They launched as a cute side project created by a respected independent game developer that primarily generated revenue for charities through one-off bundle events. Their success with that model attracted blockbuster investment because of their high revenues… and then they tried to turn it into a business.

The outcome we are seeing now was inevitable, it’s doubtful Humble would have ever seen success if it had started out this way. I have sympathy for the founders, this wasn’t their vision, but it was the likeliest outcome once they took on investment to diverge from what made them successful. Expect to see many more years of frantic and sometimes radical attempts to become a meaningful profit source for their new owners.

The wonders of Capitalism.

capitalism isn't a company level problem

Remember back when the first bundle made a million dollars, and they were like “we have made enough money, let’s open-source all the games” — can you imagine anyone saying “we have made enough money” today? :(

I would guess too much growth in costs and staff leading to need to sell anything to cover the costs.

Then everything else, but lowest competence falls on wayside...

Humble has a huge organisation.

Is it really needed for something that is supposed to be a charity-ish?

It really isn't that anymore, especially not after having been bought by a billion dollar media/tech holdings company.

$$, or the perception of it.