XBLA darling Braid lands on PC March 31st [update]

Games that sell well usually have their price stay the same or decrease.

The idea of raising the price is to get as much dough as you can from the enthusiasts who are willing to shell it out. The idea of cutting the price is to broaden the market and generate sales by encouraging potential buyers.

Braid was supposed to fall into the first category, but as it turned out probably would have done better with the second approach, hence the confusion.

Anyone remember that post about 90% of world of goo pc players pirating it??
This just might be the same sort of situation... most ppl are not going to want to pay 20$ for this

This game is awesome and innovative and such, but there is no reason why it has the upper hand in prices and is $5 more on XBL, and $10 on PC. This game is 1.) short and 2.) aggravating.

Braid's a fun and great game, but the pricing of it is bullshit.

i forsee angsty nerds pirating this game in protest just to "show him".

although he might have raised the price to combat potential piracy.. it's a vicious cycle, what came first- the chicken or the egg :P

If it's released on steam I will probably get it, I prefer my games to be digital distribution that I can pull off the intertubes no matter where I'm at

Remeber kids, if you don't buy it you'll break Mr.Blow's heart and he'll start bitching about how no-one understands his game.

Boooooo

Yeah because the two guys that put in years of work so that you have a unique experience to enjoy don't deserve 15 bucks.

You're cheap dude.

I was looking forward to this coming out on PC, but at $20 I'm not going to buy it. If there happens to be a sale on Steam, I'll probably end up downloading it, but until then the game will remain unplayed to me.

@Levi

The question is: Is the game worth my $20. My answer is no. Just because two guys made the game doesn't mean I have to pay for it or buy it or support it in any way. By that logic, we should all buy Bob's Game right? After all one guy made it.

@Panda

Levi's point is valid. He wasn't saying you should pay for it because two guys made it, but that if you don't like the price you shouldn't resort to pirating it. It's an ethical argument that is doomed to fail, surely, because people who want to pirate it will pirate it no matter how many times or how correct you are about what they are doing is wrong. It's likely that the people who say they'll pirate it because it's $20 would do it anyways if it were less.

So while I don't believe I could convince people not to pirate this game, I will echo the sentiments of several other people and say that if you do pirate it, and like the game, you should really consider purchasing a legitimate copy. Helping independent developers out isn't just about "feeling good" about helping the "little guy", it's about making the market less risky for other independent developers to take a chance and produce a quality game.

Now that I've expressed my opinion on that subject, I have to agree I don't think the price should have increased. However, my guess is that the reasoning behind the decision is similar to what I opined above: that most of those who pirate it will pirate it no matter the price, so raising it will bring in more revenue per sale and cover, and hopefully surpass, the money lost from those who aren't willing to buy it at that price. Just speculatin'.

Nick 8707@

"However, my guess is that the reasoning behind the decision is similar to what I opined above: that most of those who pirate it will pirate it no matter the price, so raising it will bring in more revenue per sale and cover, and hopefully surpass, the money lost from those who aren't willing to buy it at that price."

How can it can be considered "money lost" when pirates weren't going to pay for the content in the first place - "no matter the price"?

It's potential revenue lost, which isn't exactly the same due to the nature of digital distribution, but is very close.

I agree that raising the price after the initial release price is pretty backwards.

Can I be the guy that points out that option C is impossible...?

No, I wanna be that guy. =(

Yeah, seriously. We have to wait months for a game they rave about but are expected to pay extra for that? WHAT? I really wanted to play this game but when there are so many other games that have so much more to them for that price or just a bit more, how do they expect (other) people not to pirate this like crazy?

Zanthox: the price shouldn't be the issue, the price INCREASE should be the issue. I disagree that other similarly priced games are somehow more worth it when this game presents a unique experience that those other titles don't offer.

Eh, C meaning same price + new content...*shame*

Why would you ever buy a game without playing the demo?

What game isn't going to disappoint somebody with such positive reviews? Killzone 2, Gears 2, Fable II, Resistance 2, PSN artie games like Eden, and flOwer all aren't as good as the whirlwind of positive energy would have you think.

You should have tried world 4 and 5. It gets really interesting there.

No, I think that when Blow sees that the game isn't selling very well he will immediately blame piracy. I speculate that he might raise the price even higher In order to counter this 'problem'.

Lol thats the M1330, the 13" version...

I have the M1530 and love it... Notice the sides of that one in the pic doesn't have the ~2 inch borders on the sides of the keyboard...

I love mine, but sometimes I wish I got the 13" instead to make it easier for taking to school and back...

ANYWAYS... I never bought Braid, but if I ever do, it's probably gonna be on the 360...

Dear lord, $20 for a good number of hours of gameplay is a steal and people like you are gonna pirate? You'll get more from Braid than with a lot of full priced games nowadays, so support this guy, okay?

I guess some of us are just too cheap to pay for a unique experience hey ToRo, don't you get enough pocket money from your mummy?. It's attitudes like yours that lead developers and publishers to rehash old crap and make a million sequels since idiots like you make it impossible to justify making a unique game. I purchased World of Goo on WiiWare instead of pirating it on PC and i WOULD buy this game straight up if it was made available on Steam. I support the games industry, especially the unique and obscure games. Mad World is a perfect example of a game everyone should buy and no-one should pirate to prove to developers that hardcore games do deserve a place on the Wii, just as World of Goo and Braid should never be pirated to prove to developers that we deserve brilliant and unique games rather than endless sequels and rehashes.

All you deserve is a punch in the mouth.

You see Foetoid, that's the beauty of the internet. You don't know what I do or don't support. I bought dead space used from gamefly. I loved the game so much that I gave it to a friend and bought a copy for myself brand new.

I'm not going to shell out $15-$20 for a game I'm not sure about. Especially if it's an Arcade game. I work hard for my money. And I'll be damned if I spent it on something I wasn't totally satisfied with. (reason why I don't a PS3 by the way) I Already did that with RE4 and I hated, and even though it only cost me $10. It's still (RE4) didn't serve it's purpose because it's just sitting there on the shelf collecting dust because I couldn't get used to the controls.

And I think Jonathan Blow is full of it. Spent too much money on your game? Boo fucking hoo.

don't own a PS3* Damn this non backlit keyboard.

There are better ways to deal with being unsure of whether or not you'll enjoy a game, like the demo or just not buying the freaking thing at all? Vote with your wallet, don't pirate the game to evaluate it (if that's your aim) because that's a stupid excuse and I don't believe it, especially when you say Blow's "full of it". What's that got to do with it...

Demo's aren't reliable. Take a look at the Dead Space demo. Not scary at all. But I still rented it because I couldn't stand the fact of RE 5 being the only survival horror game that I'll be playing this year (that's if I get used to the controls).

So I just pirate the game and if I i like it, I will buy it. Hell, if it was possible to rent games for the PC I would.

Yeah, it doesn't have anything to do with it but Jonathan Blow just annoys me. Seriously, every indie has had some type of financial difficulty with their game. Mr. Blow isn't any different.

"just too cheap to pay for a unique experience"

I've had a lot of unique experiences playing some pretty creatively made flash games. There are a lot of VERY high quality platformers that are built on flash and available for free. I don't think Blow knows what he has to go up against.

"You'll get more from Braid than with a lot of full priced games nowadays, so support this guy, okay?"

Except we're talking about the PC here, not a console. You can find a good marked-down 20 dollar game that's been out for 8 months to have great online support with a modding community. Game prices depreciate much faster than consoles, so finding good prices on decent PC games is fairly easy.

And why raise the price of a game that's 8 months old? He's going up against a target market that has a reputation for pirating (yes, i know everyone doesn't do it) and the whole fiasco with him and the price situation from before. so how does he cater to them and repair his rep? Ahh, raise the price. Great idea! Hope he knows what he's doing, but i'm sure many will wait for the price to drop.

ToRo is obviously lying about his "pirate as a demo" justification. He has a 360. We know this because he he was going to purchase it off XBLA and has already said he doesn't own a PS3. Even if he considers demos to be unreliable, he could get a pretty good feel of the gameplay from Blow's demo. I know, because I did and I subsequently bought it. If he hasn't downloaded and played that demo already, which I doubt he hasn't since he said he was about to buy it, then his statement "Demo's aren't reliable" is just an excuse. Whereas sometimes that is true, it's really not justified in this case. Even if it were true, that doesn't make it justifiable to pirate the game anyways.

20* not 30. Stupid iPhone

Welcome to Joystiq Mr. Blow.

Or not. I'm just a rational person who understands the current youth think they deserve everything for free. How would you like it if you went to work every day and a certain percentage of your money was taken from you? After taxes?

Not that I'm defending the price increase, but I do think it's wrong to pirate a game like this. If everybody did it, games would eventually just die. Look at the PSP. Everyone in America freakin pirates the games, and it has scared devs off.

Or not.

I'm not defending the price increase, but I am saying it's wrong to pirate the game. If you get something out of it, you should support it. Look at how badly the PSP library is suffering because of piracy.

I'm not even against pirating something to effectively rent it. I used to do that with music. If I liked the half CD that I downloaded, i'd go out and buy it. These guys worked hard on it, and you're literally stealing money from them if you pirate it, and they won't be able to make any more games if it happens too much.

So you loved Braid...implying that you've bought it. And since the game is only a few hours long, you've probably beaten it. And you're going to buy it...again? For $20 this time. And you say this is your - indeed, our - duty as gamers.

Somehow, I doubt there are enough of you to balance out the buccaneers.

God damn double post. I even refreshed before I tried again. Now I look like a maniac XD

No sir, I haven't even played it yet. I wouldn't buy a game twice, just saying if it's worth your time it's worth your money.

If you already bough it on XBLA, pirate the PC version to your hearts content. Might be against the law, but you showed your support, and that's what is important.

I agree with what you're saying Levi, but I just don't figure why the hell would they increase the price.

Don't get me wrong, I like to buy games. I own a pretty huge library of games in Steam, including everyone-pirated World of Goo.