Despite extensive bitching all over the internet that the price of the first chapter of Penny Arcade's new serial title, Penny Arcade Adventures, was too pricey for their pocketbooks, it seems most people got over their crabbiness long enough to download the title. The game made $330,000 in its first three days, beating out the previous record debut titleholder, Worms HD.
The positive response will likely lead to a brisk release of the second chapter, but this isn't good news for the exploits of Gabe and Tycho alone. This also marks the success of bigger games becoming available through XBLA, as the title exceeded the 150 MB limit by 15 MB. It also marks a successful start for episodic content, which may lead to more companies following suit in the near future.
So for those of you who bought the title -- did you love it enough to buy the next chapter when it is released? My answer is a resounding yes, but I'm a bit biased as the wit of PAA was right up my alley.
[Via VGChartz -- Thanks, Justin]
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I'll be buying the next chapter when it's released. I had quite a bit of fun with the first.
as great of a game as it is, No crap it costs $20
ps3 ftw
Buying the next chapter the day it's released.
No shit, its 20 bucks
Oh noes! *checks list*
Steps to rule the world!
1) become internet famous
2) ?
3) PROFIT!
Well I guess that we could have a worse ruler...
Yep, loved it and can't wait for the next chapter.
The demo was OK, but the RPG element killed it for me.
My only gripe was that the game was so fun that I beat it too quickly. Even for an episodic game it seemed a bit too short but I'd say totally worth it otherwise.
I loved the game, but I will absolutely not pay 20 dollars for an expansion/episode. The price was ridiculous to start with. If it weren't for my undying devotion to point and click adventures, this game would be rotting at the bottom of the bargain bin.
It was totally worth the money.
God, if they fixed the issues with the overall game difficulty, and added some more customization, this series would be damn near perfect.
Did it sell more copies than Worms 3D or was it just more expensive?
this game rocked!!! the big words and humor were worth the 20$
I like PA humor, and found the gameplay pretty fun, but still had a bit of trouble justifying the price tag to myself, especially since I heard it was only 5~6 hours long.
I liked the demo, but put off buying the full game as of yet. First must get finished with GTA4...I'm 60 hours in, and just now unlocked all the islands.
if it takes another 40 at my leisurely pace, I'll be ready for Rain Slick about the time Episode 2 is released...
I was quite pleased with the demo as well. It's standard PA humor, and the 2D cutscenes are very nice to look at.
I'll wait and try to get some points cards, otherwise, I'l just suck it up and get the download.
thing that's crossing my mind however, is that if each installment features 200 achievement points, can we expect a full out release of every future title in some sort of compilation wit hsome extra content to cover that last 200 points?
I'd be down for that.
Worth it, I will buy the next episode for sure!
The XBLA needs a diminishing cost system. It makes sense to debut the game at a higher price point to soak up the hardcore fan dollars, but it needs to become more attractive to the less hardcore audience who would then be willing to pay for subsequent episodes.
Top 4 XBLA launches over 3 days (from PA):
#1 RezHD, 25k units
#2 Ikaruga, 22.5k units
#3 PAA Episode 1, 16.5k units
#4 N+, 13k units
And $20 is worth it. It's a great experience for about 7.5 hours of gameplay. Bioshock was triple the cost for only about double the hours.
I'll definitely buy the next episode. I'll just skip lattes for the next few days.
I love the humor, and love the combat.
Definitely thought I got what I paid for, looking forward to the next one. I hate rpg combat, but never got bored with the fighting here; wouldn't mind seeing the later games tip a bit more to the adventure side of things, since this one felt more like a beat 'em up than anything else, but I'll take what they give me.
Haven't bought it yet, waiting for school semester to end.
I really need to buy me some new XBLA points so I can download this.
...I ...don't ...have ...internet ..access ...at ...home *sob*
I'm moving, so I haven't had a chance yet to get internet access to grab this game. At a bare minimum I was hoping it was going to be like the Simpson's game, so-so gameplay, but as funny as shit on a biscuit.
Highest grossing doesn't seem like that much of a shocker, PA has a solid following and at $20 a pop it can get to highest grossing a lot quicker than the $5, $10, $15 dollar games.
oh, and uh.... Yay Penny Arcade!
That means 16500 people paid $20 for it, which isn't really all that much when you think about it. How many people would've bought it at $10? The true success of the game will be measured in how much it can continue to sell over the next few weeks, not what it sold it's first few days. Especially since sales of future episodes depend on sales of the first episode. No one who skips the first one is going to buy the second one and not everyone who does buy the first is going to continue on to the second and beyond.
That said, I don't think they're going to continue to charge $20 for the episodes. If they're as smart as I know they are, they'll drop the price of Episode I to $10 when Episode II comes out at $20, then that will drop to $10 when Episode III is released and so forth. They'd get a huge bump in revenue when Episode II comes out from not only sales of the new game but from all the people who couldn't bring themselves to shell out $20 for the first one. The benefit to that is, when Episode IV comes out, people who bought the discounted episodes all along will probably be more willing to drop the $20 for the final episode. That would result in an altogether more reasonable $50 for all the episodes.
I'd wager that if they drop the price of Episode I to $10 when Episode II is released, Episode I will outsell Episode II that week, or damn close to it. Because not only will a lot of people to decide to jump in with Episode I at that point but a lot of those who shelled out $20 for Episode I will then wait for Episode II to drop to $10 as well. For every PA fan who shelled out $20 for the game there's probably another 2 or 3 who passed because of the high price. I know I'll download it as soon as it drops to $10.
I don't how care how people justify a $20 price tag for a 5 hour game, I see the big picture as it being a 20 hour game that will be $80. That's just nuts, especially for an RPG. I'm more than happy to allow all the early adopters to subsidize a decreased price tag for me later on.
I enjoyed it the whole way through, and the $20 was worth it imo, mostly because I knew I would enjoy it. Though I do agree, that when the next episode comes out the previous title should be dropped.
Fuck yeah! Go Penny Arcade!!! BTW: The game is freaking amazing, so anyone who has an xbox and hasn't played it, definitely pick it up. ;)
skullivan: That's 16500 for the XBLA version alone. It was also released for Windows, Mac and Linux. And we don't know how much those sold.
I can't wait for the next one. I thought that it was a rather balanced game. I loved the items. Not only were they actually useful they were damn near necessary in the later part of the game. Plus they were plentiful so you never felt bad about using them.
I did feel a little giped when I figured out there were only going to be two real areas to explore. But after playing for a couple of hours I felt content and was left wanting more. I can't wait to see how the next story pans out.
(and I can't wait to unlock the DivX player/monophone thing and see how that turns out)
Oh, I will definitely pick up Episode 2 the moment it is released. I'm on my second play through of the game now, and I can imagine myself doing three before the next episode comes out.
It was way too short, but I don't regret buying it. I'm waiting for chapter 2
Wait until Legend of Frank is released, it will kick it's ass.
I hate to be so pessimistic about all this, but I fear that other developers will take note of this and only see the success with charging $20, and not see the (presumably, I haven't tried) quality gameplay.
That's probably the thing that I hate most about the $20. The breaking of precedence when it comes to pricing.
I just keep getting this bad image of the future where companies deem it acceptable to start charging $20 and up for XBLA games, regardless of how good it is.
What a misleading press release. The fucking thing costs 20 bucks! Every other game maxes out at 10 bucks.
love the humour, only downloaded the demo for the pc, but i dont see this game going for 20 bucks so i didnt buy it.
15 would be more "fair" for such a short game.
Probably I will buy the whole seasson in the future.
And I hate that it is not on STEAM.
$$$ = no game for MechaMonkey
Played the demo and loved it. I'm going to have to get the full game eventually.
like I said elsewhere, I would have paid $20...but I paid $5. Target has 1600 point cards on sale for $15, and I "persuaded" the cashier to take my "$10 off Xbox 360 gaming software" coupon for the transaction (under the veiled threat of a 5 month old going into full tantrum - my daughter, not me - if I didn't get out of the store ASAP.)
Penny Arcade...
yeah, no thanks
Already beat the game today. Definitely worth the 20 bucks. If you like Penny Arcade or RPGs, check it out.
@Velt
It's not on Steam because Penny Arcade is releasing their own Steam-style distribution system called Greenhouse with this game as the first game available.
They wont keep that title for long.
Castle Crashers is a-coming.
Bought it and enjoyed it.
Episode 2 will need to add a lot for me to shell out another $20 though. I can't get over thinking of this game as 1/3 of GTA4 (or $20 MORE when all is said and done). We aren't even buying physical media here - I can't sell the game to EB to get half my money back or give it to my brother-in-law to try. I'm ok with not actually owning a few old VC games on my Wii or the occasional $5-$10 amusement on XBLA, but at some point I have to say no more.
I'll wait for the "series" disc to come out before I pick up the rest of them.
I got it and finished it, but no way am I paying for a new episode if it also costs $20. The game was way too short for that price and doesn't have the replayability of much cheaper XBLA offerings.