tl;dr: key shops… use https://gg.deals as a finder
For those who didn’t know, whenever Humble Bundle or other services have a package available, you can usually find the individual titles for even cheaper than you normally would at keyshops if you don’t want/need the whole package.
For example, this month’s Humble Choice is $11.99, but I only wanted to add Aragami 2, The Red Lantern, and Twin Mirror to my collection.
Using the above gg.deals website, it pointed me to:
- Aragami 2 - driffle - $2.41
- The Red Lantern - kinguin - $0.78
- Twin Mirror - kinguin - $1.27
Total: $4.46
Those prices were the final I paid after discount codes and service fees, but may change at any time for better or worse at different shops.
Hope this is helpful to someone, this concludes this PSA.
edit: regarding possible scams from gray markets
I have purchased literally hundreds of steam keys from such shops over the years and have had a grand total of only 3 keys be removed from my account within days or weeks, and was granted refunds from the shops when I provided proof from Steam that the keys were rejected as duplicates. Every game I’ve installed other than those 3 have worked without issues. It’s an educated risk that I failed to mention because it’s been over 99% successful for me. Make your own call.
edit2: Also worth mentioning that there are many games in my Steam account that were added after the games were delisted, such as the original GTA Trilogy, solely because I could still find keys on keyshops. If you want a delisted game, it’s worth considering.
For Humble Choice, the charity gets 5%, and there’s no way to adjust that as far as I know, so you’re worried about a whole $0.60 per membership, assuming you paid full price for the month at $11.99. If you managed to get it at $8, it’s $0.40.
If you’re going to be upset about something, save it for non Choice bundles, where you can actually adjust how much the charity gets.
And even then, if I have most everything in the bundle, I’m still not paying $25 or whatever for it.
What’s crazy to me in light of this post’s exchanges is that often these cheap keys show up a day or more after Choice or a bundle goes live, and there may be only one or two keys per merchant, so it’s entirely possible people are buying the bundles, and just reselling the keys separately to make a buck after the publishers and charities already got their cut. Maybe, or not.