A viral $200 joke game highlights a serious problem for indie creators on Steam

An 18-year-old developer, Michael Major, created a joke game called "This Game Costs 200 Dollars" on Steam, pricing it at the platform's maximum of $200. The game's Steam page described it as "the swindle to end all swindles," and Major expected no one to buy it due to its exorbitant price. However, according to IGN, 6,717 units were sold, with 6,705 purchases coming from China, generating $1,345,650 in revenue.

The buyers, mostly from China, refunded the game without playing it, with an average playtime of around 10 minutes for those who did play. As a result, Major was left with only $2. Major told WMUR-TV that he doesn't know why people in China were buying and immediately refunding the game, but speculated that it may have come to attention via an ad or scheme of some sort. He also mentioned the possibility of money laundering, stating, "I have heard of expensive games on Steam being used for money laundering."

Major's game was a sequel to his previous title, "This Game Costs 10 Dollars." According to XDA Developers, the refunds left Major with a fraction of the initial revenue. The game's success was unexpected, and Major didn't anticipate the large number of purchases.

Brief written by urgent.news from XDA Developers, IGN, PC Gamer, Polygon — 4 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.