For a Ti yoyo, half the price just would not have been possible for what Steve was doing, unless he had them machined overseas, then people would’ve probably complained about that.
Even a “budget” model he would’ve had to go overseas for that as well.
I’d be willing to bet even CLYW’s margins have dropped since returning the machining of their yoyos to Canada. Machining costs in Canada, in my experience, are quite a bit more than the US. So to make what he wanted, it was going to cost some money. I remember talking to Steve before the release, while he was machining. I asked what he thought the price would be. He then asked me, what I thought the price should be. I told him in my experience, being machined in Canada, titanium, small run, etc. I thought $350-400USD on the low side. He said something like that’s what he was thinking also. Then he comes out with them even less than that.
I think what Steve did was perfect, it’s SPYY. He didn’t go out with some over the top campaign and super hype (like 9 out of 10 companies do today). He designed a really great yoyo, posted some photos and info on social media, and released it. Too many people want to buy hype and colors these days, not a really good yoyo.