They're probably pricing for a long time sales centered strategy, the old games seem to constantly get recommended to me during steam sales. And I doubt they were going to have a massive release at any price, it's too niche of a thing.
I was interested at launch but yeah $40 seemed aggressive. Reviews at launch were pretty negative too for a lot of game bugs and unfinished feel. If those get patched up and it seems to improve … i still dunno, kinda steep!