It’s not surprise that we’ve still waiting to see the release of 1001 Spikes for the PS Vita from Nicalis. The release of the physical edition of the platform game has been surrounded by controversy since day one, with the publisher first denying its existence, to preview copies being leaked onto the open market to an official announcement of the game finally being released by the publisher.
We’ve taked about the release of the game a number of times, most recently wondering whether it will ever be released. The reality of the situation is that Nicalis are now leaving the release of 1001 Spikes very late indeed, to the point that the market has moved on from collecting physical games for the Vita apart from the die-hard enthusiasts. I mentioned a while ago that I was starting to sell part of my own collection, partly from a practical point of view and partly because I knew that I’d never be able to get a complete physical set. But what I have noticed during this time is that prices for a lot of games have dropped considerably over the last few years.
Rarer limited edition games that were worth three figure sums shortly after release or even when I purchased them a few years later, are now worth half that price. Many are even edging closer towards their original selling price, even when they are still sealed. While some games are still doing well for collectors such as the more scarce titles like Breach and Clear, there are even more shocking trends…
A quick search on eBay reveals a number of the pre-release copies of 1001 Spikes. These are ones provided to Sony Interactive Entertainment as test copies prior to the main production run. Some of these were “acquired” and have been slowly creeping out into the public. They first started to sell around £1,000 each and soon rose in price to around £3,000 or more. There are now a significant number available for £1,000 or less (no doubt as collectors are selling up) but the only copy that has sold was for less than £400! Their other release, VVVVVV, seems to be faring better although this may suffer the same fate should an official release be announced.
This substantial drop in perceived value for the game is a worrying sign of the Vita market as a whole and is perhaps going to impact on the release of the finished game itself, regardless of what extras are included in this limited edition release. However, there is another issue that Nicalis seem to have forgotten about this upcoming release…
1001 Spikes was originally released in 2014, with the PS Vita conversion following a year later in 2015. This collectors edition, being released for the Vita and PS4, is being marketed as a 10th Anniversary Edition. I’m not the greatest at maths but 10 years after 2014 should bring us up to 2024 so this is already a year late. I think it’s safe to say that we won’t see a release of this bundle this month so it will be well into 2026 (if at all) before it’s released. Truthfully, will PS Vita owners actually want to buy a Collectors Edition of a game that will be 11 years old, six years after the console was discontinued?
At this stage, if the bonus items haven’t been produced if I were Nicalis I’d abandon plans to produce those and just release both versions of the game and get them out to the public as quickly as possible before people lose interest in new Vita games completely.
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