The Ghostrunner developer's upcoming first-person soulslike Valor Mortis is launching for $40 because the release schedule is simply too busy.
September going into October 2026 is one of the busiest release windows in recent memory. GTA 6 – which publishers don't want to launch against – being in mid-November meant that before Onimusha: Way of the Sword pushed its release to earlier in September, it would've been launching alongside Control Resonant, Valor Mortis, Harvest Moon: Echoes of Teradea, Hot Wheels Infinite Rush, Dragon Quest 11 Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, and Silent Hill: Townfall in the same two days. Then the following week would see Ace Combat 8, the now-delayed Rayman Legends Retold, Gears of War: E-Day, and Star Wars: Galactic Racer.
Valor Mortis got out ahead of this, with Lyrical Games boss Blake Rochkind revealing by the time its original September 24 release was announced, the team already knew the game was being delayed. But it's still very busy, something that Rochkind – speaking to The Game Business – says factored into its newly revealed $40 price point.
"This is something we've really agonized over," Rochkind says, with his "biggest concern" being that the lower price point would "send the wrong message about the game." However, he says "this decision is made out of confidence.
"We find ourselves as one of the only new IPs launching in what is objectively the craziest fall in the history of this business," Rochkind notes, citing some of the previously mentioned titles alongside GTA 6 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake, which are sure to be two of the biggest games later this year.
Rochkind acknowledges the uphill battle against Valor Mortis as a new IP but isn't intimidated by it. Instead, the publisher is pushing it as being a companion to whatever massive title you pick up: "The worst thing we could do is not push our chips in and say, 'We want this to be a game that you can pick up alongside these other great games.'
"A developer I spoke to recently had a lot of success with a game priced at $30," Rochkind recalls, adding, "One thing they said that really stuck with me is: 'We never regretted being an 'and' game. We never regretted pricing our game as something that you can pick up alongside other games.' Going with this price point will help us be an 'and' game." And based on our hands-on with Valor Mortis earlier this year during Steam Next Fest, it sounds like it'll definitely be worth checking out.
