TR-49 Dev Says Alternative Pricing Strategies Needed Against 'Saturated and Algorithmic' Market

If you fancy yourself a distinguished detective, or a master-of-puzzles, the indie team at Inkle have you covered, as they've just launched a new code-breaking mystery game called TR-49, with a price point that is hard to say no to.

No need to wait for a sale; you can pick up TR-49 for just $7 US on Steam. Narrative Director, Jon Ingold, recently explained the low price point was chosen as part of an experiment to encourage gamers to buy impulsively.

Inkle Experiments With Pricing Strategies In "Saturated and Algorithmic" Market

Gone are the days when every video game was a physical copy with a simple price tag. Whether it was a disc, or a clunky cartridge, you bought the game, you owned the game, and that was it—times were simpler back then.

In today's market, we have free-to-play games that bank on microtransactions to make money, cloud-gaming services that offer hundreds of games for a monthly subscription, and billion-dollar companies investing in AI.

As the industry continues to evolve, indie studios are getting creative with their approach. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry, Jon Ingold explained, "With the market so saturated and so algorithmic, it’s pretty reasonable to start experimenting with price. We’re directly competing with free demos now."

Inkle started out as a 100% premium mobile game company, so bringing inexpensive games to the market is something they are fully familiar with. But Ingold explains a big part of their strategy with TR-49's price is focused on reputational return.

"Overall, I think we can afford to try these kinds of experiments partly because the game was very quick to make, and studio overheads are low – but largely also because we have quite a large back catalogue at this point. So there’s also a sense that, if TR-49 brings people to buy a second, higher-priced Inkle game, then that’s a factor in whether it's a successful strategy."

In TR-49 you'll discover a WWII-era machine containing vast archives of letters, obscure books, and journals that were being used to crack the code of reality, and it's your job to uncover the truth of the machine, its creator, and find a book that will rewrite the world.

So if you end up giving TR-49 a try and you enjoy it, Inkle has a deep catalog of games for you to follow up with, including: Expelled, Overboard, A Highland Song, and The Forever Labyrinth.

According to TR-49's Steam page, Inkle has drawn inspiration from narrative deduction games like The Return of the Obra Dinn, and The Roottrees are Dead, Type Help, and Her Story, and from audio dramas like The Magnus Archives and ars PARADOXICA.

Polygon's review of TR-49 reveals that despite being only $7, there's quite a bit of gameplay to enjoy.