Pricy Gem!



During discussions with Eurogamer, Oddworld creator Lorne Lanning has been talking about the upcoming titles in the series including the HD remake of the original Oddworld title, Oddworld New 'n' Tasty which according to Lanning will be one of the most expensive download only tiles on the Wii U eshop.

Lanning plans to sell the game for $30 on the Wii U eshop and with a development cost of $5 million it will take over 175,000 sales before the game becomes profitable. That may seem extreme, but according to Lanning the game is every bit as good as a full-blown AAA retail title:

This game will play better, look better, and you'll have more fun with for more hours of play than games you're paying $60 for. That's a promise. And I can say that with absolute confidence. If this had a publisher, the price would be higher and they'd be calling in triple A.

Lanning also stated that New 'n' Tasty must sell at least 250,000 units to be able to fund their next game project which happens to be a remake of ~Abe's Exoddus~. And if that sells 500,000 units Lanning plans on releasing an all-new game in the Oddworld series titled ~The Brutal Ballad of Fangus Klot~ which isn't in development yet because the team doesn't have enough money to feel comfortable putting money and resources into the game until they have a bigger budget:

I don't think it's anything less than a $5 million title. So to Kickstart it I think would be a little deceptive and a risk. But if we sell half a million copies [of New 'n' Tasty], that's not going to be a problem.

If I'm doing a new Oddworld game, I'm not going to do it for $2 million. I might do it for five or six. People keep asking me, 'Why don't you Kickstart Oddworld? You could get at least $1 or $2 million.' And I'm like 'What would I do with a couple million on Kickstarter? On a new Oddworld title?' Not much. I could redo Exoddus for a couple million. I could do that. But a new title, which means new characters doing new things and controls that are great - that's where the real time and expenses come from.

If you already have the game and you're just doing a conversion, it's easier. From scratch, I don't think we could do an Oddworld title for a couple million dollars.

If the game sells anywhere near as well as Oddworld Stranger's Wrath HD did on the XBOX then reaching their goal shouldn't be too difficult, however it should be mentioned that ~Stranger's Wrath HD~ was much cheaper than $30 so that could affect sales for the game.

Oddworld Stranger's Wrath HD is also slated to be released on the Wii U eshop at some point so we'll be sure to keep you informed about any news regarding that title as well! Are you okay with the $30 price point for this title? Let us know in our comments!