Hmm. I certainly understand why we would like that. But for them, it's just good business sense. See, the game isn't prohibitively expensive, but in my case for example, I haven't purchased it because it's never been on my mind to do so. When I go the e-shop I get what I intended to get all along, and then I get out. Other people though, shop with a different mindset. They may have a goal but are willing to look around at the other titles too - or they log in just to shop; and then if they see something they fancy, they will buy it.AeroZeppelinSevenfold said:
But with a limited time offer (lto) like this, they will attract a large group of people in a contained time-frame, including me, to pick it up and likely see other titles of interest and think, "Hey, I got this for free - I can use the money I would have spent on this (even if I never intended to spend money on it) on this Phoenix Wright game I saw when I logged in. Score."
It's also pretty straight forward as an offer (not like how lto sales are often full of exclusions, and hoops to jump through). It allows them to, in a controlled way, invite you into their market place, offer you something for your trouble, with the goal of you maybe dropping some cash on your way, or coming back for more, or giving them positive word of mouth - and having you feel good about the whole experience.
It also sets the precedent. So the customer will be hoping, maybe even expecting that if they miss this, it would happen again sometime and they may check in from time to time to see what's going on. Depending on what kind of mindset they have when they shop (or how much self control they have) they may spend money each time they check.
But if they announced that it was free forever, we would care about it today and then never again. And that would apply regardless of customer type. Anyway, I hope that helps some.
