With Kickstarters being all the rage and game prices slowly creepup, FFG is putting some big names on the cheap. The new Civilization game is $50, while their L5R-themed DoaM is only $40. The Civ has minimal amount of plastics while the DoaM, from their pictures, has none.
Their other upcoming board games:
TI4 - $150
SW Legion - $90
Fallout - $60
Both SW Legion and Civ are outliers from the usual FFG pricing ($40, $60, $80, and $100), but generally they seem to be lowering the prices of more goods. TI4 is obviously an important product to them and I'm not surprised they go all out on that one.
It could be a couple things. They may be starting to realize some economies of scale now that they are fully integrated into the Asmodee empire. By consolidating down to a single distributor, they may be getting a higher price from Alliance as part of the exclusivity agreement. And despite the whining of the vocal minority on BGG, they do move a ton of product through brick and mortar. Adopting lower price points will make them more attractive for stores to carry .