$8 is $5

The game Peak is a "co-op climbing game" and it sold more than 10 million copies in 2025. Co-creator Nick Kaman was interviewed by Gamefile about the game and, specifically, the pricing of the game. It's a short piece and worth reading every bit of, as Kaman proposes that a game priced at $7.99 holds the same mental space as a $5 game.

“We had this joke of, like, how much is a game really?” Kaman told me, as we chatted last month.

“In a player’s mind, what does it mean to spend five bucks? Well, that’s five bucks. But six bucks? Well, that’s still five bucks.

“Four bucks is also kind of five bucks,” he continued. “Three bucks is two bucks. And two bucks is basically free.

“So we’ve got these tiers: You know, twelve bucks… that’s ten bucks. But thirteen bucks is fifteen bucks.

“And we found that eight bucks is still five bucks. It doesn’t become ten bucks. Seven ninety nine, that’s five bucks, right?

“So, eight bucks going to five bucks is the biggest differential we could find in pricing, so we found it very optimal.”

That Calvin and Hobbes meme about the mental exercise summarizes it quite well. $8 is $5.