Iron Lung developer David Szymanski is defending the price increase of his widely popular Steam indie game, telling people he wants “to earn more money,” and that if anyone doesn’t agree with the price they can “go pirate it or something.”
If you haven’t played Iron Lung, the indie Steam horror game takes place in a small submarine in an ocean of blood on an alien planet. You need to navigate the ocean from within the tiny sub with barely any viewpoints to the outside, and it’s a very well-liked short, effective game.
Szymanski has now upped the Iron Lung price by $2 on Steam, from $5.99 to $7.98, and responded to criticism over the price change. “Since people keep trying to gotcha me over this… once again, Iron Lung’s price went up because the game is worth $8 so I want to charge $8, because I want to earn more money. If you don’t agree with this price, I don’t want your money. Go pirate it or something [I don’t care].”
“‘He’s only doing this for the money.’ Yes, no f**king s**t, I make games for a living. If I didn’t want to earn money from them I wouldn’t charge money for them. I like the business model of ‘I want money so I make something that I think is worth money, and you pay me that money and you get the thing, and we’re all happy.’ That’s it. There’s nothing complicated or hidden here.”
Szymanski does go on to say that if players don’t think Iron Lung is now worth the money, that’s “ok,” adding that players can just not buy the game, wait for a sale, “or go the sneaky route and get them for free or whatever, and please tell me that so I can adjust the prices for whatever I release next.”
In the comments of his post to X, Szymanski responds to player queries about his future games and the price increase in general, with one person asking why he’s doing it now. “It’s just that part of indie dev is thinking several years in advance since even small games have a relatively long turnaround time.”
Szymanski also developed retro boomer shooter Dusk, which five years after the initial release just had a free HD update on Steam. The proceeds from Dusk sales for the next month on Steam will be going to the two main developers of the free HD update too, with Szymanski saying “Firstly: We love you and we hate money. Secondly: We work hard.” While both Iron Lung and Dusk are developed by Szymanski, the latter is published by New Blood, with Iron Lung a self-published game.
If you want more we’ve put together the best old games you can still easily buy today, alongside some free Steam games if you don’t want to break the bank.
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