The Physical Form Forum

[Raidou]

Great, another company capitalising on how hard it is to get physical games by making physical games harder to get...

Did you know?
Currently, Limited Run Games has published 36 games for the Playstation Vita, which is roughly 10-12% of the system's estimated PhysEng library (estimated at 320).

[lendelin]

Great, another company capitalising on how hard it is to get physical games by making physical games harder to get...

Great statement, I completely agree. The salesmodel of Limited Run isn't only hippocritical but also counterproductive. Small saleswindows from 90 seconds to 15 minutes on average make it much easier to get downloads than physical games.

Limited Run is overall a big disservice to gamers and collectors. There is no need to sell their games with rarity hype and pressure to get the games now or pay much later on ebay. Ebay sellers were factored in their salesmodel from the beginning, and still to this day LR games are an ebay sellers paradise.

The justifications by LR for their salesmodel are from hippocritical to ridiculous. They claim that a normal salesmodel with "overstock" would "sink our ship and our developers" (Quote LR) which is utter nonsense as reality shows. More than half a dozen smaller publishers which do exactly the same thing as LR prove every month that this is not the case.

THQ Nordic, Soedesco, Maximum Games, Badland Games, Rising Star, PQube or 505 Games, just to name a few, sell games from small developers and/or digital games on physical disc in a regular fashion without the rarity hype and without accomodating ebay scalpers. They are expanding, hiring and producing more games than ever in the last three years, more than 200. According to LR they all should be bankrupt by now.

The most ridiculous PR statement (by 'Doug', one of the owners) by LR justifying their way of selling games was "There isn't  unlimited demand for this stuff. Atari crashed the industry by overprinting!" (No comment! The nonsense hurts intellectually everyone who knows game history)

There is only one who profits from this salesmodel. LR eliminated conveniently the number one uncertainty of every business, namely the final sales numbers, at the cost of gamers and collectors while laughing all the way to the bank. There is no doubt in my mind that they are cutting severely into the business of the other small developers named above.

Something which really irks me is that LR has a very positive reputation despite their obvious terrible salesstrategy and is associated as the only company which publishes digital only games on physical disc. They created an adamant fanbase of online footsoldiers which ranges from forum members of gaming websites to youtube channels. The most recent  example is the channel of MetalJesusRocks who interviewed one of the LR-owners. No critical question, no question why LR can't sell as a small publisher physical discs in a normal way while so many other small publishers can. If you start an interview with 'I'm a huge fan and a strong supporter of you guys' then some critical questions are not likely. Additionally, lots of gamers and youtubers don't know that there are other small publishers out there which prove that the Limited Run-way isn't the only way to sell indie-games on physical disc and therefore sheepishly accept the terrible salesmodel and associate LR as the only company to sell these games.

The positive image was mainly created because these two guys sold their story with the games. Gamers and collectors like you and me who happened to be game designers and who are interested in preserving games and faced bankruptcy (Mighty Rabbit Studios).

It is still a mystery to me how you can serve gamers and collectors if you sell games like they do without the economic necessity for it. The two big problems for game collectors today are rarity hype and (unfortunately in the meantime) ebay. LR is tailored towards both and exploits the situation.

The real danger lies in copycat publishers. The new Strictly Limited Games is a German company which dabbles in the same nonsense as LR. It doesn't surprise me, I'm German. Special Reserve Games was already founded a year ago.

In the article of the previous post are a lot of companies listed; while I'm not a big admirer of 'worldwide limited print runs of 4000'-ads  I have to say that the other companies sell their games with pre-orders and without the rarity hype which gives consumers enough time to buy and without the pressure to do it right away. Only Limited Run and Special Reserve (and now Strictly Limited) sell their games with small sales windows at certain times in one day. Again, the justifications by LR not to do pre-orders (they did ist so far twice of the 80 games they published) are from hippocritical to ridiculous.

[lendelin]

Soedesco announced the physical release of 'Owlboy' sometime in 2018, probably the first quarter of 2018. I heard only very very good things about this game and I'm really looking forward playing this on the PS4 or XboxOne.



Here is a very interesting video of the two founders of D-Pad, the Norwegian developers of the game and one of the first independent studios, at a presentation of the Game Developers Conference. They talk about the development of the game during the last ten years while graphics and gameplay of the industry were evolving:

[Addicted]

That's great news! I really liked Owlboy and the soundtrack.

[lendelin]

Good news: Axiom Verge (published by Badland Games), a very good so-called 'Metroidvania'-game and heavily inspired by the 2D-Metroid series, will be finally released on physical disc for the PS4 in a couple of days, on November 21.

It is available on Amazon and comes in a special collectors box with an artbook, a making-of BluRay and a two sided poster (with map and item locations!) for $30. I'm looking forward playing this game, let's see what the hype is all about.

[slackur]

Good news: Axiom Verge (published by Badland Games), a very good so-called 'Metroidvania'-game and heavily inspired by the 2D-Metroid series, will be finally released on physical disc for the PS4 in a couple of days, on November 21.

It is available on Amazon and comes in a special collectors box with an artbook, a making-of BluRay and a two sided poster (with map and item locations!) for $30. I'm looking forward playing this game, let's see what the hype is all about.

The Switch CE has all of that and a soundtrack CD also, although it includes the usual +$10 "Switch Tax" putting it at $40.

Incidentally, as a guy who loves "metroidvania" games, Axiom Verge is easily one of the best I've played. I'd put it close to equal with Super Metroid myself, though of course that's IMHO.

[lendelin]

Good news: Axiom Verge (published by Badland Games), a very good so-called 'Metroidvania'-game and heavily inspired by the 2D-Metroid series, will be finally released on physical disc for the PS4 in a couple of days, on November 21.

It is available on Amazon and comes in a special collectors box with an artbook, a making-of BluRay and a two sided poster (with map and item locations!) for $30. I'm looking forward playing this game, let's see what the hype is all about.

The Switch CE has all of that and a soundtrack CD also, although it includes the usual +$10 "Switch Tax" putting it at $40.

Incidentally, as a guy who loves "metroidvania" games, Axiom Verge is easily one of the best I've played. I'd put it close to equal with Super Metroid myself, though of course that's IMHO.

I forgot about the release for the Switch, probably because I don't have a Switch yet. I have to have a closer look of indie games for the Switch and put them on my list. It looks like the Switch will get some good amount of these games, the Switch as a handheld is of course ideal for indie games and might become a serious contender to the PS4 in this growing niche market. More games to buy in the long run, terrible!

Good to hear that you liked Axiom Verge so much. I'm really curious about this game and suspect it will be the ideal game for me. I had the same feeling about Song of The Deep and Lumo, and I loved both to death.

[Addicted]

Secret of Mana (Remake PS4) physical edition is ready to be pre-ordered via Gamestop.

https://www.gamestop.com/...a-only-at-gamestop/156840

[lendelin]

Secret of Mana (Remake PS4) physical edition is ready to be pre-ordered via Gamestop.

https://www.gamestop.com/...a-only-at-gamestop/156840

I got the email today also. I was wondering if the physical copy is a Gamestop exclusive?? By all criticism of the trailers so far, I'm still optimistic about the game. I find the art style not bad at all, and the game seems to be truthful to the original and has certainly better translation than the American SNES-release.

Play-Asia has recently an impressive lineup of exclusive limited titles. Soon it will be 'Vesta' and 'Coma. The Recut,' then Rainbow Skies and Rainbow Moon in February as interesting RPGs. Down the line Unepic.

Except for Alchemic Joust and Tachyon Project (not interested) I have the Play Asia exclusives and these are games of good quality, from Ghost Blade HD to Cursed Castilla EX and Caveman Warriors. These CEs are also impressive and worth the price. These games come in glossy, very sturdy cardboard boxes, and with at least a soundtrack CD, sometimes additionally with an artbook. All for $30. And with the recent sale (unfortunately over) you got two for the price of one. I got Rive and Semispheres for $15 each, not bad.

These CEs are much of much higher quality and much cheaper than those by Limited Run.

[Addicted]

It's only at Gamestop in the US:

[img width=700 height=1244]https://i.imgur.com/5ksI4g4.png[/img]

[bombatomba]

Thought this would be a safe place to post this.

You know, I really have no major problems with digital distribution.  Call it what you will, drinking the kool-aid or whatever; I'd made my peace.  But every now and then, I would like some sort of box or instruction book to play with.  Something where one professional paid another professional to create something pretty that I can flip through.  Like maybe Secret of Mana and Ni No Kuni 2.  I know, I had more than one person (possible cruelly) tell me these games are available on other, more console'y (and hand-held'y) platforms that occasionally produce such physical things, and really as primarily a PC gamer I should be thankful that I get anything.  I had no comment to that, except to say I am glad I get a chance to play these games, I just think it would be cooler to have a booklet or box that I don't have to print off myself, is all.

[Bear78]

Late to the party but Strictly Limited Games second release came and went over the weekend.

Gryphon Knight Epic is a 2D shmup that was limited to 999 copies.

https://www.strictlylimitedgames.com/releases/gke/

[ErbBetaPatched]

Something about Limited Run games irk me. I guess its the lack of additional functionality making their products novelties. IndieBox has it down. They put these digital games in beautiful physical boxes and include cool feelies that makes them more than just novelties.

[Bear78]

iam8bit is doing a physical release of What Remains of Edith Finch for the PS4

https://store.iam8bit.com...inch-ps4-physical-edition

They are also doing a release of Gang Beasts

https://store.iam8bit.com...-beasts-ps4-physical-game

[Raidou]

Eastasia soft / Play-asia have announced a physical release for Bleed 1 + Bleed 2 for ps4

https://www.play-asia.com...438&mc_eid=be80b5699e