Iron Lung, an indie horror game so popular it’s getting a movie adaptation starring Markiplier, has raised its pricing on Steam to $8 (£6.70), a price hike of two whole dollars. For some reason, this has upset people to the point where the game’s developer David Szymanski felt the need to respond.
In a thread on Twitter (thanks, IGN) Szymanski writes: “Iron Lung’s price went up because the game is worth $8 so I want to charge $8, because I want to earn more money,” adding that people who still had a problem with it could “go pirate it or something idc.”
As to whether he’s only doing this for the cash, he continues: “Yes, no fucking shit. I make games for a living. If I didn’t want to earn money from them I wouldn’t charge money for them,” adding in a subsequent tweet: “That’s it. There’s nothing complicated or hidden here.”
Honestly? This is fine. Iron Lung is still a steal for what it is: a short, haunting horror game that leverages a feeling of claustrophobia to great effect, throwing in some genuinely chilling sci-fi existentialism in there. I’m a wuss, so I’ve only engaged with it through video essays and let’s plays, but the idea of a dead universe filled with barren, blood-ocean filled moons—occupied only by stranded spaceships—is terrifying.
It should be noted that, when Iron Lung experienced a spike in sales related to the Titan submersible disaster, Szymanski felt that the wave of success felt “so wrong”, showing considerable discomfort. It was a time where he could’ve cynically hiked the price, but didn’t.
Raising it by a couple of bucks is a non-event—as is wanting to be paid for your work.
Szymanski caps off his blunt explanation with the following: “If you don’t think the things I make are worth the money I charge, that’s completely ok. Don’t buy them, or wait for a deep sale, or go the sneaky route and get them for free or whatever, and please tell me that so I can adjust the prices for whatever I release next.”
One commenter jokes that “It’s not the price increase, it’s the Battle Royale mode, David” to which he responds: “That would honestly be really funny.” I personally can’t wait to hit the griddy as Goku while in an iron coffin, drowned under the blood sea of a barren moon. How else is an indentured prisoner supposed to get their chicken dinner?
