Kyttaro Games, the studio behind the Bundle in a Box , says that despite its best efforts, the evolution of game bundles from occasional indie phenomenon to ubiquitous mainstream sales tool has left it unable to maintain the effort.
There are a lot of game bundles out there, offering everything from mainstream hits to stuff you've literally never heard of, and all of it stupidly cheap. Humble Bundle, the outfit that actually started the craze—remember when it was the Humble Indie Bundle ?—now has a digital storefront where it offers weekly game bundles, digital book bundles and sales of individual games, too. But not everyone has done so well.
"Most of you must have guessed this was going to happen, but the time has come to make things official: the Bundle In A Box bundle will be shutting down in one month from now (on the 8th of August 2014). And no, no more bundles will ever be released by us," Kyttaro Games announced today .
Unlike the Humble guys, Bundle in a Box remained steadfastly indie to the end. Its final offering included One Finger Death Punch, QbQbQb, Saviors, Cognition Episode One and Slender: The Five Pages, with extras for those who beat the average price of $4.61 including Rooks Keep, Isaac the Adventurer, Cognition Episode Two, Hairy Tales, Along Came a Spider and The Grave Digger. It also supported the Indie Dev Grant with $15 for every 100 bundles sold.
Kyttaro didn't go into the specifics of why it's pulling the plug now, but the bottom line is that it was too much work and not enough reward. "Bundle In A Box, you see, was never really profitable (the opposite, actually) and it did require thousands of essentially unpaid hours of work," it wrote. "Also, with the way the whole bundle phenomenon evolved, it was becoming more than obvious that the survival chances of a purely indie attempt that didn't happen every other day simply weren't there."
It's an unfortunate ending, but the good news is that Kyttaro Games itself isn't going anywhere. The studio said it will now focus all its effort on making games, and hinted at an "immense, innovative and wildly ambitious RPG" it currently has in the works. It also urged anyone with outstanding Bundle in a Box downloads or codes to grab them while they can.
