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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Contest:
1:46 PM on 05.27.2008
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Steps to rule the world!
1) become internet famous
2) ?
3) PROFIT!
Well I guess that we could have a worse ruler...
if it takes another 40 at my leisurely pace, I'll be ready for Rain Slick about the time Episode 2 is released...
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.
#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 love the humor, and love the combat.
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 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 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)
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.
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.
yeah, no thanks
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.
Castle Crashers is a-coming.
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.