[Valerius]

I'll be interested to see how the change in distributors (and presumably price point) plays out. What is the potential audience that either balked at the price or just had never heard of the game?

Sure, the game has been out for six years, but cutting edge graphics were never its selling point so players for whom that's key likely wouldn't have been interested in it at launch either. Other things that some TBS players would find deal-breakers (say, the lack of full tactical combat) were just as much the case when the game was released as now. In short, I think the game ages well (I've always viewed Dom as being like a really good board game that you go back to over a long period of time).

And I have to admit to some curiosity as to whether, if the game sells well, it will renew IWs interest in the game. Not so much because of the money involved but because an influx of new players combined with having taken a break from Dom for a few years to concentrate on CoE might leave them ready to focus on Dom for a while.

Regarding Shrapnel, I think they're in a difficult position. It seems to me that their advantage was in providing a distribution channel to indie developers who wouldn't have had a chance at getting retail shelf space. But with the migration of PC gaming to digital distribution it eliminates the need for a lot of the services they provide developers. No physical product means no printing manuals, burning CDs and fulfilling orders. Payment processing can be handled just as easily by a digital distributor. Shrapnel might be able to offer a better revenue share but would that outweigh the much greater audience a digital distributor would provide for a developer's games?