Why gamers risk big bucks on special editions for new franchises

Whatever you call them — special, limited, elite, premium — the “game that comes with other stuff” is here to stay. Increasingly, developers and publishers are asking players the following question: “Why just buy a game when you can buy a game, a soundtrack, a statue, a shirt, a keychain, and some stickers, all inside of a special box you can’t get anywhere else?” And recently, they’re even offering superfan editions for new franchises that can’t possibly have superfans yet.

A while ago, we counted down the 18 most expensive special editions ever created (at that time, anyway). Seventeen of the bundles on that list were from established franchises — four of them were from developer Capcom’s Resident Evil series of survival-horror games. But one stood alone. The “Signature Edition” of the now-defunct 38 Studios’ Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning was the sixth most expensive game on that list, and it was the only one that wasn’t a sequel.