Braid PC price rewound to $15
by Ludwig Kietzmann 
{ Feb 18th 2009 at 4:13PM }
Writing on his blog, Blow winds some of the controversy down, candidly explaining that the $20 tag seemed reasonable compared to similarly priced PC games, such as World of Goo and Crayon Physics Deluxe. Since the XBLA release was "nicely profitable," however, the designer has decided to shrug off the higher price -- which has proven to be "unpopular in certain areas of the Internets."
We feel kind of bad about sending those death threats now.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Giroro @ Feb 18th 2009 4:20PM
At least he pays attention.
joeybeast @ Feb 18th 2009 4:21PM
Is there any added feature or a direct port?
dantebk @ Feb 18th 2009 4:24PM
See, the thing is, World of Goo and Crayon Physics Deluxe are both overpriced.
I bought World of Goo on Wii for that reason, and am waiting for Crayon Physics Deluxe to (hopefully) go on sale.
DustoMan @ Feb 18th 2009 6:21PM
+1
Totally agree!!! I was just going to post that.
rogXue @ Feb 18th 2009 4:25PM
The guys still a dick, trying to milk people then realizing it's going to backfire. Drop it to $10 then I'll buy it on Xbox....
lasersanchez @ Feb 18th 2009 7:24PM
OMG the guy wants money for something he worked on! I can buy Sega Collection for $30 and be entertained for 200 hours! Therefore this game is worth less than a dollar!
sony boy @ Feb 18th 2009 4:26PM
LOL @ the last sentence
Hyams @ Feb 18th 2009 4:26PM
I played the demo of this on the 360, and loved it. Is there any chance of it coming to the PS3? If not, I might have to get my hands on the PC version.
Levi @ Feb 18th 2009 7:13PM
I'm holding out a little while longer in hopes that I can play it from my couch and get some trophies. If I don't hear anything about a PSN port in the next few months, I'll have to buy it on the PC. Everything about this game sounds like it is a must buy for me.
I really do hope he's working on a PS3 port tho.
JoeTheBlow @ Feb 19th 2009 4:34AM
"Too many cellz, costs millions per cell, too complicated, wierd japanese tech, oh noez!!"
*typical PC/Xbox dev*
nutman @ Feb 18th 2009 4:26PM
Well thats good. I remember that the Happy tree Friends game(awful) was $20 on the PC and $10 on XBLA.
Zanthox @ Feb 18th 2009 4:28PM
Awesome, someone who pays attention to the people he is making products for! This has pretty much guaranteed my purchase, even if i wasn't interested.
Roto13 @ Feb 18th 2009 4:28PM
I was going to buy it anyway, but this is better. :P
DangerMouse @ Feb 18th 2009 4:31PM
"Crayon Physics Deluxe, World of Goo, and Aquaria, among many others, are all priced at $20."
Yeah, because that worked out so well.
http://www.joystiq.com/2008/11/13/world-of-goo-has-90-piracy-rate/
lasersanchez @ Feb 18th 2009 7:41PM
People wouldn't have pirated it if it were any cheaper?
Moptimus Slime (Leader of the Taylor Swift Defense Force, Gobot in disguise) @ Feb 18th 2009 4:34PM
OMG $15? THATS WAY TO EXPENSIVE FOR ME, THE SUPPOSED CORE GAMER WHO WILL NEVER STOP BUYING GAMES
Sir Buzz Killington( The Artist formerly known as Jakka) @ Feb 18th 2009 5:14PM
I could buy a top-quality toilet paper roll for $60, just because I can afford it and that's how much I usually pay for everyday stuff like videogames, but even if it was the most noble and comfortable object to ever make contact with my hair ass it'd still be a piece of tissue I wipe my shit into, I payed $60 for.
And the point I'm trying to get across using that painfully terrible analogy is the fact that it doesn't matter whether $15 is a lot of money or not, but whether Braid is worth $15.
Also, you're completely missing the point. People were pissed because he charged extra $5 for an eight-month old $15 game for no credible reason.
lasersanchez @ Feb 18th 2009 7:26PM
Sir Buzzkillington, I don't see us bitching equally about Bionic Commando Rearmed being $5 more on PC, or console versions of multiplatform games launching at $10-20 more than their PC counterparts for no good reason.
Dante G @ Feb 18th 2009 4:40PM
Is that the game with Mario wearing a tie and with different hair color?
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!
Courtney @ Feb 18th 2009 4:51PM
Good for him. I don't particularly think that $20 is overpriced for the game (I paid the $15 on XBLA for it and paid $20 each for Goo and Crayon Physics). But the impression here is that he was screwing with PC buyers. Better to keep some price parity between the different platforms than screw anyone of them.
Also, he mentioned that he was thinking about releasing the editing toolset so that people could screw around with building their own levels. Not a polished, standalone level editor, just the same tools he used. I hope he does, that could lead to some really interesting fan projects.
Alex McKee @ Feb 18th 2009 5:04PM
Good. I was afraid I'd have to spend FIVE FREAKING DOLLARS MORE! Seriously guys, get a job. $5 really isn't that much. If you must, go without your venti-mocha-frappachino-with-soy-milk for a day, and put it towards something more likely to give you a good gaming experience.
Sir Buzz Killington( The Artist formerly known as Jakka) @ Feb 18th 2009 5:19PM
Question is: Why?
CaramelZappa @ Feb 18th 2009 5:22PM
People don't like it when you tell them how to spend their money. The game isn't worth $15 to the average joystiq commenter, why is that so horrible? Why do you care if they spend their limited amount of money on the games they feel are worth the coin?
ZaxCG2 @ Feb 18th 2009 5:48PM
5$ dollars doesn't sound like much of a difference... but with the image of the 20 dollar bill in the US, 14.95 sounds a whole lot cheaper than 20 bucks.
You know its true...
Also, I will buy it regardless, because I just love throwing money at these indie game makers. They deserve it much more than EA bigheads. Maybe not Valve though... >_>
Alex McKee @ Feb 18th 2009 5:51PM
I mainly care when people are like "Oh it's 20 dollars I'm totally pirating it. I totally wouldn't if it was 15." That's the annoying thing to me.
Levi @ Feb 18th 2009 7:25PM
"your venti-mocha-frappachino-with-soy-milk"
But I get mine with skim milk...
Anyway it wouldn't even be an issue if the game came out on a disc and was on the shelves. They could get away with selling it for $30 to start, and lower the price to $20 after 8 months. Joystiq would have posted about a price drop for an awesome game, and people would be all "awesome! It's cheaper now! I'm gonna pick it up!!!"
In other words, I think the downloadable game prices have really gotten to peoples' heads. It started with like that Pac Man remake and Geometry Wars - games that actually should be ten bucks - but put a much better, much less arcade style game on there and people are all "downloadable game for more than ten bucks? No thanks"
Temidien @ Feb 18th 2009 10:20PM
"...put it towards something more likely to give you a good gaming experience"
Are you implying that coffee is a gaming experience?
Tall @ Feb 18th 2009 6:30PM
Ok. I was on the fence, but NOW I'm going to buy it...again...maybe...
I Like Corn @ Feb 18th 2009 5:27PM
Ah. The good old "Make everyone mad with a high price, then 'listen' to them by making it almost reasonable" trick. I wonder how many people will buy it now JUST because they want to "support" "listening" to gamers.
Whatever. It's not an Adventure and it's simply not unique enough otherwise, so it doesn't fall into my indie games budget. Especially since it really stretches the definition of indie.
CaramelZappa @ Feb 18th 2009 5:20PM
The part he missed is where while World of Goo is priced at $20, it also has a "90% piracy rate" and gamers have stated publicilaly that this is because they thought the price was too high. How did he expect his game, which most interested people have already played on the XBLA, to do any better?
Cheezeman3000 @ Feb 18th 2009 5:20PM
Well played, Blow. I was gonna pass... but now I have no excuse. You secured my purchase.
For the record, I know it's only a $5 difference, but that $5 can buy me a footlong Subway that will give me two days of lunch. And, it's partly principle as well... it just doesn't feel right paying more for a game that came out 8 months ago.
CaramelZappa @ Feb 18th 2009 5:29PM
$5 may not seem like much, but that's 25% of the price, which is pretty damn significant.
lasersanchez @ Feb 18th 2009 7:28PM
Yeah, that's like, 4 pops from a vending machine.
Pan1c42 @ Feb 18th 2009 5:25PM
Now, where is our PS3 version that was rumored?
Levi @ Feb 18th 2009 7:26PM
Ditto!
Alex M @ Feb 18th 2009 5:35PM
Blow, it's not Goo and Aquaria and Crayon that everybody's going to be comparing Braid PC to. It's Braid XBLA vs. Braid PC. And the exact same features for a different price will get you crucified by the ravenous, unthinking, intermass.
Pan1c42 @ Feb 18th 2009 5:38PM
Now, where is our PS3 version that was rumored?
SunKing @ Feb 18th 2009 5:59PM
Behold, the mighty power of the internets! Seriously though, a smart move by Blow. At least he knows when he's made a mistake and is man enough to fix it. Very much appreciated. Or he's shrewd enough to set the price originally higher than expected, reducing the price after the inevitable uproar - claiming that it is because he listens to the community - thereby gaining good will. Supermarkets do it every day with overpriced bottles of wine: setting the price over what a bottle is in reality worth, lowering the price in three months time and then claiming it to be a discount - making it seem like you're getting a deal.
Whether or not the decision was a business ploy or just an honest pricing miscalculation, I will probably buy the game anyway. Fifteen dollars seems a fair enough price to pay as opposed to twenty dollars, whatever way you look at it.
deaftly @ Feb 18th 2009 6:06PM
Its not coming out on ps3, stop asking.
Hyams @ Feb 18th 2009 6:38PM
Pretty sure this is the first time I've asked...
I just want to play, is all.
Levi @ Feb 18th 2009 7:28PM
deaftly, last I read, he was considering PC and PS3 ports.. we now have the PC port. Do you have a link? If you do, it would be appreciated. I'd buy the PC port when it becomes available. Otherwise, I'll still hold out for a while.
Alex @ Feb 18th 2009 6:08PM
I won't buy this game unless they drop it to $10!!!
(please)
Levi @ Feb 18th 2009 7:31PM
OK, I have to ask: why? If a game isn't worth spending $15 on but is worth $10, is it even worth getting at all? If $5 is the difference for you, why bother with the game at all, as it sounds like you don't really care to play it much at all.
SeriousKriss @ Feb 18th 2009 6:13PM
Good. I'll pre-order it on Impulse then.
shuref00t @ Feb 18th 2009 6:51PM
Nice press stunt, Mr. Blow!
Looking forward to pirating this.
Pimliconite @ Feb 18th 2009 7:10PM
Damn strait. Now you DESERVE this game for free since he briefly attempted to charge you a price you did not want to pay. What a puny criminal mind.
Strategy_Panda @ Feb 18th 2009 7:10PM
Impulse? Ehh... I don't know about that service. If it came out on Steam, I would be all over the game. As of now though, I don't want more than one Steam-like app running on my computer and Stardock hasn't given me enough incentive to install it.
I know I sound like a bitch, but whatever. Its my opinion and I'm sticking to it.
lasersanchez @ Feb 18th 2009 7:30PM
I don't blame you. I'm not big on PC games or Steam, but it seems like a no brainer to just put all PC games on Steam. Unless Valve were to do something monopoly-esque and control prices and whatnot because they're the only game on the block. But that'd never ever happen, right?
Zephiel @ Feb 18th 2009 7:55PM
Impulse is better.
You only use it download/install, no DRM (at least from impulse, i suppose the games themselves can still use DRM) and it doesn't have to run in the background behind the game.
shawnyd @ Feb 18th 2009 7:15PM
good. It's one thing if Braid comes out at the same time as the 360, but it's months later..more than enough reason to drop the price.