Molyneux's £50,000 chisel DLC
First title from 22 Cans will be Curiosity, and feature a mysterious cube
Fable creator Peter Molyneux has revealed that the first game from his new studio 22 Cans will feature a £50,000 in-game item.
The game, Curiosity, features a black cube that players chip away at with chisels. All players see the same cube, and each other's effects on it, but only the player who makes the final tap will get to see what's inside it. The £50,000 chisel comes in because players can buy different chisels, with different strengths, for more effective tapping.
"It's an insane amount of money," Molyneux told New Scientist.
"This is not a money-making exercise; it is a test about the psychology of monetisation."
While the money would certainly come in handy for the new developer, Molyneux promises that the chisel is actual an experiment to see if one player, or a collective of players clubbing together, will actually buy the one off item.
The game will launch in a few weeks, and is part of a series of experiments that will go towards the design of another game, that Molyneux expects to release in two years time.
As for all the players that have chipped away at the cube, but didn't get to see what was inside it? That's all part of the experiment.
"We will rely entirely on social media," he said.
"How will this person prove it? That in itself becomes a fascinating aspect of this experiment."