Topic: The "Digital Games getting Physical Release" Thread

[Soren]

So. This is happening. And it's not just Limited Run doing physical prints of digital indies anymore, Super Rare Games are also getting into it. So in attempt to keep track of all this I thought it would be a good idea to have a thread to keep track of all these upcoming physical releases. This OP will be constantly updating so feel free to drop in every once in a while:

Limited Run Games
Switch Limited Run #1 - Thimbleweed Park - Regular (Preorder Closed) / Big Box Edition (3,000 copies)
Switch Limited Run #2 - Mercenary Kings - Regular (Open Preorder) / Tribute Treasure Box with Flinthook (3,000 copies)
Switch Limited Run #3 - Flinthook - Regular (Open Preorder) / Tribute Treasure Box with Mercenary Kings (3,000 copies)

Future Releases
- Saturday Morning RPG
- Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten


Super Rare Games
SRG #1 - Human Fall Flat - Regular (5,000 copies) / Deluxe and Vinyl Bundles Sold Out
SRG #2 - The Flame and The Flood - Regular (5,000 copies)

Future Releases
- Yooka-Laylee?

I'm debating whether or not to include games from other publishers (like Runner 3, even though that game always had a physical release planned for it, and is coming out from a major indie publisher) but for now I'll keep it limited to the boutique retailers. If you guys know of any others doing this let me know.

[Evan_B]

I guess the only benefits to this are having a collectible, limited edition piece that could have high resale potential, and preventing your micro SDs from getting too cluttered.

Either way, I don't bite.

[lolmonade]

I guess the only benefits to this are having a collectible, limited edition piece that could have high resale potential, and preventing your micro SDs from getting too cluttered.

Either way, I don't bite.

Yeah, regarding Switch, on-system storage concerns, being a collector, or wanting something to resell if you don't like the game would be the reasons I'd see wanting this.

[Oedo]

I'm a little surprised that Golf Story isn't among the first ones announced for Limited Run Games. They seemed to be hinting at it last year.

[Ian Sane]

I think the appeal here is for those that want to still be able to play a game 10 years after the Switch servers are offline.  With a digital release if a decade from now your Switch conks out, you've lost the game.  With a physical release you can still play it.

Though there may be some speculation going on where someone is expecting the game to become out-of-print at some point and thus a physical copy will command top dollar in the used market as the only legit way to play the game.

Though physical copies these days aren't really as physical as we'd like.  For this and the prior generation every game has so many patches that your physical release is probably going to be missing features and be full of bugs in 20 years when you're trying to play it strictly off the disc or cart.  These specific releases are probably different in that they try to put all the patches in place on the physical copy but major releases?  Look at something like Splatoon on the Wii U.  Nintendo added so much content after release that the physical disc is a shell of the full game.

[Adrock]

That’s literally the exact reason I’ve been questioning my preference for physical releases. I like having something tangible though I can’t explain why anymore. Very rarely is a game released without patches or DLC (paid or free). I suppose it’s nice to have the option of trading a game if I make a mistake. Then again, most of my purchases are Nintendo first party games. Not to sound like a fanboy, but I’ve had like a 95% success rate with Nintendo’s own games. And I rarely regret buying games I ultimately didn’t like such as Skyward Sword.

I’ve moved on from music CDs well over a decade ago, and while I occasionally buy Blu Rays, most of my TV/movie content is viewed via streaming. I realize with video games, it’s ultimately a losing battle. I haven’t been able to wean myself off yet.

To get back on topic, it’s great that there a publishers giving certain digital games a physical release. However, I’m not devoted enough to fight tooth and nail to get an extremely limited release.

[lolmonade]

Though physical copies these days aren't really as physical as we'd like.  For this and the prior generation every game has so many patches that your physical release is probably going to be missing features and be full of bugs in 20 years when you're trying to play it strictly off the disc or cart.  These specific releases are probably different in that they try to put all the patches in place on the physical copy but major releases?  Look at something like Splatoon on the Wii U.  Nintendo added so much content after release that the physical disc is a shell of the full game.

This blurred lines where you have a physical copy of a game but it still requires patches and updates to be functional is part of why, in my view, the "value" of physical is being diminished. Or the games that have released so far where part of the package isn't even on the cart, but a separate download code.


That's why I'm hoping Nintendo's talk of the "NX" being as much about a platform than just the next console iteration was true.  I get it's been a long time since it launched, but the impending closure of the Wii Virtual Console and shop channel stuff just sort of highlights how at the mercy digital copies of games are to the platform holders.

[Mop it up]

Physical games still have some monetary value which is one reason I still prefer them. And even if a Switch game has part as a download, it still takes up less of the premium storage space available to Switch.

Look at something like Splatoon on the Wii U.

While I understand your point, this isn't a good example because all of the content added after launch was for the online multiplayer mode. Therefore, even if all the content were on the disc or stored on the system, you still couldn't use it once the servers are gone as you could no longer play online.

Now, Splatoon 2 is a different matter since it has local wireless play. In that case, you would be missing something for offline multiplayer.

[Ian Sane]

I first really thought of the diminished value of physical copies when I got the Mass Effect Trilogy set for the PS3.  Originally the first game was an Xbox 360 exclusive so this was the first release of it for the PS3.  You can import your character through all three games but originally the PS3 version of ME2 didn't have this feature since ME1 wasn't available.  Well they didn't print a new version of ME2 for this set.  To get the import feature to work you need to download a patch.  I remember at the time thinking about how I liked these games so much I could see myself playing them again in 10 years and encouraging friends to try them out.  But if by that time my PS3 stopped working and I had to replace it and the servers were no longer up I would be without an essential feature of the game.  That idea was very annoying even though it wasn't actually affecting me at the time.

I want to stay physical for that reason but the industry doesn't really offer it properly anymore.  The packaging isn't that impressive anymore either - no manual, just a piece of paper in a case.  Why did I really stick with physical releases on the 3DS and Wii U?  I can think of two reasons - the ability to let my brother borrow my copy if he's interested in the game and the fact that Nintendo includes jack **** for storage with their systems and I didn't feel like buying extra storage or playing hot potato with the storage I have.  That's really it.  My Wii U came with Mario Kart 8 pre-installed and honestly it is kind of nice to just open the menu and play it without having to swap discs around.  I probably should just go that route in the future if Nintendo makes it easy, which they don't.

Keeping things physical is more about control than anything else.  I want to keep this game for 30 years if I want to and lend it to friends and ensure that the publisher can't take it away from me at some point.  But they're doing that anyway.  The "control" is largely an illusion.  It comes from the early days of online console gaming where the disc had the whole game on it, because otherwise the game wouldn't work for 90% of the customer base, and it was just the online multiplayer that seemed like it would disappear.  We didn't think games would ship as incomplete buggy messes with day-one patches because you couldn't do that 15 years ago.  And when Nintendo decided to go with carts again for the Switch I was thinking about storage limitations from the perspective of the N64.  Storage too small?  **** it, just include only a portion of the game on the cart and make them download the rest.  Couldn't do that 20 years ago, now you can.

[Evan_B]

I think the appeal here is for those that want to still be able to play a game 10 years after the Switch servers are offline.  With a digital release if a decade from now your Switch conks out, you've lost the game.  With a physical release you can still play it.

Yeah but how are you going to play your games on the Switch in ten quadrillion years after the heat death of the universe, Ian? HMMMM?

[Order.RSS]

Would the Axiom Verge Multiverse Edition count for this as well? I don't know how many copies were printed, and it wasn't done by Limited Run Games but rather by Badland Indie.

(Sidenote but I was ever so mildly miffed to see 2 of them in store for Switch whilst my already paid Wii U copy still hasn't released a firm release date haha.)

[Stratos]

I'd bite on a Yooka-Laylee release. I skipped the digital purchase because it came so late, but now that I've beat Odyssey's main story I can picture picking this game up.


Also, I'm feeling the same way as others about the diminishing value of physical games. Add the portable nature of the Switch and I'm really feeling the urge to go all digital. The only things keeping me mostly physical is price (physical games get discounted much more often and by a larger margin) and storage space (which is also expensive to expand properly).


Though I could see myself dropping $100 on a 512gb sd card in a few years, but not anytime in the near future.


Oh man! When can I buy the 1TB cards?!?

[NWR_insanolord]

As I said on Twitter the other day, I'd really like to see a Switch revision with multiple SD slots to make it easier/cheaper to expand storage. Either that or a regular size SD slot instead of Micro, those cards are more reasonably priced.

[Soren]

Would the Axiom Verge Multiverse Edition count for this as well? I don't know how many copies were printed, and it wasn't done by Limited Run Games but rather by Badland Indie.

(Sidenote but I was ever so mildly miffed to see 2 of them in store for Switch whilst my already paid Wii U copy still hasn't released a firm release date haha.)

Yeah, I think there's a lot of copies of the multiverse edition out in the wild. They're pretty much available everywhere.


I think both Limited Run and Super Rare will likely have under 10k print runs for Switch games.

[Soren]

Rising Star Games will be releasing a physical version of SteamWorld Dig 2. I'm assuming that it won't be a limited release and it will have plenty of stock available, like the SteamWorld collection on Wii U.

[Soren]

Updated OP.


Flinthook and Mercenary Kings now available for preorder, with a limited edition featuring both games offered as well.

[Evan_B]

Again, I understand the desire to be able to play your games once servers blah blah, but my main issue with Limited Run, which Gui has cited several times in the past on RFN/Twitter is that, they’re like, really limited. To the point where people who would like these games physically may not even get them because of how aggressively people preorder.

[Stratos]

I get that the "limited" is a big part of their marketing and protects them from unnecessary loss if something does not sell, but they should also be mindful of growing demand. I would hope over time they increase the number of copies available in a release to meet the demand better.

Maybe even consider reprints if the demand is there. This would be a perfect way to use a fundraising platform. Open a kickstart for reprints with the promise being if they get enough orders they will issue a reprint. that would guarantee future sales are sold and not sitting in warehouses.

[ejamer]

... I would hope over time they increase the number of copies available in a release to meet the demand better.

Maybe even consider reprints if the demand is there...

Listened to an interview with Limited Run Games via Retronauts podcast.


Two relevant comments from that interview:
* They also want to improve print run size to better meet demand, because otherwise it's leaving money on the table. I think they mentioned Night Trap as an example where they could have easily tripled production and sold through.
* Reprints are something they considered, but there was a strong backlash from existing customers. They seem to have written off the idea, preferring to keep their customer base happy and trusting. Personally, I suspect this is a good approach - although it would be nice to see print runs increase in size a little bit.

[Evan_B]

* Reprints are something they considered, but there was a strong backlash from existing customers. They seem to have written off the idea, preferring to keep their customer base happy and trusting. Personally, I suspect this is a good approach - although it would be nice to see print runs increase in size a little bit.

Sounds like their existing customer base is comprised of a bunch of elitist pricks.

[ejamer]

* Reprints are something they considered, but there was a strong backlash from existing customers. They seem to have written off the idea, preferring to keep their customer base happy and trusting. Personally, I suspect this is a good approach - although it would be nice to see print runs increase in size a little bit.

Sounds like their existing customer base is comprised of a bunch of elitist pricks.

I'm not sure that's fair.  It's reasonable to expect vendors to be honest when advertising their goods, and reprints would go against the "limited to XXX copies" rhetoric that is used.


(For what it's worth, I'm all for reprints so that games can be available to a larger install base. But I also don't hold any ill will towards people who feel differently. In this case, the games are available in a different form so it's hard to get too upset about limited print runs - even though I'm staunchly in the "buy physical" camp.)

[Evan_B]

Then do as Nicalis did with The Binding of Isaac Afterbirth+, and do a first run edition. If you care that much about the legitimacy of your purchase, you're in the game more for collector/resale potential then actually enjoying your purchase.

[nickmitch]

* Reprints are something they considered, but there was a strong backlash from existing customers. They seem to have written off the idea, preferring to keep their customer base happy and trusting. Personally, I suspect this is a good approach - although it would be nice to see print runs increase in size a little bit.

Sounds like their existing customer base is comprised of a bunch of elitist pricks.

I'm not sure that's fair.  It's reasonable to expect vendors to be honest when advertising their goods, and reprints would go against the "limited to XXX copies" rhetoric that is used.


(For what it's worth, I'm all for reprints so that games can be available to a larger install base. But I also don't hold any ill will towards people who feel differently. In this case, the games are available in a different form so it's hard to get too upset about limited print runs - even though I'm staunchly in the "buy physical" camp.)

It's hard to sympathize with their existing consumer base, but they make a point; at this stage, any reprints would qualify as a bait-and-switch.

[Evan_B]

If we're talking reprints of pre-existing releases, I can see how their userbase could get miffed. But moving forward, they should really implement some more accessible practices. Or they could just jack up their prices on their normal business strategy, that way they won't ever get my business and cap rip off the people who obsess over this sort of thing.

[Ian Sane]

For reprints couldn't they just make an obvious change to the packaging so it's easy to identify the original print run from the reprints?  It could be like Greatest Hits or Player's Choice packaging but not so obviously ugly.  Then those original copies remain collectable.