We're talking about two very different types of pricing strategies that each work very well for two very different types of release. With a big-bang, "it's don

We're talking about two very different types of pricing strategies that each work very well for two very different types of release. With a big-bang, "it's done, ship it" release, going out at a high price captures high revenue from the few high-expectation customers. Dropping the price later captures remaining revenue from the many low-expectation customers. Steam-style repeated sales have the bonus marketing benefit of being noteworthy and counter-intuitively do not appear to cannibalize high-revenue sales much if at all. With a slow-burn, "it's not done yet" release, going out at a low price matches the general low expectations for the product and has the bonus marketing benefit of getting talkative early-adopters on board early and also getting them increasingly excited as development proceeds. As quality increases, price increases accordingly. This has the bonus feature of putting some time pressure on customers who are on the fence about the cost/value proposition, but want to lock in a lower price by buying early.