Limited Run Games

[Tanooki | 4,940]

Shmup if the local laws there back him, that's good, let them try that and the company will get a lesson in violating those government rules.  I see no reason to give him push back over it no matter what LRG wants to claim they can stick to, if the law supports that.

Being in the US they can get away with that shit, but that's not even iron clad.  They may have a policy, but also typically in the US, you are bound to the terms of the sale.  Does LRGs site claim that they do not have to honor the quarter or year they mark on the site at the time of the pre-purchase?  Because if they don't have that as an escape clause I think it could be made for a case that they're just stealing peoples money with only a lazy attempt at best to get a product out whenever its convenient.  With some in here complaining of years long delays on a paid product, when I bet when it was paid for they were told a quarter or a year it would happen, they'd have every right to cancel and not have LRG play some power trip over their policy.  I imagine you could find a US lawyer make a case that if you paid in 2016 to get a game in Q3 of that year, or that year at all, and we're ending 2020, they're non-compliant in delivering a product that was paid for.

[avatar! | 1,820]

I hope this year the Panzer Dragoon II remake comes out, and that once again we get a physical release!

Oh, and if Sega would like to release a remake of Saga, I would be okay with that

[Sumez | 2,969]

15 hours ago, Shmup said:

Never seen a company literally say you only get one chance at a refund for goods pre ordered. This is highly illegal in Aust. and I would imagine similar in the US. 

Same thing happened to me when they did Curse of the Moon. I wanted a collector's but missed it, so I ordered the regular edition. But then I managed to get a collector's in the second batch and wanted to cancel the regular.
They wouldn't let me do that, even though preorders for that were still open, and now I'm stuck with a second copy of COTM that I have absolutely no use for.

It's illegal almost anywhere, but not in the US.
Customer rights don't really count for anything there.  They are also allowed to take your money for a preorder without shipping it, which is also usually illegal.

IMO, enforced by laws or not, I completely agree that not allowing cancellations of orders is super unprofessional. It's the kind of stuff that will give people a bad impression of your service, and it can hurt your reputation in the long run. If it were on an actual limited order I can understand it - would suck to sell out all 3000 copies only to have 500 of them cancelled before they go out, and then they need to find another way to get rid of those without compromising their core concept.
But for open preorders? That's kinda BS.

EDIT: Should probably point out that on most other accounts I've been pretty happy with LRG's customer service. They are often quite helpful and understanding.
I don't want to paint them as bad guys.

Edited November 12, 2020 by Sumez

[RH | 4,924]

It could be argued that maybe that should have emailed this out earlier, but I appreciate this transparency from LRG.  I got this email this morning.  It spells out their delays pretty well and being that I've worked with a small company, I get this.  All I've really wanted was small updates. I don't have to be in a rush to get my games, but this is all I needed.  I hope they can meet their goals of having all of their On Deck games shipped within the next 3-4 weeks or so.

Spoiler

Hi everyone,

 

2020 has been a difficult and challenging year for us all. When the pandemic took hold in the US in early March, it disrupted our operation substantially. Games ended up delayed as global shipping slowed to crawl. Despite the fact that the pandemic is still very much a growing concern, supply chains have begun to recover and many of our delayed products have begun to arrive simultaneously. This has created a new problem for us.

 

If you have open orders with us, you've likely noticed that many, many games are currently marked as "On Deck". These are games that have arrived in our warehouse but are not shipping yet. You can view the full list of "On Deck" items at the bottom of this page: https://limitedrungames.com/pages/production-updates under the "Shipping Soon" header.

 

With so many new items coming in at once that should have been staggered throughout the year, our small shipping team is left having to work through a massive backlog. We are working through this one game at a time, but please understand that getting everything out is going to take time. Things may remain "On Deck" for weeks as we work to get caught up. We are trying to prioritize what gets shipped out first by how long ago the product was sold and by how frequently customer support is being asked about each particular game's status.

 

We are working on hiring three new members for our shipping staff, but as you might imagine, this has taken a while due to the pandemic. It has been hard to coordinate interviews and a hiring process remotely. Finding good staff takes time, and that is compounded when you can't interview face-to-face. Due to the necessity to keep our staff distanced from each other, per CDC guidelines, we're also limited in how many staff we can have on the floor at any given time. Also, as an employer, we deeply respect our employee's rights to free time and do not feel comfortable demanding excessive overtime. That said, our shipping staff will be getting paid to work an extra eight hours each week in the hopes that we can dig out of the backlog by mid-December. Our ultimate goal is to get to a point where nothing is "On Deck" for more than 2 - 3 days before it is being shipped out.

 

We are deeply sorry for the current situation we are in. We understand that it is frustrating to know that your order is in our warehouse and not shipping immediately. Please understand that we are doing everything we can with our small team to ensure we get caught up as quickly as we can.

 

As always, thank you for your continued support and understanding as we all bring this unprecedented year to a close. Let's hope for a better year in 2021!

 

As a closing note, here are the latest updates on our most frequently asked about releases:

• Shantae and the Seven Sirens: All editions, all platforms, and all side merchandise (plushes, trading cards, etc.) are currently shipping. This was a MASSIVE sale with many orders that need to go out. We have been working on shipping these orders out since last week and hope to be done soon.
• Panzer Dragoon Remake:  The first standard editions should hit our warehouse at the end of this week. This sale will be prioritized and will start shipping as soon as it possibly can. To reconfirm our previous email about this game: the extremely important 1.3 patch is included on the cartridge. Waiting to include that patch is the main reason this release ended up so delayed.
• Streets of Rage Limited Edition: All of the Limited Editions are currently on a boat making their way to the US. They should arrive to us in late November if customs are quick. Once they get here, we will need to send them to our assembly partner for final assembly (they need to insert the Classic Editions and Genesis cases into each LE). We expect these to be ready to ship in mid-December. When we sold these earlier in the year, we let everyone know that they wouldn't ship until late Fall and provided a free Steam key for the game so it could be played while you waited. If you didn't receive your Steam key, you can open a support ticket at limitedrungames.freshdesk.com.
• Star Wars Jedi Outcast/Jedi Academy: These are all in-hand and will start shipping out once we have completed shipping Shantae and the Seven Sirens. Shipping these may end up disrupted when we shift to shipping Panzer Dragoon Remake, but we will resume and complete shipping these Star Wars releases immediately after Panzer Dragoon.

Once again, we are very sorry for our delay on all of these titles. We hope that once you receive your order, you enjoy your purchase and feel that the wait was worth it. Thank you again for your support and understanding.

 

[Tanooki | 4,940]

^^That's a start, but ugh I think a few others kind of demand some kind of even weak explanation other than 'the virus' like the above have in the hidden part of that post.  Blaster Master doesn't seem the type to take a huge hit.  Panzer has been 'in production' since March, and yet in May Blaster Master Zero 1+2 they're 'on deck' now and last I looked weren't even that far.  Between those SoR4 made it out just fine and fast too, it's screwy, right when the overkill fear of the virus was in full blowout as less understanding was abound then.

 

Grandia HD, Shantae GBC and Doom64 Switch those being far more recent are understandable especially with backlog.  Well as long as they don't take until March, June...Christmas 2021 to fulfill??

Messaging you sumez.

[RH | 4,924]

I can fully understand the delay on Panzer Dragoon, and I was fine with it.  I mean, I recall when it came out for DLC, a lot of people kind of reviewed it as "close, but no cigars" and cited the main problems were little bugs and QOL changes that were needed.  The fact that LRG waited for a good patch, when SEGA (or whomever the devs were) committed to making those changes was a positive for me.  I don't want a half-baked physical that will need a day-one patch, especially when it's published by a company like LRG.  I want a very solid ROM so it's accessible 10+ years from now if/when I pop it into my Switch.

However, LRG does lose points because as I was asking earlier, they only sent us one email and that was in September.  The email confirmed my hopes (they were waiting on the rom file for production) but it just felt they should have sent out an email sooner.

I have in my waiting backlog, Panzer Dragoon, realMyst (because I ordered them together), Grandia and now Ion Fury.  Ion Fury is still being offer so it doesn't count but, yeah, I now have a backlog of 4 games I'm waiting to get from them.  It'd just be nice if maybe they had a monthly production update news letter.  I think that could help their image a lot.

[Brickman | 3,996]

8 hours ago, Sumez said:

Same thing happened to me when they did Curse of the Moon. I wanted a collector's but missed it, so I ordered the regular edition. But then I managed to get a collector's in the second batch and wanted to cancel the regular.
They wouldn't let me do that, even though preorders for that were still open, and now I'm stuck with a second copy of COTM that I have absolutely no use for.

It's illegal almost anywhere, but not in the US.
Customer rights don't really count for anything there.  They are also allowed to take your money for a preorder without shipping it, which is also usually illegal.

IMO, enforced by laws or not, I completely agree that not allowing cancellations of orders is super unprofessional. It's the kind of stuff that will give people a bad impression of your service, and it can hurt your reputation in the long run. If it were on an actual limited order I can understand it - would suck to sell out all 3000 copies only to have 500 of them cancelled before they go out, and then they need to find another way to get rid of those without compromising their core concept.
But for open preorders? That's kinda BS.

EDIT: Should probably point out that on most other accounts I've been pretty happy with LRG's customer service. They are often quite helpful and understanding.
I don't want to paint them as bad guys.

Thanks Sumez. This was my thoughts when I posted the PSA. I just had no idea that US customer rights were so different. 

I agree, I don’t think LRG are bad or their customer service sucks and I don’t want anyone to think that. But I do feel that threatening a one time only refund is unprofessional whether it is legal or not. It gives me a bad impression and has made me re think future purchases.

[Sumez | 2,969]

Hell, if it's just a preorder it's not even a refund - that's just an order cancellation (though the laws here also enforce full refund for anything bought online).

This is why the whole taking money for a product that hasn't shipped yet is another really questionable one. Until they've sent your their product, the transaction isn't over, and there is nothing to refund.

Even Play-Asia, who are apparently famous for being unwilling to refund anything, have never had any issues cancelling any order I've placed with them, as long as it hasn't been sent out yet.

[Ausden | 323]

Just received shipping confirmation on Panzer Dragoon!!!

[Brickman | 3,996]

Email I received from Physicality Games. It sucks they couldn’t get the pre orders needed because they had a few nice titles.

 

An Open Letter from Physicality Games

We started Physicality Games with the idea of differently providing pre-order exclusive physical video games. We didn’t want the artificial scarcity of limited-print runs to prevent fans from getting the game they wanted. We wanted Deluxe Editions that any fan, gamer, or collector would be proud to display on their shelves, packaged in beautiful, metal, display boxes and containing items meaningful to the game. We wanted a site that would facilitate communities by allowing gamers to easily share their gamer IDs and favorite games across the internet. We wanted something true to our key values of kindness, community, quality, and charity.

In many ways we succeeded. We are proud of the site we created. We are proud of the Deluxe Editions we put together and the high-level of detail that went into every aspect of them. And we are proud to announce that we, from our own pockets, have already made all charitable donations earned through pre-orders.

However, after eight months of sustained effort we failed to achieve sufficient pre-orders for any of our exclusive pre-order titles. We have therefore decided to cancel our exclusive pre-order titles and will begin processing full refunds to our customers per our guarantee. This was a painful decision to make but we can no longer, in good consciousness, ask our customers to continue waiting.

 

We offer a sincere apology that we are unable to ship and would like to thank each and every one of our fans from the bottom of our hearts for the patience and understanding they’ve shown.

The Physicality Games website will remain open. Non pre-order games and apparel will remain available for purchase with quick shipment. Community functions will remain active and new accounts and profiles can still be created and shared online. However, exclusive pre-order titles will no longer be available.
 

Thank you for your continued support and understanding during this transition.

- The Physicality Games Team

[MiamiSlice | 3,098]

^ I saw this coming from a mile away. 

Was looking forward to Rolling Gunner... wondering if anyone is going to be picking that one up or if it can't happen at this point. 

Coincidentally, if anyone wants to buy the EU version of Guilty Gear 20th Anniversary (which is maybe the only Western release of the game now) let me know. 

[phart010 | 1,708]

18 minutes ago, MiamiSlice said:

^ I saw this coming from a mile away. 

Was looking forward to Rolling Gunner... wondering if anyone is going to be picking that one up or if it can't happen at this point. 

Coincidentally, if anyone wants to buy the EU version of Guilty Gear 20th Anniversary (which is maybe the only Western release of the game now) let me know. 

I pre-ordered Rolling Gunner. I have not received a refund yet but from the email it sounds like they are going to be processing everybody a refund.I have not received a refund yet but from the email it sounds like they are going to be processing everybody a refund.

I wonder if a bunch of people cancelled their preorders because it was taking too long and that caused the company to go upside down

[Brickman | 3,996]

34 minutes ago, MiamiSlice said:

^ I saw this coming from a mile away. 

Was looking forward to Rolling Gunner... wondering if anyone is going to be picking that one up or if it can't happen at this point. 

Coincidentally, if anyone wants to buy the EU version of Guilty Gear 20th Anniversary (which is maybe the only Western release of the game now) let me know. 

Yeah I thought as much too. I had Rolling Gunner on a $5 pre order but cancelled it a few months ago because I just didn’t see any movement on any of their games.

Glad they’re refunding people and not just disappearing in the night.

[RH | 4,924]

This may sound like a crazy thing to consider, but it sounds like they entered a market that's over saturated and couldn't keep up.  Most of these titles have niche fan bases or are just really good, but short indy games.  How many publishing houses do we need that do this?

Edited November 13, 2020 by RH

[TDIRunner | 2,744]

5 minutes ago, RH said:

This may sound like a crazy thing to consider, but it sounds like they entered a market that's over saturated and couldn't keep up.  Most of these titles have niche fan bases or are just really good, but short indy games.  How many publishing houses do we need that do this?

It's definitely a concern I have.  In a perfect world, all of these companies would turn every digital game into a physical game, but in reality, it seems like there are too many companies right now to sustain themselves and I fear a crash might be in our near future.  As a person who only buys games that I'm interested in, this won't have a negative impact on me, but for the many people I see on social media who are basically planning their future around these games as an investment, it makes me feel a little sick.  

[Tabonga | 2,324]

I got that email also -I wonder they just didn't get enough publicity and weren't getting enough orders to risk doing any production runs.  I had pre-ordered Slayaway Camp* Butcher's Cut - IIRC they only wanted a $5 deposit until the production (or maybe shipping) actually started.

*I keep thinking it was called Sleepaway Camp.

 

[MiamiSlice | 3,098]

2 hours ago, Tabonga said:

I got that email also -I wonder they just didn't get enough publicity and weren't getting enough orders to risk doing any production runs.  I had pre-ordered Slayaway Camp* Butcher's Cut - IIRC they only wanted a $5 deposit until the production (or maybe shipping) actually started.

It’s not that. I mean yeah demand for limited print games has dropped a bit because the market is saturated now but that’s not the issue with Physicality.

The thing is a lot of people buy these to collect. They never open them. The appeal is not what game it is. The appeal is it’s limited. Physicality misunderstood this. They thought people genuinely loved these games and wanted to pay for them. Oops! Collectors aren’t so noble. Sorry.

So when you explicitly tell people “this product isn’t limited, we will try to make sure everyone can have it” then no one wants it. Sure if they were selling the next Zelda or Celeste 2 then they’d get enough orders. But most games don’t sell well, and none of the 3 they had announced were enough to move the needle. So they probably got a pitiful amount of orders. 

[phart010 | 1,708]

I think physicality failed because they didn’t know how to run a business. They were alllowing people to hold a game for as little as $5. They allowed ordered cancellation. And they were giving away money to charity.

Likely what happened is that most people were preordering with only $5 down. So they didn’t have enough capital to make their first manufacturing order. So they waited for more preorders to build up cash. Then people got tired of waiting so they cancelled orders, meaning they had even less cash. 

According to them, they were also giving money from each preorder to charities. So yea, very noble cause, but not sustainable business, especially for a startup company 

[MiamiSlice | 3,098]

6 minutes ago, phart010 said:

I think physicality failed because they didn’t know how to run a business. They were alllowing people to hold a game for as little as $5. They allowed ordered cancellation. And they were giving away money to charity.

Likely what happened is that most people were preordering with only $5 down. So they didn’t have enough capital to make their first manufacturing order. So they waited for more preorders to build up cash. Then people got tired of waiting so they cancelled orders, meaning they had even less cash. 

According to them, they were also giving money from each preorder to charities. So yea, very noble cause, but not sustainable business, especially for a startup company 

Yes but this was their second attempt at a business model. Their first attempt, when they launched... I think over 2 years ago? was they took full price pre-orders for these 3 games (Guilty Gear, Rolling Gunner, Slayaway), and they were explicit about these would be for the first print runs but each game could get additional print runs in the future if there was enough demand. No time limited pre-order period, no hard limits on each game, etc. I don't think they ever hit the minimum order needed for any of these games. 

[phart010 | 1,708]

1 hour ago, MiamiSlice said:

Yes but this was their second attempt at a business model. Their first attempt, when they launched... I think over 2 years ago? was they took full price pre-orders for these 3 games (Guilty Gear, Rolling Gunner, Slayaway), and they were explicit about these would be for the first print runs but each game could get additional print runs in the future if there was enough demand. No time limited pre-order period, no hard limits on each game, etc. I don't think they ever hit the minimum order needed for any of these games. 

I hope Limited Run or some other company can get the rights from physicality so these games can still come out

[Hybrid | 427]

I'm just gonna drop this off dunno if it's been discussed here yet

[MiamiSlice | 3,098]

Saw that posted on Facebook, was that you @Hybrid or someone else?

[Hybrid | 427]

@MiamiSliceSomeone else there seems to be multiple copies out there so I am assuming it's legit but I have questions about it

[Brickman | 3,996]

Strictly Limited Games have the Cotton Reboot up for pre order if you were looking to grab it.

I don’t like to buy special editions too often but I did grab this one because Cotton is one of my favourites and I love the hard shell case.

https://store.strictlylimitedgames.com/collections/cotton-reboot/products/cotton-reboot-dx68000-edition-nsw-preorder

[RH | 4,924]

Well LRG is just getting crazier to me as a new customer.

I've mentioned my pending orders for Panzer Dragoon which I also bought realMyst with. It's saying it has a ready status, but no email regarding shipping. Grandia is still pending, but I got an email Monday that Ion Fury has shipped!

Ok, what! Granted, I'm glad to be getting that one quickly, but I think preorders just closed on that one and they also said they were going to work through their shipping backlog based off of order age. This is practically a new order from me. Why has it shipped so fast?! I'm not upset. I just don't understand the logistics.

So, anyone else order Ion Fury and have it coming there way?