Grave Gamer News & Views — anarchy reigns

10/28/12

As the only installed feature The Red Herb claims stake to, I’m obligated each and every week to feel really guilty for skipping out on writing one.  But since it’s almost Halloween, and given the inappropriateness of the above picture as a warm Christmas greeting, I have set loose another Roundup unto the world.  God help us all.

Anarchy Reigns Cheapened By Delay?

It’s been a rocky road for Platinum Games’ strange online action-brawler.  The biggest impediment to Anarchy Reigns comes in the form of a financially struggling Sega whose shift towards singularly backing cash cows like Sonic has cast “second tier” projects in a state of turmoil.  For awhile there, it was touch and go in regards to Anarchy Reigns’ Western distribution – so much so to the point that Platinum was suggesting fans look into importing the already localized title.

But despite a completely finished international edition and despite the game’s July 5th release in Japan right around the corner, we won’t see a stateside release until sometime early next year.  There’s no apparent reason for this but that baffling decision has been outbaffled by the appearance of a $29.99 price tag for the game on several retailers’ websites (including the big one).

Sega hasn’t confirmed or shot down the price point, but if real, there could be a bunch of reasons for the tag slash.  Just the other week, Deep Silver announced they’d publish Dead Island’s sequel at a reduced cost because they figured games should be cheaper towards the end of a console cycle.  Or Sega could just be hedging their bets, knowing full well they have a cult title in their hands, and have placed a budgeted price point on it to draw attention.  The downside to that theory is Sega not having faith in Platinum’s product, but at that price, do you care what Sega thinks?