$30 Price Point Justifies Digital-Only Phoenix Wright 5

Much rabble has been roused about Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies, the fifth Phoenix Wright game and the first in the series to be digital-only. When it comes out this fall for 3DS, it will be an eShop exclusive. No physical copies.

The downside of this arrangement is that your digital copy of the game is tied to your 3DS system, thanks to Nintendo’s antiquated interface that ties software to hardware. In other words, if you lose your 3DS, you lose your game too.

This has led to a lot of boycott threats—”You just lost my money, Capcom” has been a common one—but there’s an upside, too: in addition to the fact that we’re actually getting the game in English, which might not have been possible if it weren’t digital-only, the fifth Phoenix Wright game will cost $30. That’s $10 less than your average 3DS game.

Of course, that cheaper price point won’t make you feel any better if you lose a 3DS with the game on it. But this could set a great precedent for niche digital games—and if Phoenix Wright 5 does well, it could open up a lot of other doors for Japanese localization in the future.