PixelJunk Eden is the Internet's new favorite game, now that it costs less than a value hamburger at Wendy's

File this one under the debate on whether cheap pricing devalues games. You may know Q-Games, the makers of beautiful, rave-y, visually-mesmerizing games. A few days ago, when the price of their game PixelJunk Eden was lowered to $0.99 on Steam, it sold astonishingly well. In fact, it sold so well that the company earned in eight hours as much dough as they had made in their entire 13-year existence. Yes, a double-take is the appropriate response.

This fits in with the ongoing debate about how we value games. Here, the developer is being rewarded not for the merits of their game alone, but because it’s generally considered a good play and because they priced it cheaply. As game-guru Ian Bogost wrote five long years ago, “I contend that iPhone players are not so much dissatisfied as they are confused: should one treat a 99¢ game as a piece of ephemera, or as a potentially rich experience?” 

Looks like we’re still in that bind. Is Q-Games' newfound largesse a sign of them getting due recognition, or just a bunch of people hoarding something they will never play? Hard to say, but I know what I’ll be playing this weekend—for a few minutes, anyway.