Welcome to Games for Breakfast, a new feature series here on BagoGames!
Games for Breakfast, written by features editor Angelo De Bellis, is a daily opinion piece of about 250-500 words—I gotta keep it brief—that engages topical game news. Every new post will go live at 9am EST so that you can grab your cup of coffee and read a brief account of a particular gamer’s take on the latest goings-on in the industry.
Good morning! For today’s post, let’s discuss the interesting news, as reported by Polygon, that The Last Guardian has been given a permanent price cut.
Even though Team Ico’s game has only been out for a few months now, going forward the game will cost $40 instead of $60. While it’s not any surprise that the game would receive a discount, almost all trip-A titles do, it’s a little curious that it received one so soon after release. I haven’t looked into the sales numbers myself, but I’m sure it’s no stretch to say that Team Ico’s near-decade cycle didn’t pay off.
When taking that into perspective, and the fact that there seems to be little buzz surrounding the game, I suppose dropping the price permanently is the only obvious choice to make. Though the game will likely not gain ground because of this maneuver, it will certainly convince the few who were teetering over the edge about whether to give it a chance or not.
Perhaps the most illuminating things to take away from the swift actions include the following: the longer you develop a game for, the more likely your are to face the inevitable law of diminishing returns; and, if you’re a consumer with a waning interest in a specific game, maybe give it some time, as the lukewarm response from others will likely cause the price to drop early. Equipped with this knowledge, I wonder how Team Ico will handle any of their future titles and if this type of price-adjustment tinkering by Sony, the publisher of The Last Guardian, will set a precedent for future titles that just aren’t gaining traction.