E3 2012: Peter Molyneux's Curiosity contains a £50,000 DLC item

PC and iOS title Curiosity, the first game from Peter Molyneux's recently formed 22 Cans studio, will feature a piece of DLC that costs £50,000.

Though that might seem like an exorbitant amount of money to pay for an in-game item, Molyneux insists that the aim is not to rip off gamers.

In fact, the ludicrously high price tag - and Curiosity itself - is part of an experiment designed to examine the way we use social media.

Curiosity's setup is ridiculously simple: you are confronted with a black cube, which you must tap to reveal its contents. As several players will be working on a cube at any one time, persistent damage will appear as everyone chips away at the cube's surface.

When the tap quota for the cube is reached, it will split open. The player who delivers the final tap will uncover an object which Molyneux describes as "truly amazing, something unique".

To increase the impact of your taps, you can purchase a variety of chisels of varying strengths, ranging from iron (59p) to diamond (£50,000). These tools with only be available in limited quantities, with the diamond chisel a one-off item.

Molyneux hopes to monitor how players relay information about the hidden objects to one another: "We will rely entirely on social media. How will this person prove it?"

As for the diamond chisel, the ex-Lionhead boss acknowledges that £50,000 is an "insane amount of money", but is keen to discover whether a single player - or group of players - will actually be prepared to pony up this ludicrous sum to wield the chisel's power.

"This is not a money-making exercise; it is a test about the psychology of monetisation," Molyneux explains.

Curiosity should debut on PC and iOS within the next six weeks.