Michael Major, an 18-year-old developer working under the name Stolen Valor Studios, created a joke game called This Game Costs $200 as a follow-up to an earlier prank title, This Game Costs $10. Released on January 30, the sequel was priced at $200 because, according to Major, that is the maximum price Steam allows developers to charge (though PC Gamer noted other Steam games are priced higher, such as titles costing $1,000, $500, and $290). The store page describes it as a 'psychological "comedic" experience' and jokingly insists it's worth 'every single cent.'

Major said he never expected anyone to actually buy the game. But months after release, he discovered that thousands of people had purchased it. According to reports from WMUR-TV, the game recorded 6,717 sales, generating revenue reported variously as $1.3 million (Rock Paper Shotgun, GamesRadar+, Polygon) or nearly $1.4 million (PC Gamer). Major described his reaction to seeing the numbers, saying 'I think I almost died.'

The excitement didn't last. Of those 6,717 sales, 6,707 were refunded, according to Rock Paper Shotgun and GamesRadar+, with 6,705 of the refunds coming from buyers in China. Many of these buyers refunded the game without ever opening it. Major said he doesn't know why this happened, but offered two possible explanations: that buyers may have been trying to obtain Steam points for the highest possible purchase amount without actually spending the money, or that the activity could be tied to money laundering schemes he's heard are sometimes associated with expensive Steam games. He said he has no concrete answers.

After the refunds, Major was left with a little over $2,000 — meaning at least a small number of buyers kept the $200 purchase. Steam's refund policy allows purchases to be returned as long as the game has been played for under two hours, which is how the vast majority of buyers were able to get their money back.

Despite the game's absurd premise, PC Gamer's hands-on impression found it to be a simple, low-effort but occasionally amusing top-down adventure-RPG with some clever moments. Polygon noted that one lengthy player review praised unexpected features, including multiple endings, even though that reviewer also ultimately refunded the game. Major has said he won't lower the price, as doing so would 'ruin the joke,' and has instead pointed interested players toward the cheaper $10 version.