The guy has a compelling story and his team obviously worked hard on it and it may well be an awesome game, but we don't price things in a market economy based on effort. This is similar to, but a better story than, seeing a couch on craigslist and the seller basing the price on the original purchase price, not on comparable couches for sale.
I have to say, some games truly deserve what the developers sell them for, as a programmer you truly value the work placed into games, which is part of why I enjoy playing TES / Fallout series of games.