TimeGate Studios is trying something different with Section 8: Prejudice, offering the sequel to the full-priced Section 8 for only 15 bucks.
Section 8 promised to bring something a little different to the multiplayer FPS genre with its “spawn anywhere” mechanic, an idea I thought sounded pretty cool when I first heard about it. But in the end, the game just didn’t do very well for itself; its one original trick wasn’t enough to overcome middle-of-the-road reviews and competition from much more well-established rivals. So for the follow-up, Section 8: Prejudice, TimeGate is trying to attract an audience by offering a “full-featured, sci-fi-themed, first-person shooter that delivers a 5-hour, story-driven single-player campaign” on the serious cheap.
“We’re challenging the notion of just how much quality and value we can pack into a digital download first-person shooter,” said TimeGate Studios CEO Adel Chaveleh. “Our target is very simply to be the highest quality, best value digital FPS on the market. Prejudice is a full-retail-scoped product, so I’m sure our fans will be very happy with our price-point decision.”
That price point, in case you missed it, is $14.99, a pretty sweet deal for a game that promises as much as Prejudice. Whether it actually comes across with the goods is a different matter, but as a sequel it’s not unreasonable to expect that at least some of the shortcomings of the first game will be addressed, while the price will hopefully help keep the servers a little more populated. But even more important to the big picture is that if Prejudice succeeds, it might help convince other publishers with new or uncertain franchises that price point is in fact an issue for a lot of gamers. Rolling the dice on a game you’ve never heard of is a lot easier to do for $15 than for $50.
Section 8: Prejudice is slated for release in the first quarter of 2011 on Xbox Live, the PlayStation Network and PC digital distributors like Steam and Games for Windows Live. For more information, check out warisprejudice.com.
