An 18-year-old from New Hampshire released a game called This Game Costs $200 earlier this year as a joke–but a lot of people bought it. The game generated $1.3 million in sales, but creator Michael Major didn’t get anywhere near that big of a payday.
He told WMUR that he set the price at $200 because that was the maximum a game could be listed for on Steam, and he expected no one to buy it. When he saw revenue of $1.3 million, he “almost died,” Major said. To be sure, there are games on Steam that cost more than $200–there is a $1,000 game, for example.
The developer only walked away with $2,000, however, in part because of mass refunds. Major also said it’s curious that the majority of sales came from China.
“I’m not joking. I have heard of expensive games on Steam being used for money laundering. I have no idea. I could be on a hit list right now,” he said.
Steam sales data shared in the video showed that the game sold 6,717 units, but 6,707 people got refunds, meaning 99.9% of sales were refunded. The lifetime gross revenue for This Game Costs $200 was $1.38 million, but Major walked away with $2,045 after all the refunds.
The Steam page for This Game Costs $200 describes it as “the swindle to end all swindles.”
“This game is also a psychological experience, where I try to convince you that this game truly does cost 200 dollars,” reads a line from its description.
The game takes place in the world of Schizopia and has players walking around a map full of cases of beer and packs of cigarettes.
The game has one review, from someone who played for 0.6 hours and said they recommend it. They said they made a lot of bad decisions in their life, like eating a toilet water-soaked sandwich straight from the bowl. But spending $200 on This Game Costs $200 was not the worst decision they ever made, they said.
This Game Costs $200 is a sequel to This Game Costs $10.
