# Why is Planescape: Torment so expensive still? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [February 20, 2009, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-planescape-torment-so-expensive-still/486759 "2009-02-20T19:40:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-planescape-torment-so-expensive-still/486759/1 "2009-02-20T19:40:30Z")
I’ve been browsing the internet for a copy of Planescape: Torment, since I’ve never played it and I heard it’s a fantastic game. Seems no matter where I go, though, I can’t find it for less than $50. It amazes me that a 10-year-old game is still so expensive. What gives, and does anyone know where I can find a deal on it? ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-planescape-torment-so-expensive-still/486759/2 "2009-02-20T20:05:05Z")
> [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > I’ve been browsing the internet for a copy of Planescape: Torment, since I’ve never played it and I heard it’s a fantastic game. Seems no matter where I go, though, I can’t find it for less than $50. It amazes me that a 10-year-old game is still so expensive. What gives, and does anyone know where I can find a deal on it? Supply and demand. The fact that, after all this time, demand is still high enough to make keep prices up indicates this is a special item. Good Old Games should have a good price online. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-planescape-torment-so-expensive-still/486759/3 "2009-02-20T20:35:32Z")
When are they going to get around to releasing PST digitally? The whole world needs to be able to play this game! ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-planescape-torment-so-expensive-still/486759/4 "2009-02-20T20:43:00Z")
Well, no, I was wrong. GOG doesn’t have it. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-planescape-torment-so-expensive-still/486759/5 "2009-02-20T22:04:08Z")
IIRC when the game was new it sold less than 60,000 copies. There was a budget release after that so the number has probably increased some but not enough to fulfill the demand for it. It might not be financially possible for someone to get a license to release Planescape: Torment. Besides the fact that Interplay no longer exists it’s tied up with a game system that no longer exists and a setting that no longer exists. Someone would have to acquire the rights to the game from whoever controls Interplay’s catalog, then get Wizards of the Coast to sign off on releasing a Planescape game and a D&D second edition game. ---
**Author:** ![Discordia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Discordia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Discordia)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-planescape-torment-so-expensive-still/486759/6 "2009-02-20T22:58:43Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Supply and demand. The fact that, after all this time, demand is still high enough to make keep prices up indicates this is a special item. Good Old Games should have a good price online. Demand isn’t exactly huge, and there may well be no supply simply because the legal issues are a mess (company that made the game is gone, company that made the rules it uses is gone, good luck figuring out who to pay how much to publish it), and there’s just not enough incentive to sort them out and release the thing. Same story with many, many old games. So many of the companies that made them have simply vanished, with no one knowing who the copyright even belongs to. Just another chapter in how copyright and computers Just.Don’t.Work.Together. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-planescape-torment-so-expensive-still/486759/7 "2009-02-21T00:37:14Z")
> [@Discordia](#): > > Demand isn’t exactly huge, and there may well be no supply simply because the legal issues are a mess (company that made the game is gone, company that made the rules it uses is gone, good luck figuring out who to pay how much to publish it), and there’s just not enough incentive to sort them out and release the thing. Same story with many, many old games. So many of the companies that made them have simply vanished, with no one knowing who the copyright even belongs to. That makes no sense. Fallout 1 and 2 can be found for sale online, and that’s happened, I believe, before Bethesda bought the license (which probably didn’t include the original games anyhow). Wizards, which bought out TSR whole, probably has no say because the contracts don’t give them one. So there’s probbly only one goup to talk to now. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-planescape-torment-so-expensive-still/486759/8 "2009-02-21T02:17:11Z")
> [@Illuminatiprimus](#): > > When are they going to get around to releasing PST digitally? The whole world needs to be able to play this game! What do you mean by “releasing PST digitally”? It’s available on GameTap, for example. ---
**Author:** ![masterofnone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@masterofnone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/masterofnone)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-planescape-torment-so-expensive-still/486759/9 "2009-02-21T05:59:14Z")
Due to a bad habit of buying things that are on my wishlist for myself just before my birthday/christmas, I have 2 copies. I can’t seem to use PM’s from home. PM me with what you think is a fair price if you’re interested, and I’ll get back to you from work on Monday. It’s just the 4 CD’s in a cardstock case. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-planescape-torment-so-expensive-still/486759/10 "2009-02-22T22:58:10Z")
I myself have wondered if the word has simply gotten out that it’s an underground classic and they’ve got a lot of people trying to snap up copies. If you get the game from GameTap, does it download as an istaller, or does it install for you? Because you’re probably going to want to add fan mods, and for messing with these its nice to be able to uninstall and start fresh now and then. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-planescape-torment-so-expensive-still/486759/11 "2009-02-22T23:21:56Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > I myself have wondered if the word has simply gotten out that it’s an underground classic and they’ve got a lot of people trying to snap up copies. I’m dead certain that’s what happened in Planescape’s case. All of us smart guys who bought it on release day ranting about the game for ten years gradually sunk into the rest of the world. 🙂 Speaking as a collector that’s the way things work. Stuff that is popular is cheap. Stuff that wasn’t popular and no one cases about it is still cheap but a lot more of a pain to find. Stuff that wasn’t popular and/or was easily broken by kids being kids but has gained notoriety after the fact is where you’ll get gouged. It’s the laws of supply and demand playing out in front of your face. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-planescape-torment-so-expensive-still/486759/12 "2009-02-22T23:40:21Z")
> [@Discordia](#): > > (company that made the game is gone, company that made the rules it uses is gone, good luck figuring out who to pay how much to publish it) Interplay is apparently still around - and, in fact, starting to release games again (as well as rereleasing some of their older stuff in new formats). While TSR isn’t around any more, the status of their IP is not unknown - when they were absorbed by Wizards of the Coast, all their IP went with them (at least their original stuff…the licenced stuff, probably not). While ‘Planescape’ as a brand is officially dead, who owns the basic rights to the existing material is not in question, at all. Just because WotC didn’t do anything with several of the D&D settings doesn’t mean they didn’t have the rights - they just didn’t think they could make money on them. So, whatever problems exist with rereleasing Torment, knowing who owns the rights to it isn’t one of them. ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-planescape-torment-so-expensive-still/486759/13 "2009-02-23T00:10:05Z")
I bought Planescape: Torment dual-boxed with another game in Target for $10 on budget label some years back. The relatively high cost is likely due to lack of printing and most of the copies being in hands that won’t sell for less, but the cost has not always been high. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-planescape-torment-so-expensive-still/486759/14 "2009-02-23T00:25:23Z")
> [@fluiddruid](#): > > I bought Planescape: Torment dual-boxed with another game in Target for $10 on budget label some years back. The relatively high cost is likely due to lack of printing and most of the copies being in hands that won’t sell for less, but the cost has not always been high. I was thinking the same thing. My compilation had, IIRC, 6 games, including Wizardry 8 and P:T. ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-planescape-torment-so-expensive-still/486759/15 "2009-02-23T01:21:10Z")
Thanks for the replies, all. In the same vein, does anyone know where I may happen to acquire _Dark Sun: Shattered Lands_? I had it years and years ago and am getting an itch to play it again. Will it even work on Windows Vista? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-planescape-torment-so-expensive-still/486759/16 "2009-02-23T01:30:05Z")
> [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > Thanks for the replies, all. In the same vein, does anyone know where I may happen to acquire _Dark Sun: Shattered Lands_? I had it years and years ago and am getting an itch to play it again. Will it even work on Windows Vista? $0.01 plus shipping from Amazon Marketplace. It’s a DOS game that ran well under a 386 so I’d run it under DOSbox. I have to say I really liked Shattered Lands, it wasa great update to the Gold Box engine and it was a shame they only produced three games with it (and the Al Quadim game didn’t really use the engine to its full advantage). ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-planescape-torment-so-expensive-still/486759/17 "2009-02-23T17:26:40Z")
> [@Just\_Some\_Guy](#): > > $0.01 plus shipping from Amazon Marketplace. > > It’s a DOS game that ran well under a 386 so I’d run it under DOSbox. > > I have to say I really liked Shattered Lands, it wasa great update to the Gold Box engine and it was a shame they only produced three games with it (and the Al Quadim game didn’t really use the engine to its full advantage). Should I be nervous about Amazon and eBay sales for one penny? Are they going to send me the box with nothing inside? ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-planescape-torment-so-expensive-still/486759/18 "2009-02-23T17:37:46Z")
> [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > Should I be nervous about Amazon and eBay sales for one penny? Are they going to send me the box with nothing inside? No, just check the seller feedback and read the advert carefully. I bought a PC headset and microphone for £0.01 and it was exactly as described. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-planescape-torment-so-expensive-still/486759/19 "2009-02-23T22:11:24Z")
> [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > Should I be nervous about Amazon and eBay sales for one penny? Are they going to send me the box with nothing inside? Nope. The “$0.01” is usually a “Get this thing out of my stock so I can at least make a dollar on the shipping!” price, which is why I specified “plus shipping”. I’ve had more problems with the guys selling me rare books than I’ve had with people selling at a penny. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-planescape-torment-so-expensive-still/486759/20 "2009-02-24T16:06:43Z")
It’s on GameTap… $9.95/month subscription service.