How much studios should charge for video games has been a hot topic ever since triple-A developers began to make $70 the industry standard. There are plenty of games cheaper than that, of course, but also a few that are slightly more expensive. That latter category includes an indie game on Steam which would have briefly set you back more than $500,000.
No, that isn't a typo, nor was it a mistake on the developer's part. Reported by Twinfinite, Laptop Gaming revealed via the Steam page for Megajump that the reason its game cost so much was effectively due to an experiment gone wrong. “They won't let me change the price for 30 days. Don't buy for 500k, I wanted to test the limits of Steam pricing,” a description previously front and center on the game's Steam page read.
All developers have to jump through a few hoops when submitting their games to Steam, and one of those hoops is telling the platform how much you want your game to retail for. While testing the limits, as Laptop Gaming put it, the Megajump dev discovered they could list their game for a whopping $502,634.46.
The good news is Steam must have listened to the Megajump creator as just a few days after the game was listed, the price has been reduced. In fact, Megajump is now free to play, and with a Very Positive rating, it's probably worth checking out. Also, even though it no longer holds the record for the most expensive game on Steam, it will likely always hold the record for the one with the biggest price cut.
Laptop Gaming was likely inspired by the game that currently holds the title of most expensive game on Steam, The Hidden And Unknown. at a little less than $2,000. Its developer has highlighted that the game should take less than two hours to finish, meaning you can claim a full refund once you're done. If you have $2,000 to spare and you're willing to take that risk, then go right ahead I guess.