//Body
Collector’s editions of video games can run to some hefty costs. An final version of Stalker 2 will set you again greater than £300 on Amazon, whereas collector’s editions of Baldur’s Gate 3 have bought for greater than a grand on eBay, although, admittedly, these are in very restricted provide.
None of those come near the ‘My Apocalypse Edition of 2015’s Dying Light, nonetheless. Originally promoted across the launch of Techland’s zombie survival sport, the My Apocalypse Edition was priced at a whopping £250,000, or $386,000 American dollars. For this colossal sum, the My Apocalypse Edition purportedly included the next:
- Four signed steelbook copies of Dying Light (Xbox One model
- 2 units of Razer Tiamat headphones (to your two heads)
- Branded Night imaginative and prescient goggles
- A “human sized” determine of one of many sport’s ‘Volatile’ enemies.
- “Zombie survival” parkour classes with the Ampisound parkour free working workforce.
- A photograph of your face “skinned” onto your night time hunter character.
- A spherical journey to Techland, the place you’d get to “Party with Steve the zombie marketing consultant an dominate our devs in a rigged ‘Be the Zombie’ Match so you’ll be able to brag to your folks.”
- A custom-built zombie survival shelter supplied by Tiger Log Cabins
- Some “grownup diapers” to go along with your night time imaginative and prescient goggles “For Dying Light’s night time time gameplay”.
It’s fairly the package deal, though just a few of these goodies, just like the diapers, the zombie journey, and, y’know, the entire ass cabin, scent a bit fishy. In any case, the version brought on a minor media stir on the time, however in any other case, it got here and went. In doing so, it left one unanswered query: Did anybody truly purchase it?
Well, this was just lately answered by Techland’s PR supervisor, Paulina Dziedziak. Responding to an enquiry from Insider Gaming, Dziedziak defined that the My Apocalypse version “Was a PR stunt and obtained a whole lot of media consideration for its wild and over-the-top nature.” She went on to state that “It did an excellent job of getting the sport seen” however that “Nobody bought it—fortunately, I assume!”
It’s in all probability simply as effectively that no one tried to purchase the My Apocalypse Edition. I did a (very cursory) totting up of what the version supposedly supplied, and for 1 / 4 of a mil, you would not be getting near your cash’s value. You can get a pair of night time imaginative and prescient goggles for lower than £200 on Amazon, although you’ll be able to pay as a lot as £10k for them elsewhere, which continues to be solely 4% of the My Apocalypse Edition’s total price. Anyway, let’s cut up the distinction and say Techland dropped £5k on a rock-solid set of NVGs. Four Steelbook copies of the sport will price you £2-300, although Techland would presumably have prepared entry to those anyway. I could not discover the RRP for Razer’s Tiamat headphones, however they promote for £100 second hand on eBay, so to illustrate £250 apiece for these, totalling £500.
Life dimension zombie statues vary between just a few hundred quid and a few thousand on-line, relying on what you are shopping for. But this can be a {custom} job, so let’s be beneficiant and say it prices £5k for a extremely top-notch mannequin. Skinning your face onto a zombie prices solely the developer’s time, so let’s put apart £500 for a day’s work for a 3D modeller. According to lastminute.com, a three-night keep in Warsaw, the place Techland has places of work, prices £546 to remain on the Radisson flying from London. But placing apart the actual fact you could be flying from elsewhere, we also needs to issue within the prices of the get together, the zombie survival journey, and the truth that Techland would presumably need to splash out on you a bit, so to illustrate they’ve budgeted £10k for this complete affair.
Ampisound would not point out parkour classes on its web site, however parkour classes within the UK can vary anyplace between £15 and £50 per lesson. Given Ampisound is a notable parkour organisation, let’s double it and estimate Techland would ebook you in for every week’s programs, amounting to £700. Finally, there’s the {custom} zombie shelter. On Tiger’s web site, the most costly log cabin they’ve is the ‘Omega’, which prices £10k. But since this can be a {custom} job, once more, let’s double the worth to £20k.
Oh, I forgot the grownup nappies. After a very reluctant Google, a pack of those ranges between £10 and £30 within the UK, so let’s go together with the premium tier, as I assume Techland would need you to be snug whereas sporting them.
All of this involves a complete of £42,030, or $53,280, which is a way brief of £250,000/$380,000. I can not assist however surprise what Techland would have finished if any individual had tried to purchase it. Presumably, they’d have simply come clear. On the opposite hand, that is fairly the revenue margin.
Even with out somebody dropping 1 / 4 of one million on all this nonsense, Dying Light was an enormous success for Techland. Between the unique and its sequel, the sequence bought 30 million copies. Techland is presently engaged on a 3rd standalone sport referred to as Dying Light: The Beast, although it is nonetheless releasing DLC for the unique sport, a testomony to its lasting attraction.
