Digital Version of Prey Sold Out on Steam?

Steam sold the PC FPS game Prey for $2.25 and sold all the available keys before the sale ended.

Ohs nos! Kotaku pointed out that the 2006 hit PC game Prey, which went on sale over on Valve's Steam service as part of its Steam Holiday Sale, has somehow managed to sell out. No, we're not talking about the physical copy of the game--apparently there's plenty of those listed on Amazon for just over $9 USD.

No, it's the digital version that's somehow sold out. Although there's no box or DVD to deal with, the game still contains some type of CD key. Evidently the program that generates the sacred game keys ran dry--this is speculation of course--and is unable to start over from the beginning (that would barf up two identical keys which would be a big fat no-no).

With that scenario, it makes sense that Steam would sell out of digital copes. Then again, it may be a big tease and 2K Games could have said "whoa there Nelly, I think we sold enough copies of the game at $2.25." Website Stage Select paints a different picture, indicating that the game was only offered at that price on December 28 only. The "sold out" image displayed on Steam says differently. Whatever.

For post-holiday shoppers still wanting digital versions of great games, Steam is still offering Torchlight for $10. Jade Empire: Special Edition is a crazy $3.75, Silent Hill Homecoming is $10, and Ghostbusters: the Videogame is a meager $6.79. There's also S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky for $5, and Splinter Cell Chaos Theory selling for the same price.