The folks over at Humble Bundle has just made announcement that they will be soon unpublishing their Android app from Google Play Store. But fret not. This doesn’t mean that they are abandoning the mobile platform entirely. They are, in fact, preparing something better and a DRM-free installer will soon be available in APK form directly from them instead of Google’s app marketplace.
Humble Bundle hasn’t yet detailed what its exact plans are but they seem to have big things in mind. But for them to execute on that, they say that they need to remove the original Android app from Google Play Store first. In its stead, they will be directly distributing a DRM-free APK from their website. They aren’t saying if they’re going back to Google Play Store in the future, but this new method, though a tad more inconvenient, better matches Humble Bundle’s usual DRM-free approach to distribution.
Though understandable, it is a perplexing, if not disappointing, turn of events, to say the least. The app itself just went out of beta last August. Though it has never really been free of kinks, it gave Android users a very convenient one-stop shop for all their Humble Bundle purchases. Not only did it let them download games, the app also let users download ebooks, comics, and music they purchased from the store. Of course, those items can be downloaded from Humble Bundle’s website directly, but without the app, it becomes a bit tedious.
The good news is that for those who already have it installed on their devices, the app will continue to work as normal. They just won’t be getting updates anymore. Humble Bundle promises to alert its users when the new app is available, though it hasn’t revealed any timeline for such.
SOURCE: Humble Bundle
Just want to say that I have bought some Android games via Humble Bundle… and some of said games (well appreciated games worldwide) actually contained a advertising malware which force a constant bottom-right pop-up box (ironically showing ads for Play Store) in every browser installed on the device. I had to format my Android Tablet PC to remove the malware.
The thing is that Humble Bundle doesn’t scan or check any games it release through it sales and especially not those for iOS and Android. Whenever someone report to them such thing as a malware within an Android or iOS game they are “hosting”, they reply by specifying that all those who “buy a game” on Humble Bundle are purely responsible for any effect caused by the products. They take no action to fix any problem related to the security of their selection of software.
I wouldn’t have been surprised if Humble Bundle removed their apps because they couldn’t follow the rules for publishing their apps as it’s security is doubtful and inefficient. Play Store’s actually force any apps that appears on it to be 100% secure. Any kind of report about an apps being unsecured or infected by a malware can easily force the game out of Play Store’s list even if it’s just temporary.