Digital Games Market Booming: Kalypso lowers prices and passes saving to fans
New policy in effect with pre-order for upcoming fantasy title Disciples: Liberation
The Kalypso Media Group has today announced a new price reduction policy for all of its titles moving forward. The policy arrives as a result of constant shifts in the video games marketplace, a further move toward digital sales, and the noticeable and ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Kalypso has confirmed that its sales are doing well and that, moving forward, the resulting profit margins will be passed directly back to the players in the form of a lower baseline price for all titles.
“We have been able to increase our digital sales and, above all, margins in recent months, while physical sales in traditional retail have slumped due to the COVID-19 situation. Currently, we do not expect this trend to reverse even after the pandemic. Most of our fans buy or stream games, primarily, digitally, so it is very likely that sales of physical products will continue to decline, saving us costs in manufacturing, logistics and distribution,” said Simon Hellwig, CEO of Kalypso.
In the past, new release games from the publisher have launched with a recommended retail price of €49.99/$49.99/£44.99 for PC and €59.99/$59.99/£54.99 for consoles.
“We would like to reward the loyalty of the community by partially passing on the higher margins as part of permanent price reductions,” said Dr. Anika Thun, Global Marketing Director at Kalypso, adding that “the entry price of a full-price product in the standard edition will be no higher than €39.99/$39.99/£34.99 for PC and €49.99/$49.99/£44.99 for consoles on launch day. In due course, we will also be reducing the prices of current top sellers such as Tropico 6, Port Royale 4 and Spacebase Startopia.
Included in the reductions is the publisher’s upcoming dark fantasy strategy title Disciples: Liberation which, alongside the most recent iteration of the company’s flagship franchise Tropico 6, stands as the largest Kalypso production to date. PC pre-orders for the game are now live at the Kalypso Store for 15% off, as well as Steam and the Epic Games Store at 10% off. The ‘Standard Edition’ of Disciples: Liberation set to release in Q4 of 2021 for €39.99/$39.99/£34.99 on PC and €49.99/$49.99/£44.99 on consoles.
Customers will also be able to purchase the ‘Deluxe Edition’ of the game for €49.99/$49.99/£44.99 (PC) or €59.99/$59.99/£54.99 (console) with additional bonus content.
“Disciples: Liberation is an expansive and content-packed title which would justify a much higher retail price. However, we believe that despite high production values, we are right with our pricing policy and can continue to inspire our community for Kalypso products,” adds Hellwig.
Kalypso has implemented the price reductions from 1 June, 2021 and will continue to roll out the policy as more products are launched.