The fans have been heard! According to a blog post, RiME publisher Grey Box has announced that RiME‘s digital version on Nintendo Switch will now cost $29.99 / €34.99 / £29.99, equaling pricing on all other systems. The physical version of the game will remain $39.99 / €44.99 / £39.99 on Nintendo Switch only.
Originally, the game was told be sold on all systems but Switch for $29.99 both digitally and physically, with the Switch version alone costing $10 extra. Grey Box asserted the price hike was due to “additional development, manufacturing, and publishing costs” associated with porting the game to Switch. However, fans backlashed, which has caused the company to make this announcement.
Here’s an excerpt from the blog post:
“The reason for the higher price was due to the additional development, manufacturing, and publishing costs involved with that port. While some were understanding of these go-to-market costs, there were still a number of folks who weren’t happy. We totally understand: nobody wants to pay higher prices.
At Grey Box, we are determined to provide a fair deal for everyone around. And so we discussed how we could do that, without simply selling at a loss, all while also being fair to our retail partners.”
To hold true to retailers, Grey Box has also announced that the physical version of RiME will come with a download code for the game’s soundtrack, redeemable via Bandcamp. Grey Box says the soundtrack is planned to be sold separately later for $10, so the value remains the same for everyone. An odd move, to be sure (especially using Bandcamp commercially), but hey, kudos to Grey Box for listening to their fans and responding appropriately—with action.
While I do think the method of distributing the soundtrack via Bandcamp is rather strange, it’s great to see Grey Box reacting quickly to fans’ disapproval and coming up with a way to satisfy all parties involved. And the pack-in soundtrack isn’t a ripoff, either—the music is beautifully scored. You can check out a sample here if you’re interested.
RiME is a single-player puzzle/adventure game launching on PS4, Xbox One, and Steam on May 26, 2017. A release date for the Switch version has yet to be announced.
