When producing a game, you need to consider the costs of producing the various parts, and even the rules handbook will add some costs. This cost will reflect itself onto the final price of the product in the stores, as the producer want XX% profit on top of the bare costs. The distributor also adds XX% to the price. And the final store does so too. So the rather small cost of producing the rules, will add up to be a somewhat significant cost to the game.
My thought is, what if the game simply provided a URL for the latest edition of the rules, somewhere on the publishers website. Most people nowadays has an internet connection, and if they havn't got a printer, they usually will be able to get access to one.
This could potentially decrease the game price, and the consumer may choose to simply keep a digital version of the rules, and even if he decides to print it, the combined cost will most likely still be below what he would have to pay for the profesionally printed rules including profit for the various links in the publisher-consumer chain.
Is it worth a thought?
and another minor thought is the fact "most people have internet"... most does not entail all and if i bought a game a was told in order to play i have to print my own 30 page rulebook in order to have the rules on hand for a game at a different location than home (playing at the local game/comic shop) i probably would not keep purchasing the game from that company.
just a thought