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(physical) Limited Run Games approved to make Switch games


Rev

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LONG STORY SHORT? I've lost complete interest in this company and their releases.

 

Slightly longer version below~

 

I wanted to give them some leeway on their whole thing until the video with HeavyMetalJesus. (Feel free to watch/listen here)

 

There was several bits in it that have fully turned me off of them.

 

-Claiming they want to get everybody a copy but are catering more to collectors than interested games (I'm paraphrasing a bit here)

-Saying they can't make more copies and to "go to the company if you want more"

-Saying they had limited funds in the beginning but actively have a crew now so this seems like nonsense now...

-Unwillingness to even consider numbered runs or anything along that line

 

I don't like the idea of missing out on something because I wasn't there within 5 or less minutes. If we could get more availability up to like... an hour or two. I could be more forgiving.

 

I'd argue an entire day, but apparently if they have too many copies and don't sell out in a day they somehow lose more money because their "collectors" lose interest if it's not a collectible.

Edited by KeeperofLindblum
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I never watched that video but if they really did elude to or say that they only cater to collectards and not people who play games, despite going after the popular stuff under contract people want as a real copy makes them complete bastards given they also are lying saying they can't produce more. That's bs. They are just in it for a cash grab over the most addicted, much like a drug dealer to their most loyal vibrating and bloodshot customers. Get enough product to them, make sure it sells out, and leave others chomping at the bit. Perhaps if they grew up and acted like the old days of the honest meaning of the retail word of preorder I think they could do wonders. Don't screw people over and make like 1000 copies and have them sell out in 5 seconds. Open up a 24-48 out preorder window, have a percentage (good enough to sting) percentage as a minimum to pre-pay in advance and then they run the desired copies + extra overage in case a few people miss out. Then run a lot rounded up to the nearest 100 or 1000 for that overage and be done with it. That was game players, shelf queens, addicts and the rest can all get what they want.

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Though the idea of anything limited run (or Limited Run) + anything Nintendo leaves a sour taste in my mouth, I have to step up and defend LRG - yes, even after watching that Metal Jesus interview and seeing Doug's silly hair.

 

@Keeper - your points are not fair or accurate, though I certainly support your right to dislike and/or not support them.

 

-Claiming they want to get everybody a copy but are catering more to collectors than interested games (I'm paraphrasing a bit here)

They have always targeted collectors and that's never been a secret. If you want a certain game and can't or won't buy it from LRG, you can always buy it digitally. So far, LRG have not released anything that has been physically exclusive.

 

-Saying they can't make more copies and to "go to the company if you want more"

They sign a contract with the developer to produce a certain amount and only that amount. Pretty black and white. Some developers also get their games physically published through Play-Asia (or elsewhere), so this gripe is completely out of LRG's hands.

 

-Saying they had limited funds in the beginning but actively have a crew now so this seems like nonsense now...

Well they did have limited funds, and now they are doing better. However, no one but them knows their operating budgets, not to mention new rules from Sony requiring ESRB certification on all games, which eats into their costs. I guess I don't see the gripe here.

 

-Unwillingness to even consider numbered runs or anything along that line

It's their business and they can do whatever they want.

 

-I don't like the idea of missing out on something because I wasn't there within 5 or less minutes. If we could get more availability up to like... an hour or two. I could be more forgiving.

Again, this is not LRG's fault. It's the fault of buyers who want what they are selling. They tried a 24hour pre-order system with Ys Origin and (for PS4) sold almost exactly what they had planned to order.

 

LRG haven't been perfect, but look at the good things they have done. For someone like me who refuses to buy any game digitally (except Civ 6, had to have it), I've been able to play a ton of games that I otherwise wouldn't have been able to. I would think more people would celebrate the fact that these guys were crazy enough to make physical games, and happy that they are still doing well. (Actually, Vblank should receive all the credit since they did it first with Retro City Rampage DX). I don't hear anyone whining when a homebrewer makes a small number of copies of their 2600 game. I don't see how this is any different.

Edited by glazball
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Though the idea of anything limited run (or Limited Run) + anything Nintendo leaves a sour taste in my mouth, I have to step up and defend LRG - yes, even after watching that Metal Jesus interview and seeing Doug's silly hair.

 

@Keeper - your points are not fair or accurate, though I certainly support your right to dislike and/or not support them.

 

-Claiming they want to get everybody a copy but are catering more to collectors than interested games (I'm paraphrasing a bit here)

They have always targeted collectors and that's never been a secret. If you want a certain game and can't or won't buy it from LRG, you can always buy it digitally. So far, LRG have not released anything that has been physically exclusive.

 

-Saying they can't make more copies and to "go to the company if you want more"

They sign a contract with the developer to produce a certain amount and only that amount. Pretty black and white. Some developers also get their games physically published through Play-Asia (or elsewhere), so this gripe is completely out of LRG's hands.

 

-Saying they had limited funds in the beginning but actively have a crew now so this seems like nonsense now...

Well they did have limited funds, and now they are doing better. However, no one but them knows their operating budgets, not to mention new rules from Sony requiring ESRB certification on all games, which eats into their costs. I guess I don't see the gripe here.

 

-Unwillingness to even consider numbered runs or anything along that line

It's their business and they can do whatever they want.

 

-I don't like the idea of missing out on something because I wasn't there within 5 or less minutes. If we could get more availability up to like... an hour or two. I could be more forgiving.

Again, this is not LRG's fault. It's the fault of buyers who want what they are selling. They tried a 24hour pre-order system with Ys Origin and (for PS4) sold almost exactly what they had planned to order.

 

LRG haven't been perfect, but look at the good things they have done. For someone like me who refuses to buy any game digitally (except Civ 6, had to have it), I've been able to play a ton of games that I otherwise wouldn't have been able to. I would think more people would celebrate the fact that these guys were crazy enough to make physical games, and happy that they are still doing well. (Actually, Vblank should receive all the credit since they did it first with Retro City Rampage DX). I don't hear anyone whining when a homebrewer makes a small number of copies of their 2600 game. I don't see how this is any different.

 

You said all my points were not fair and inaccurate... but your points were just terrible.

 

I don't feel like they have always targeted collector's. They're targeting people who want physical copies of digital games... That's not 100% collectors. That is anybody wanting a physical piece of a game that they can keep forever in a slowly encroaching digital age of gaming.

 

It's not LRG's fault they can only do limited runs... but telling people to "go to the company" is a shitty answer coming from a (essentially) PR statement made on MetalJesusRocks. They could figure up a better system to do their releases. I'd argue switching purely to preorders is the better version. Try to figure out what the full demand is, meet that, and have some extra. I doubt having a couple hundred games sitting is going to kill their business. If it did, their business model won't survive.

 

The limited funding was an issue in the beginning, but I'm saying it's not as much of an issue now. If they can afford a crew of people, that means they have that much more money to work with. If every single run has a chance of destroying their business, then they need to fix their current model. My point was their initial excuse shouldn't affect the number of copies they have now and yet it still seems to in a way.

 

Saying "it's their business and they can do what they want" sounds like a great way for a company to go OUT of business. Company's can only survive as long as their clientele are around to support them. The physical gamers are going to slowly but surely be a dying breed. I mean I love physical copies of games over digital ones, but it's becoming less of an option for some of my favorite titles.

 

Blaming your customers for your lack of inventory and preparedness is like the shittiest thing I've ever read. You might rethink that statement.

 

I would love LRG to keep making titles... but it's hard to support a company if you can't even get a chance to support them because they can't figure up a better model of selling their physical releases. I get that they're "Limited Run" games, but it's frustrating from a position of wanting a product that you can't have because poor planning on their part.

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I have basically come to the conclusion that im too old and have too much going on in life to spend my time hovering over a mouse for the chance at the privilege of buying a product that will be sold out in five seconds.

 

Therefore their business model, by it's very nature, excludes me as a customer. If I learn someday that their products are more readily available I'll happily get excited about it and look to make some purchases.

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I feel about the same except my job works at home so if I had a time in mind I could just hover for five minutes on my laptop but I hate the thought as it isn’t ideal. I have enough old and new unfinished and for GoG not started I’ll love. I did get in on retro city rampage for switch and it seems nice so far.

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I'll need to poke around the twitter-verse, becuase LRG did do a 'test run' of a preorder based setup with Ys Origins. The LE was handled in tradtional limited style, but the standard edition was available for preorder for a full 24 hours. The idea was to see just how much more demand there really was, with a title that should be a high demand release (relatively speaking.)

 

When asked how things went, they said not only did they only sell a couple hundred-ish over their usual run size, but they had to devote a massive amount of time to customer service as order changes/cancellations/issues dwarfed their other releases. In short, the extra effort just wasn't really worth it.

 

While I don't get every release, I've been buying LRG stuff regularly since Octodad- and I think people really overestimate the demand. Sure, most titles scream through the first 80-90% of their stock... but I've seen that last 10% linger on for 10,15+ minutes on almost every run. Anything that doesn't sell out in 24 hours gets order limits removed, and it's happened more than once (Deemo comes immedately to mind.) Less popular titles resell on Ebay for at or under their original price- even top tier stuff like Wonder Boy can be had fairly reasonably (there's a $45 dollar copy up right now, that's only $15 over the LRG price.) As much as we'd like to admit it, I don't think the market for these games is as big as we want it to be.

 

I don't expect anyone to just be OK with how they do things, I wish they did bigger and/or easier to get runs too (and fix the damn cart!). I just don't think it's done out of malice or a desire to cater specifically to a collector fanbase. So, I'm looking forward to seeing what they bring out for the Switch!

 

I've also debated for ages if I should just start picking up an extra copy of anything I buy to offer at cost around here. So I guess, those of you who don't wanna fuss with these guys but see a title you want coming out, feel free to PM me? If I'm placing an order anyway, I don't mind helping out!

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  • 5 months later...

I was reading this and sorry to bump up an old post, but I have never had any problems ordering from Limited Run. I was ordering games from them back when I had a Vita. Simply kept an eye on the page for the date/time the game was going to be available, jotted that date/time down, and logged in at that time and ordered. Easy peasy. It was never a fight/battle to order a game. Just make sure you didn't wait a day after the release announcement and you got it.

 

Seems they are doing better with the first Switch release. Pre-orders are going for the next three days. I just paid for mine:

 

https://limitedrungames.com/products/thimbleweed-park-switch?variant=7136854769717

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Seems they are doing better with the first Switch release. Pre-orders are going for the next three days. I just paid for mine:

 

https://limitedrungames.com/products/thimbleweed-park-switch?variant=7136854769717

 

It's basically a great show of 'we're really not trying to be dicks, our print numbers do have a method behind them'.

 

Since they don't know what demand for Switch titles is like, they did the first release a pre-order that's open for a full week. As of this post, you've still got 2 days to buy it if you want it. That way, they can get a feel for how many they'd need to order for a regular run to meet demand. It's not a bad way to do things.

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I've more or less gotten over my anger at them, but I've also stopped buying their titles?

 

This isn't a protest of any sort. I'm just not finding any interest in the titles they're releasing at this point.

 

That and GOOD LORD they're releasing so many! I think we're getting nearly 3 different physical titles every week!

 

They're starting to last up to the next day on some even...

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I've more or less gotten over my anger at them, but I've also stopped buying their titles?

 

This isn't a protest of any sort. I'm just not finding any interest in the titles they're releasing at this point.

 

That and GOOD LORD they're releasing so many! I think we're getting nearly 3 different physical titles every week!

 

They're starting to last up to the next day on some even...

 

I haven't bought anything for a few runs myself... there's only so many pretty pixelart metroidvanias you can buy before you're feeling pretty done for awhile, y'know?

 

Although I am a bit grateful for the lack of interest on my part, they really have been releasing a lot lately. It's hard on the wallet sometimes!

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I haven't bought anything for a few runs myself... there's only so many pretty pixelart metroidvanias you can buy before you're feeling pretty done for awhile, y'know?

 

Although I am a bit grateful for the lack of interest on my part, they really have been releasing a lot lately. It's hard on the wallet sometimes!

 

Honestly that's probably going to be the real problem unlike everything I mentioned above... The titles.

 

There's a nearly infinite number of titles available for them to make a physical copy of, but outside of the hardcore people who are buying all of them just to have them... who are these aimed at?

 

They're going to slowly encroach into a territory of physical copies of games that nobody really wants. Like you said, there's only so many indie games (pretty pixel metroidvanias compose like 40% of these) that your average gamer would want.

 

Half the time I haven't heard of the title, and I look into it and find something kinda meh looking. Granted that's not their fault as they're just going for whatever they can get to publish out. Hopefully they can get around to more of the AA titles (not a mistype) that deserve physical copies!

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Half the time I haven't heard of the title, and I look into it and find something kinda meh looking. Granted that's not their fault as they're just going for whatever they can get to publish out. Hopefully they can get around to more of the AA titles (not a mistype) that deserve physical copies!

 

Agreed- I'd jump all over a physical copy of Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice!

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  • 4 weeks later...

I'll have to keep an eye out, any speculation on what it could be? I don't follow them, but if it's one of those few good download games Nicalis hasn't picked up I liked I'd pop for it if it was priced well.

 

I don't follow their Twitter, but I'm going to assume/hope there's a hint SOMEWHERE, but I only get the emails from them.

 

I keep following them in hopes that they'll have a release I actually want... Lemme see if I can scrounge anything up.

 

EDIT - Well I checked their Facebook and Twitter... Nothing there. I guess since it's tomorrow will just have to look it up. Probably send their usual email day of and reveal what it is.

Edited by KeeperofLindblum
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Okay now they have a "mystery" game that won't be revealed until it goes on sale this Friday/tomorrow...

 

Also good lord I think they're releasing 2-3 titles every week now. Congrats to the high rollers who can consistently buy and keep up with their massive release schedule. :skull:

I used to keep up with the releases but it's gotten out of hand. Most releases can be picked up cheaper on ebay after a few months though. I've done that a few times

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Release #1 (Thimbleweed Park) is selling on ebay for over $100 now....and its not even completed production yet. I ordered it, along with release #2 and #3. And I will certainly be ordering #4 in the morning....whatever it is.

 

It's not like it is hard currently to keep up with the switch stuff. They are giving more than ample time to put your order in for the game only orders. The box collector sets are a different story (and I really could care less about those anyway) but the physical game copies are affordable to me and they are giving people two weeks to get an order in. For example, tomorrows "surprise" release will take pre-orders until May 25th. It's not like you have to order immediately at 10AM EST or something. You have a good two weeks to decide. I am only ordering tomorrow because I have the funds now and who knows in two weeks ;)

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