Author Topic: "Limited Run Games" is Producing Physical Copies of Games in Limited Quantities  (Read 232840 times)

argyle

No announcement as to what games will be released, but Limited Run Games is teaming up with Sekai project to release physical copies of visual novels for ps4 and vita.

Well, guess I better get my wallet ready - my wife has recently discovered visual novels & she loves 'em.  :P
"When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed
if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I
became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the
desire to be very grown up.” ― C.S. Lewis


shfan

*sigh* As I thought would happen they've got their hands on several releases I would like, but I detest having to do business with them. Just hope to god they don't sign anything I'm desperate to own.

soera

What do you not like about doing business with them? Toss me your concerns and Ill see if I can get them resolved for you.

desocietas

I know some people dislike that they can't just place a normal presale order, and that they just make that number to order. I don't know how production works, though, but I assume they can just order a certain number (based on agreements with the developer) and then sell those. Having too much back stock would take away capital for other future games (and loss for the business in general), though, I'd assume.
Currently playing:
FFXIV (PC), The Witcher (PC), Monster Hunter World: Iceborne (PS4)
twitch.tv/desocietas

soera


shfan

What do you not like about doing business with them? Toss me your concerns and Ill see if I can get them resolved for you.

It's just stuff related to being unable to pre-order which I've gone over before and didn't want to clutter up this thread with negativity seeing as LR are doing so much right. Thanks for your offer though Soera, you're a star.

I know some people dislike that they can't just place a normal presale order, and that they just make that number to order. I don't know how production works, though, but I assume they can just order a certain number (based on agreements with the developer) and then sell those. Having too much back stock would take away capital for other future games (and loss for the business in general), though, I'd assume.

It's probably far more complicated than I can even get a handle on, tbh with you Desocietas, but I'm more than a little worried that they seem to have 'made a decision' regarding this and will continue to run with that from hereon in. They're new at this, they need to protect themselves financially, I appreciate that, but part of business is making the necessary moves to keep things going. If they've already 'stuck' on this, it will turn them from "by collectors for collectors" to "by collectors for the collectors who have time to hoop-jump or the cash to pay scalpers' ransoms", which would be a great shame. Where there's the will there's a way.

(I'm leaving the house in a few hours for a short break, so please don't think I'm ignoring you guys if I don't respond for a few days).

Flashback2012

It's probably far more complicated than I can even get a handle on, tbh with you Desocietas, but I'm more than a little worried that they seem to have 'made a decision' regarding this and will continue to run with that from hereon in. They're new at this, they need to protect themselves financially, I appreciate that, but part of business is making the necessary moves to keep things going. If they've already 'stuck' on this, it will turn them from "by collectors for collectors" to "by collectors for the collectors who have time to hoop-jump or the cash to pay scalpers' ransoms", which would be a great shame. Where there's the will there's a way.

(I'm leaving the house in a few hours for a short break, so please don't think I'm ignoring you guys if I don't respond for a few days).

This is where I'm at as well. I've already voiced my displeasure at how they operate which seems to have fallen on deaf ears. I've wondered multiple times why they can't just mimic the model that Gaijinworks has done for their releases and just let people pre-pay for a copy. If there's additional ones left over then hold a "limited" sale on those for the people who didn't get in on the pre-order. That doesn't work with their model though as it's fueled on the hype and anticipation. I would LOVE to give them my money and support but apparently they neither want or care for it as there's enough mouth breathing flippers/scalpers out there to buy up the copies they press.  ::)

Let me tell you how "pleased" I was when I saw copies of Breach & Clear Vita and Saturday Morning RPG for PS4 at a comics convention recently. My cousin wanted to buy but I told him it'd be a waste of him time to ask and sure enough it was $80 for the former and $100+ for the latter. I'm obviously aware that it was the flipper setting those prices and not LRG but all of that could be avoided if they didn't pull the nonsense they do with their releases and just let me pre-buy.  :P

Now I'm seeing this partnership with that company on physical releases of visual novels. I'd love to own them but I'm NOT going to jump through hoops just to be available to order them at just the right time. I'm certainly not going to take the day off from work to ensure that I can order a game (that sound incredibly ridiculous just thinking that). Obviously LRG isn't going to alter its approach to how they do things so people like me are going to continue to be stuck. Again, I can't imagine they really care because there's plenty of Flipposaurus Rexes out there who've contributed to all of the sell outs so far.  :P

argyle

While I get the complaints to some extent, I also see that there's no one system that will please everyone. Scalpers will scalp regardless - check Ebay now & you'll see that the cheapest copy of Class of Heroes 2G, a Gaijinworks release, is going for $150 - and the prices go up from there. You could say that Gaijin gave everyone enough time, and I'd agree, but obviously not everyone does or the games wouldn't be selling for those prices. So what other solution is there? Just mass produce them? That would certainly get them into anyone's hands that wanted them, but not only is it incredibly expensive but you knock out most of the "collector" value of them. Basically, many people wouldn't want the games - and I'm talking to keep in their own collection, not resell - if they weren't rare.

Iunno - the last LR game I bought was Oddworld. I set an alert in my calendar for the day it was coming out, 10 mins before time. My phone vibrated in my weekly Monday morning meeting alerting me. I quietly logged in & bought the game with zero issues. It didn't interrupt my day at all. Not to mention the fact that when the PS4 copies went back up that afternoon for round 2 (which is the system I bought it for) they didn't sell out until the following morning.

EDIT: Oh, and I've decided recently to sell my still sealed copy of Breach & Clear, and when I do I'll be listing it comparatively with what it's currently going for. I didn't buy it to "flip", I bought it to support the just-starting LRG. But the fact is I have zero interest in that game and can use that money towards other game purchases I'm planning to make this Fall. And I won't feel bad about it when I sell it either. *shrug*

« Last Edit: June 14, 2016, 01:52:02 pm by argyle »
"When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed
if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I
became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the
desire to be very grown up.” ― C.S. Lewis


desocietas

I understand and agree that the rush to buy the games results in a lot of stress and annoyance from all camps, including LR, I'm sure. But I also saw how difficult it seemed to be for Gaijinworks to sell things, even after asking people for legitimate numbers of how many people would actually buy an item. They allowed ample time for people to tell them how many they should sell, but, from what I recall, the actual purchase numbers were nothing compared to what people's surveyed answers were.

If there is a minimum for production, I can see how that can royally screw up a company as they're left holding a huge stock that they can't do anything with except keep advertising and discount them as time passes. This is all speculation, by the way!

I don't think there's any perfect way to go about selling items without someone taking a gamble on one side. Either it's the seller or the buyer.

Hopefully the community here can help each other out for these sorts of situations, if anything! I've helped out other VGC folks with extra purchases I've made from both Gaijinworks and have bought extra copies of items from LR to help out those who have missed out.
Currently playing:
FFXIV (PC), The Witcher (PC), Monster Hunter World: Iceborne (PS4)
twitch.tv/desocietas

davifus

First announcement of the Sekai/LRG partnership :

http://gematsu.com/2016/06/fault-milestone-one-rabi-ribi-coming-ps4-ps-vita

Yesssssssssssssss, a second chance. I was super salty when I missed the kickstarter for this
"Hard work betrays none, but dreams betray many." ( Hachiman Hikigaya)
"People say nothing's impossible, but I do nothing everyday." (Winnie The Pooh)


soera

The next upcoming title for LRG : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Throne

The next upcoming title for LRG : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Throne
At this point, I expect any game that goes Indiebox to show up on LRG now.


rayne315

The next upcoming title for LRG : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Throne
At this point, I expect any game that goes Indiebox to show up on LRG now.

hey I have no problem with this. so far every game released I would have NEVER gotten a chance to play otherwise simply for the fact that I will NOT buy digital only games. so the only other option I would have had would be to find it on a free sale somewhere.
PS2 Palooza: 8/2XXX games finished
Now Playing: Dark cloud
Stopped recording so now back on track.

XIII
.Hack//G.U. Vol 1//Rebirth
Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus
Sly 2
.hack//g.u. vol 2
.hack//g.u. vol 3
Katamari Damacy
Bully

desocietas

Octodad available today... 8 min to go!
Currently playing:
FFXIV (PC), The Witcher (PC), Monster Hunter World: Iceborne (PS4)
twitch.tv/desocietas

soera

Got mine ordered.