charities, and of course humble bundle who are ****ing raking it in.

EA are devaluing their Intellectual Properties!

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-07-11-valve-counters-eas-steam-sales-cheapen-intellectual-property-accusation

Ross_Mahon

Have Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box Origin Key.

PM if interested.

MadYaker

I don't give a f*ck what their motives are. I didn't own any of those games and just got them all for $5! This is my first time using Origin but I don't see why everyone complains about it so much. Its not as good as steam but it still works.

takamichinoku

Bought this without even checking if ANY of the games work on my laptop (I doubt they do). I'm gonna have a crazy load of games ready to play whenever I get a new computer with all these humble bundles I seem to be stockpiling.

Bit off-topic but can anybody play Burnout Paradise Muitlpayer on steam after buying the bundle? Every time I try to log into the Ea servers it says there offline?

Wooden Jesus

Have spare Burnout, MOH and Dead Space keys for origin if anyones interested throw me a pm

C14N

I greatly doubt that EA can claim back the expense of the bundle (~$200) in direct tax breaks. It's completely out of proportion to the money raised for charity and as pointed out, if this was true then everybody selling intellectual property would pretty much just give it away and get paid hundreds of millions by the government instead of raising revenue. It's not like giving a defibrillator to a hospital where there is an inevitable material cost, they can just make ****eloads of money by setting an incredibly high initial price and then giving it all away.

Also, it's kind of funny watching people pointing out "they're only doing this as a marketing promotion". It's kind of like saying "that waitress was only so nice and polite so we'd come back and eat here again". Sure it's marketing, everything in every business is supposed to help the bottom line but it's by far my favourite method of marketing. They could have just taken the money and spent it on more annoying advertising (anyone remember Dead Space and Dante's Inferno marketing?) or swag for reviewers to try to sway better Metascores but they didn't, they practically gave away a load of games (some of which still go for reasonably high prices in stores) and sent the money to some very good charities.

If this is some sort of new PR direction then I'll be happy to openly "like" EA from now on, because everyone and his dog knows that you can't do that now.

I have some of these to give away too..

Dead Space Origin Key
Dead Space 3 Origin Key
Crysis 2 Maximum Edition Origin Key

If you want any of those, drop me a PM and I'll send you on the key.

khawaja07

PM sent ...

Varik

Surprised that the average price is still going up, usually at this stage it's only people/key resellers paying the minimum and therefore driving the average down.

Overheal

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

If it is true that EA just saved themselves over $150 million in tax revenue by doing this, then why isn't every company doing this? Why did previous companies even bother taking a cut when they were doing a humble bundle? Best case scenario EA would have brought in just over $4m if they had taken a cut (and that's if every single cent went to them and the amount sold and value sold at was the same), yet by not taking a cut they get a $165m tax write off. If this was the true, then surely games/software companies would be lining up to do this just before the end of the tax year.

Imagine if Microsoft did a humble bundle giving away Windows 7 or Windows 8 and Microsoft office. They'd be able to claim at least €300 per sale (close to €1,000 if they were giving away professional versions).

If they are able to claim anything, it will either be the value that is donated to charity through HB or the cost value to them of the games. The cost value will be substantially lower than the retail price and the older ones even more so as they would have depreciated in value.

I don't see how CD Keys have any intrinsic value. They can essentially produce an unlimited number of keys and write them off at whatever price they want? I would love to say "HA I dont think so" but then I remembered I live in America, and I have seen some unbelievably dumbass sh*t in my short life.

If anybody wants to throw Mirrors Edge or Burnout at me meanwhile..

ancapailldorcha

I can give you both, Overheal.

Mycroft H

Just felt especially altruistic and gave $15 for it. Great value.

chrislad

I only paid the minimum as I already had Dead Space 1, Mirrors Edge and Burnout. No interest in The Sims or BF3. Good deal for Dead Space 3 though!

cherryghost

C&C RA 3 and Populous have now been added to the bundle.

POPULOUS!!

Gummy Panda

cherryghost wrote: »

C&C RA 3 and Populous have now been added to the bundle.

POPULOUS!!

Do I get them retrospectively?

Dravokivich

Gummy Panda wrote: »

Do I get them retrospectively?

Should do. Will be displayed for you on the link you were sent when purchased.

ancapailldorcha

Are either C&C3 or Populous any good?

Dothehustle

c&c is good not a patch on the old one's tho
But Populous I used to love many many years ago
i doubt it will have aged gracefully

Anyone wants Crysis 2 key for steam pm me

C14N

Bah, was hoping for Dead Space 2. Well I'll give these two a go anyway, I didn't have either before and I've heard good things about both.

Sierra Oscar

cherryghost wrote: »

C&C RA 3 and Populous have now been added to the bundle.

POPULOUS!!

Time to get back into C&C.

Where is my 'C&C: The First Decade' disc set when I need it.

POPULOUS! Yay.

Nody

I was not going to buy this pack (have / don't care about the games in the original pack that much) but with C&C3 and Populus how could I NOT buy it?