>>715558378
>why are so many VNs so expensive for relatively simpler products
I would assume that a lot of it is cultural inertia.
The traditional VN audience is a small population of otaku, who were prepared to spend significantly to keep studios afloat by themselves.
You can compare it with anime, the old rule of thumb was that selling 10k DVDs / BDs was already a big success. Even a massive phenomenon like Haruhi sold about 40k. At that point you HAVE to charge a lot or you can't keep the lights on.

With Steam / international console releases the economics are different (more customers but also more competition), so who knows.