Valor Mortis is only $40 because its developer knows you'll be choosing from a lot of big games over this "stacked" autumn - Eurogamer.net

"My biggest concern was that it would send the wrong message about the game."

The Valor Mortis developer has announced the game's price and offered an explanation as to why the team picked this particular price point. Valor Mortis costs $40 / €40, which is notably cheaper than other games releasing around the same time. We've asked for clarification on UK price.

The developer posted a message on X explaining its decision, saying that while it's confident in the game, it understands that players' time and money are at a premium in this period.

"We have had many discussions over the past year about the price of Valor Mortis. We believe the game has the quality, fidelity, and playtime in its 20-hour story to go toe-to-toe with many 'full price' titles," the developer wrote. "Still, this fall is stacked and there's high demand for your time and money."

Valor Mortis is the ambitious first-person Soulslike from Ghostrunner developer One More Level. It launches 13th October, notably in close proximity to Gears of War: E-Day, Ace Combat 8, Star Wars: Galactic Racer, Final Fantasy Resonance, and Phantom Blade Zero in October alone. It's also within striking distance of several big September releases such as Marvel's Wolverine, Silent Hill: Townfall, and Control Resonant - which you may recall is the game that caused Valor Mortis to be pushed back to October from its original 24th September release date.

There's a Deluxe Edition, priced $60 / €60. It includes the base game, a "major story DLC" coming in 2027, alongside a pack of weapon skins. Free updates are in the works, the developer promises, and will arrive in the weeks and months ahead.

Blake Rochkind, head of Valor Mortis publisher Lyrical Games, spoke to The Game Business about the agonising pricing decision and why it ultimately had to be made.

"My biggest concern was that it would send the wrong message about the game," Blake Rochkind told host Chris Dring. "So we wanted to make sure that we send the right message to the consumer about why this is, and hopefully help them understand that this is a decision we're making out of confidence for the game."

Rochkind pointed out Valor Mortis is one of the few games based on a new intellectual property releasing in one of the busiest release seasons in the games industry's history, potentially making it even harder for the publisher to convince players to buy it.

"The cards we've been dealt is [that] we are one of the only new IPs launching this fall," he explained. "We are pretty confident in Valor Mortis. It is a great game. I'm very, very excited for people to play it. But ultimately, I think the worst thing we could do is not push our chips in and say, 'We want this to be a game that you can pick up alongside these other great games.'"

Valor Mortis is in development for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. It is a day-one release on Game Pass on PC and Xbox.