Limited Run Games Thread - We only promise our NES games will work, not your console

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ecwfan said:
Josh mentioned on Twitter that LRG has cancelled 50 titles. Surprised they would actually cancel releases rather than honor the contracts. Sounds like they're actively working on slowing down.
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No, I bet too many recent releases aren’t hitting MOQ so they are canceling out of necessity.

 
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Did he specify if they were announced or not? I can't see them cancelling titles because of MOQ since those are announced and everything is an open pre-order now; they wouldn't know the numbers yet.

Regardless, I'm am curious which titles were dropped, given some of the titles that were not dropped. But MOQ is probably a problem in general. They are pushing 'Alien Isolation' hard, and I think people just don't care.

 
I'd imagine this isn't Josh doing it as much as corporate pressure from Embracer to stop focusing on the nickle and dime profit games that aren't selling well anymore so they can handle business more efficiently for the games that will make money. They are way over extended.

I do wonder if this is an actual 50 titles or if it's 50 skus. Whatever the case, not making MOQ is a huge red flag on a contract being worth it. They have to stop with the wide net casting as it's just loading them down with junk and burning out their customer base.

HaloGX said:
They are pushing 'Alien Isolation' hard, and I think people just don't care.
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I wonder just how many diehard shoppers they even have left. I'm not against ordering from them but my bar now is so high for the games in most cases I can talk myself out of whatever game ... or at least wait for another retailer to get copies at which point most of the time I'm over whatever itch made me want to buy in the first place.

Alien Isolation is something that if the price was right and it was on retail shelves, I'd probably consider it an impulse buy.

 
Here's the tweet thread for anyone curious (assuming it still works, Twitter's been a hot mess lately):

https://twitter.com/LimitedRunJosh/status/1676229035867750401

It feels like they have a flood of releases, so I can't imagine how bad it'd be if they were still going full steam ahead. It does suck for the releases that got canned, though. Those guaranteed sales can go a long way for indie devs and based on Josh's wording it sounds more likely they're going to do more big name stuff with folks like EA or Konami.

I absolutely do not buy the "shipping things out in real time (...) within the next few months" line. They have 389 items listed as in production right now, that's going to take more than "a few months" to fix.

MOQ is definitely a problem. Alien's sitting at under 7k between all three versions, which is pretty bad for such a marquee product. Cursed to Golf is the only other Switch game that's currently for sale that's over 1k. It's less of an issue for PS4/PS5 since MOQ is so low comparatively.

 
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My order from May last year of Sam and Max 2 (Switch) and Contra (PS4) is now finally both on hand, but now it's stuck waiting for the Sam and Max slipcover...which I honestly didn't expect to be the holdup for the order. I thought, the games take a year to ship, plus they made these for the release of the first game, so the design is done, just need to have more printed. Surely the cardboard box will be ready by the time the games come in a year later...

 
freshzen said:
Exactly why I held off.

Dark Deity looks good, is it worth $50 though? Seems pricey for a 16 (or 32?) bit RPG.
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Especially when it has been cheaper digital. Iirc 8.99 and Less bundled assuming that I'm remembering that right.

Edit 5.99 on fanatical is the record low in a bundle and it was free on epic last year back in November.
 
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I'm betting some of those cancelled titles were part of their "triumphant" entry into Xbox physical that went down faster than the Hindenburg.

 
RedvsBlue said:
I'm betting some of those cancelled titles were part of their "triumphant" entry into Xbox physical that went down faster than the Hindenburg.
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Yeah that's a good point. They should just go back to have 1500-3000 copies per games, have them manufactured first, then put them up for sale then they'll ship quicker. I feel this would solve many of their issues.

 
I do believe the MOQs and production pipeline issues are definitely variables in the equation. While MOQs may be a newer issue, the problems with production pipeline and backlog have been an issue for quite a while, and have only gotten steadily worse. LRG has attempted to implement changes to address backlog issues in the past, but I believe their steady revenue stream was an overriding priority in the decision to continually increase the pace of releases. Therefore, I would imagine that the recent issues with Embracer may have had a larger impact on the current change of pace:

https://embracer.com/mfn_news/open-letter-by-embracer-group-ceo-on-restructuring-program/
 
They also used the New Years blind boxes to unload a lot of their turds.  Could be that their buyers are wising up and they didn’t sell as many blind boxes this year so they don’t want so many leftovers to try and unload that way.  

 
Twilightsparkle said:
They also used the New Years blind boxes to unload a lot of their turds. Could be that their buyers are wising up and they didn’t sell as many blind boxes this year so they don’t want so many leftovers to try and unload that way.
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They've been doing that since the first blind box though, and people, including people here, kept going back every year.
 
Twilightsparkle said:
They also used the New Years blind boxes to unload a lot of their turds. Could be that their buyers are wising up and they didn’t sell as many blind boxes this year so they don’t want so many leftovers to try and unload that way.
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elessar123 said:
They've been doing that since the first blind box though, and people, including people here, kept going back every year.
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I'm one of those suckers who's done blind boxes from them every year but I will say, I never regretted them until this years. In the past years, I'd say I was more ok than not with what I received... this year though, I got a lot of junk. Hell, one of this year's blind box games was one I got in one of last year's blind boxes.

ecwfan said:
Keep in mind Alien Isolation is a part of the numbered line. It won't be sold at Amazon, but might be available at VGP or VGNY.
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I'm prob wrong here but I feel like I bought a few games that were part of the number release outside of LRG- Shantae Risky's Revenge and Seven Sirens come to mind, both I got copies from BestBuy.

 
RedvsBlue said:
I'm betting some of those cancelled titles were part of their "triumphant" entry into Xbox physical that went down faster than the Hindenburg.
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Almost certainly. I dont even think RWBY sold more than 500 on xbox, and uh, that’s *very* bad for that platform. Bunch of stuff like powerslave and shadowrun had their xbox versions stealth canceled as well and i guess we know now it was indeed not just them holding those specific skus for later.

I think turtles is the only thing that did close to OK for Xbox. Even tetris was only a bit above 1K IIRC. Least during the period i checked it early on.
 
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HaloGX said:
Yeah that's a good point. They should just go back to have 1500-3000 copies per games, have them manufactured first, then put them up for sale then they'll ship quicker. I feel this would solve many of their issues.
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This definitely would benefit the weaker releases to drive demand through fomo and rarity. Save the more wanted games for a dual system like they did with Golf Story where they have so many on hand but will produce the rest and first come first serve.

 
You can safely bet that all the cancelled stuff includes Xbox releases, I'd say.

They polluted their own channel, along with a handful of also-ran companies that are even worse.

Was obvious to see coming; not ever game needs or should get an LE, let alone printing stuff with less than 10 reviews on Steam.

Guess they might have finally learned the lesson of opportunity cost, which I've been saying since I started posting in this thread.
 
I bet the 50 is SKUs and mainly Xbox versions. Too bad they never found the set of great games to publish on Xbox. Just seemed to be trash and LucasArts re-releases.

 
When the DLC and updates are finished, LRG should publish a physical release of HI-FI Rush since Microsoft seems unwilling to. I'd order that in a heartbeat.
 
n64ra said:
I bet the 50 is SKUs and mainly Xbox versions. Too bad they never found the set of great games to publish on Xbox. Just seemed to be trash and LucasArts re-releases.
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I mean, it's really crazy to see where Xbox is... I bought an Xbox One X last year because it was one of those random/crazy deals. Went to find any must have Xbox One exclusives and it's honestly such a small list. I ended up using it more for original Xbox and 360 games than I did Xbox One games, but given many original/360 games do not work with the One, I ended up buying an original Xbox a few months ago (already have a 360) for a trip down nostalgia lane. It's crazy how many good exclusives the original Xbox and 360 had... also crazy how advance the original Xbox was for it's time.

I'm not super familiar with the Xbox scene but I think everyone just uses GamePass... but I also don't get why Xbox needs to exist because I think GamePass works on computers too.

 
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I just want a physical copy of Voodoo Vince Remastered. I remember picking up the original version on release day so it just holds nostalgia for me
 
RedvsBlue said:
I'm betting some of those cancelled titles were part of their "triumphant" entry into Xbox physical that went down faster than the Hindenburg.
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Xbox has never been this uninteresting.

I never see even a single person looking at Xbox stuff any time I go to the store. literally. never.

 
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Nothing- said:
Xbox has never been this uninteresting.

I never see even a single person looking at Xbox stuff any time I go to the store. literally. never.
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Xbox has cemented itself as the subscription box. Which is fine because its a great value, but its sadly killing future Xboxes having a disc drive.
 
Vinny said:
I mean, it's really crazy to see where Xbox is... I bought an Xbox One X last year because it was one of those random/crazy deals. Went to find any must have Xbox One exclusives and it's honestly such a small list. I ended up using it more for original Xbox and 360 games than I did Xbox One games, but given many original/360 games do not work with the One, I ended up buying an original Xbox a few months ago (already have a 360) for a trip down nostalgia lane. It's crazy how many good exclusives the original Xbox and 360 had... also crazy how advance the original Xbox was for it's time.

I'm not super familiar with the Xbox scene but I think everyone just uses GamePass... but I also don't get why Xbox needs to exist because I think GamePass works on computers too.
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It’s also worth mentioning Microsoft has basically gone ahead and quietly forced their original Xbox One plans of an always online console at this point anyway. They haven’t released a single complete on disc game since launching the Series X. I’d love to own Forza Horizon 5, Flight Sim, and even Halo Infinite (I enjoyed the single player) but there’s literally nothing but a key on those discs.

Sure Sony isn’t great about publishing day 1 patches and there’s even some Nintendo published games are along the same lines but I have zero interest in spending that much on games I can’t even access without a download.

And yeah, I know why they do it, they’re all in on Gamepass at this point, that’s their sole focus at this point, they just happen to release the games at retail to try to maintain some retail presence.

I’ve said it before and I still continue to firmly believe it but subscriptions do not build loyalty, it’s exactly why you saw a mass exodus from Netflix earlier this year. People get more attached to something when they “own” it rather than subscribe to it.

The Series X is probably my biggest console regret, and I bought a Wii U at launch…
 
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I definitely don't regret my Series X purchase (it feels so good to be back in the Xbox ecosystem after having an original Xbox, Xbox 360 but skipping the Xbox One), but yeah the lack of game on disc bothers me. Part of it I understand because of Smart Delivery, and that's less physical waste than separate PS4 and PS5 disc releases, but still.

And with regards to Halo Infinite digitally, which I have digitally because it came with my Halo Series X, I wish the multiplayer and single player were separate downloads. I played Halo 2 religiously and dabbled on 360, but never cared for Infinite's. Yet you have to have multiplayer installed because it's the single player that's the add on. Like... What?!
 
Vinny said:
I mean, it's really crazy to see where Xbox is... I bought an Xbox One X last year because it was one of those random/crazy deals. Went to find any must have Xbox One exclusives and it's honestly such a small list. I ended up using it more for original Xbox and 360 games than I did Xbox One games, but given many original/360 games do not work with the One, I ended up buying an original Xbox a few months ago (already have a 360) for a trip down nostalgia lane. It's crazy how many good exclusives the original Xbox and 360 had... also crazy how advance the original Xbox was for it's time.

I'm not super familiar with the Xbox scene but I think everyone just uses GamePass... but I also don't get why Xbox needs to exist because I think GamePass works on computers too.
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PC’s are more expensive & there are people like me that don’t want to mess with them b/c how much more complicated they are with EVERYTHING gaming related.
 
n64ra said:
I bet the 50 is SKUs and mainly Xbox versions. Too bad they never found the set of great games to publish on Xbox. Just seemed to be trash and LucasArts re-releases.
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FWIW:

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The 360 was peak Microsoft. The One and Series series systems are just limp PCs; affordable for what they are, but otherwise not worth it if you're a multiple platform player.

The real kick in the nards is the weak Series S supposedly holding back development on games because getting things to work on that one is an ass pain. At least Sony's weaker system isn't actually computing less.

Edit: Guess they're going Forever Physical Konami Remakes as their new slogan.

And funny to see Josh talking about market saturation; something I've stated for years as being an obvious problem... Opportunity costs come knockin.

Given how much I've spent on Play Asia this summer, I'd be in the market to still spend on LRG, if they did simultaneous releases on launch day. Why would I buy an ESRB copy 6-12 months later for a higher price? And then LRG locks out imports instead of fixing the problem. So many bad decisions piling up.
 
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Dropped by their physical location for the first time today. Smaller store (to be expected), but really cool to see all that LRG-only product on shelves. Split almost evenly between Switch and PlayStation product, and especially cool to see any sort of Vita presence at this point. While I was there, one fella looked to be getting a copy of every Vita game they had. He was cradling a stack. They also have a smaller pre-owned area with everything from NES onward, with more expensive stuff in locked cases.

In any case, I found what I was looking for (thanks to you guys, for confirming it had been previously produced/shipped), and later talked with the associate about their trade-in process. Overall, it was really great experience, and I hope the store sticks around. Will be nice to make trips out there every now and again to see what’s new. And so long as the store’s around, it puts me in the rare position of being able to wait until an LRG item has been actually produced before making the decision to pick it up.
 
MSUHitman said:
PC’s are more expensive & there are people like me that don’t want to mess with them b/c how much more complicated they are with EVERYTHING gaming related.
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Yes. Xboxes are fantastic solutions for people whom want to do just that. An all-in-one gaming solution to play their favorite games through digital. It's perfect for some people; and it's the last thing I need. If it's the only device you're going to purchase, then great, it probably does the most for general purpose and lowest common denominator internet gaming. But it ends there. It's literally the last device I require when most of what I want to play is either Playstation or Nintendo exclusive, or the best experience is enjoyed on PC / Steam.

Microsoft Xbox used to have all sorts of interesting exclusives and imports on OG and 360 but now they have none. Everything is tied to a paid subscription which you want to take full advantage of if you're subbing it. It feels like either 'all or nothing' with them now. Another, more expensive, sub when you barely use it. With nothing to show for it when you quit anteing up. When it never used to feel that way.

And yet they are leading the industry when it comes to setting the right example. They have the most corporate integrity when it comes to digital ownership, and NON-exclusivity agreements. They play fair ball. However, they are also very much likely a wolf in sheep's clothing when considering their recent major acquisitions.

It's the pharmaceutical company that plays fairly until they get an exclusive government contract, or a monopoly on vital medicine. We all know where this goes. You don't spend $70bil to play fair. And yet it's still funny to watch Sony now whining and flailing around over "unfair exclusivity" lol.

Crazy times. I've had enough of Service Industry gaming tho.

 
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Sonicyogurt said:
FWIW:
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Except statistically speaking, we're not in a recession. Plus, their whole point of existence was to put out physical copies of games that were smaller and might not get one otherwise.

So yeah, they're just a regular publisher now. I'm glad Josh is finally seeing what the majority of us have been seeing for some time.
 
Nothing- said:
Yes. Xboxes are fantastic solutions for people whom want to do just that. An all-in-one gaming solution to play their favorite games through digital. It's perfect for some people; and it's the last thing I need. If it's the only device you're going to purchase, then great, it probably does the most for general purpose and lowest common denominator internet gaming. But it ends there. It's literally the last device I require when most of what I want to play is either Playstation or Nintendo exclusive, or the best experience is enjoyed on PC / Steam.

Microsoft Xbox used to have all sorts of interesting exclusives and imports on OG and 360 but now they have none. Everything is tied to a paid subscription which you want to take full advantage of if you're subbing it. It feels like either 'all or nothing' with them now. Another, more expensive, sub when you barely use it. With nothing to show for it when you quit anteing up. When it never used to feel that way.

And yet they are leading the industry when it comes to setting the right example. They have the most corporate integrity when it comes to digital ownership, and NON-exclusivity agreements. They play fair ball. However, they are also very much likely a wolf in sheep's clothing when considering their recent major acquisitions.

It's the pharmaceutical company that plays fairly until they get an exclusive government contract, or a monopoly on vital medicine. We all know where this goes. You don't spend $70bil to play fair. And yet it's still funny to watch Sony now whining and flailing around over "unfair exclusivity" lol.

Crazy times. I've had enough of the Service Industry gaming tho.
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Meanwhile I have 111 physical games between XB1 & Series X, LoL
 
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Sonicyogurt said:
FWIW:


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This is literally me. I've lit too much money on fire on "looks like fun, isn't" that now I have an eshop wishlist for watching for sub $5 sales, and I don't buy physical until after I play it. I may pay some upcharge for not getting direct, but it's better than buying a turd, eating that turd and then trying to resell it to get money back. Plus the whole money up front thing, which as discussed, needs to go the fuck away.

 
He's spot on about us big switch collector's. I'm not buying everything anymore due to the quality.

I'm still spending hundreds to thousands a month but it's now on ebay,vgp and conventions. The year long waits have turned me off.
 
Sonicyogurt said:
FWIW:
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Hey hmmm huh i swore i shared a few javascript-sourced sales numbers for some games over the past year and certain people called me a liar for insinuating some games sold way below MOQ… which is outright what Josh confirms here. Most safer switch stuff hangs around 2-4K these days the last i checked several months ago, with stuff like gunbrick barely cracking 1000 and xbox/ps4 stuff bombing badly (PS5 seems to be picking up more)

Funny how just being honest is so easy. He’s also right about an impending recession & flood of market being factors for switch collectors cutting back/dropping out, and I noted those aspects a while back too: Steam Deck + sales makes getting into indies pretty easy now and switch stuff i do want physically i just tend to typically wait for somewhere like amazon or VGP to get em hand. It’s only the retro repros I’m really preordering at this point, via castlemania/SLG, and even the latter often has leftovers.
 
SeafoamGaming said:
Hey hmmm huh i swore i shared a few javascript-sourced sales numbers for some games over the past year and certain people called me a liar for insinuating some games sold way below MOQ… which is outright what Josh confirms here. Most safer switch stuff hangs around 2-4K these days the last i checked several months ago, with stuff like gunbrick barely cracking 1000 and xbox/ps4 stuff bombing badly (PS5 seems to be picking up more)
Funny how just being honest is so easy. He’s also right about an impending recession & flood of market being factors for switch collectors cutting back/dropping out, and I noted those aspects a while back too: Steam Deck + sales makes getting into indies pretty easy now and switch stuff i do want physically i just tend to typically wait for somewhere like amazon or VGP to get em hand. It’s only the retro repros I’m really preordering at this point, via castlemania/SLG, and even the latter often has leftovers.
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I feel Josh is just a narcissist. All the slow down in sales he lists is due to everything else other then LRGs bad business practices. He can’t admit to any failure in his part. Someone mentioned earlier half the comments on LRGs social media posts are people wondering where their games are. This is true. I’d say the other half are people saying they aren’t going to order from them again.

I feel they grew their customer base with big games. New customers ordered those games, realized it’s gonna take more than a year to get their games, and those new costumers vowed never to come back. Then the previous customer base also got fed up with LRG.

I don’t believe for a minute they are slowing things down due to some new found appreciation for their customers over their greed. They are forced to slow down because sales have dramatically slowed down.

I’m betting Doug left cause he saw the writing on the wall, and wanted to get out before the shit hit the fan. I’m curious if Doug’s departure is the bellwether of things to come.
 
portnoyd said:
This is literally me. I've lit too much money on fire on "looks like fun, isn't" that now I have an eshop wishlist for watching for sub $5 sales, and I don't buy physical until after I play it. I may pay some upcharge for not getting direct, but it's better than buying a turd, eating that turd and then trying to resell it to get money back. Plus the whole money up front thing, which as discussed, needs to go the fuck away.
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It's pretty easy to see Steam reviews for most of what they print to get an ideal for something being worth the physical.

It's the people who got suckered into chasing complete sets who'll be the true bag holders. Beanie Baby level of bottoming out...
 
WingsDJY said:
How many exclusives? I use PS4/5 as my main so I’m just trying to grab physical exclusives on Xbox (even the ones that are just unlock keys on a disc)
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Currently just Redfall Bite Back Upgrade (that’s just a code in a Steelbook though,) & Titanfall 1. I own all the Forza games since 2012 digitally before the licenses expired.

 
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