I don't remember exactly how the very early bundles were set up, but the first ones I think were purely "pay what you want" and didn't have the "pay more than average to unlock" mechanic. It seemed... cleaner back then.
Still, my only real complaint about HB is that they seem to want to create another GOG or something - most of their mails now are pretty much spammy, advertising the same deals on "regular store" over and over again. I used to be excited when I got a mail from them because it meant another cool bundle. Now it's mostly store promotions.
I think the pay over the average was very early. According to wikipedia[1] it was the 6th bundle[2], 17 months after the initial one. Bundles were offered much less often back then.
> most of their mails now are pretty much spammy, advertising the same deals on "regular store" over and over again
You know, I see the same thing. But this spurred me to look, and their account settings[3] allow you to customize exactly what types of promotions you want to be emailed about, so there's relief for both of us.
As for the early bundles, I recall paying attention to the first two-three, then ignoring them for few years, and only coming back to them around a year ago.
I absolutely agree. I liked buying the bundles before they started to artificially inflate the prices with a combination of beat the average and pay over X for this other game.
Before they started that I purchased every (or at least almost every) bundle for 20-30 dollars, but I haven't bought one since.
Still, my only real complaint about HB is that they seem to want to create another GOG or something - most of their mails now are pretty much spammy, advertising the same deals on "regular store" over and over again. I used to be excited when I got a mail from them because it meant another cool bundle. Now it's mostly store promotions.