Indie/Limited/Obscure Physical Release Deals and Discussion Thread

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The Indie/Limited/Obscure Physical Release Thread
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Physical media may not be as popular as it was in years past, but that has not stopped it from finding success in more niche areas of the market. In fact, we're seeing so many physical releases, these days, that it has become difficult for even dedicated collectors to keep up with all of them. Many games, usually indie titles, are seeing releases with highly limited prints, regional exclusivity, retailer exclusivity or are simply appearing with little notification. The purpose of this thread is to identify, catalogue, discuss and post deals for these releases, in hopes of making information more accessible and supporting the medium.​
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FAQ

Q: tl;dr

A: There are probably games that were released physically that you don't know about. Find them here.

Q: What is the "master list"?

A: The master list is a catalogue of all the games that have been identified here that meet certain criteria that differentiates them from standard, mainstream releases. It offers information regarding regional exclusivity, retailer exclusivity, print quantities and more.

Q: What are the criteria? How do you decide which games make the list?

A: For the most part, these will be "smaller" titles that were originally released as digital-only but have been given a physical release. Some exceptions may apply, like if an indie game launches with a physical release, it will likely be listed. Another exception would see a larger title that was only released digitally, for whatever reason, get a limited physical release (example: if Limited Run Games did a print of Fatal Frame V.)

Generally if a game is, as the title says, indie, limited or obscure and has a physical release, you'll see in on the "master list."

Also, the game must be region-free or NTSC-U and in English (subtitles are valid).

Q: Region free or NTSC-U? Doesn't that mean the list is only valid for North American users?

A: This means that every game on the list will be playable on North American consoles, though a few games may have versions that are region-locked on a certain console (this will be noted). Most games are now region free, so if you aren't from the NTSC-U region, it's very likely that the game will work for you. Knowledge of which systems do and don't have region-locking should allow anyone to make use of this list.

Q: What about games for collectors who aren't in the NTSC-U (North American) region or own consoles that can play region-locked games?

A: There may be a separate tab for you guys down the line. One step at a time.

Pre-Orders/Upcoming Releases


Notable Publishers/Distributors

iam8bit

A retailer, located in California, that sells all sorts of limited edition video game merchandise. They occasionally publish physical, indie titles for the PS4.

Limited Run Games

Based in California, Limited Run Games is generally accepted as the company that started the modern trend of releasing physical games in limited quantities. Currently, they publish several games a month but have stated they intend to ramp down. Their games come with collectible, trading cards and are sometimes offered alongside soundtracks, collector's editions and other related merchandise. The two heads of the company are very active on different forums and regularly engage with the community. They currently publish games for the PS4, PS Vita, Nintendo Switch and occasionally the PC.

Play-Asia

Play-Asia is an established retailer located in Hong Kong. They are well known for offering a large variety of imported merchandise, including many games that have not seen western releases but have English subtitles. They've recently partnered with eastasiasoft to distribute exclusive and limited, physical releases. These games are often offered with collector's editions which are highly praised for their presentation, content and low prices.

Special Reserve Games

A company based in Texas, Special Reserve Games currently publishes games in limited quantities with no discernible schedule. Their games are frequently offered alongside collector's editions. They also collaborate with Limited Run Games to create variant covers for some of their titles, which are then sold via Limited Run Games' website. They currently publish for the PS4, PS Vita and PC.

Strictly Limited Games

Based in Germany, Strictly Limited Games seems to publish one title a month with varied but highly limited quantities. Collector's editions and soundtracks are sometimes offered alongside game releases. They've published games for the PS4 and PS Vita.

Super Rare Games

Located in London, these guys are relatively new to the limited game market. Similar to Limited Run Games, they include trading cards and stickers with their games. They publish only for the Nintendo Switch and intend to release one game a month.

 
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I don't blame LRG for the Skullgirls delay. As far as I'm concerned, they're been ok with the updates and I feel confident that we'll eventually get our order. That being said, it would have been a much better customer service move to have tossed Volume in with one of the several orders that have shipped since. I bet the vast majority of people (if not all) who are waiting on Volume have ordered many games from LRG since.
If you ask customer service to do this, they can now. We couldn't prior to February but we now have a pipeline for this that makes it feasible. Open a support ticket at limitedrungames.freshdesk.com.
 
Yeah, same here, I believe a number of us combined Skullgirls with Volume to save shipping (the release date for Skullgirls wasn't too far off at the time, a very logical money saving move). You know LRG should just eat up the shipping cost and give us Volume...
This is the exact reason we won't do preorders. The delays here have nothing to do with us - we're at a standstill until the builds get approved by Sony. Although the delays have nothing to do with us, we're the ones consumers will ultimately blame. We've already paid royalties to our partners on this and we've spent countless hours doing customer service - we're going to eat the costs to ship the PS4 versions out before Vita but we can't also eat the costs to ship out Volume by itself. This whole ordeal has been way more costly than we ever imagined.

We will gladly combine Volume into any future/current orders, though.
 
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This is the exact reason we won't do preorders. The delays here have nothing to do with us - we're at a standstill until the builds get approved by Sony. Although the delays have nothing to do with us, we're the ones consumers will ultimately blame. We've already paid royalties to our partners on this and we've spent countless hours doing customer service - we're going to eat the costs to ship the PS4 versions out before Vita but we can't also eat the costs to ship out Volume by itself. This whole ordeal has been way more costly than we ever imagined.

We will gladly combine Volume into any future/current orders, though.
Honestly, I'm perfectly fine if you decided to wait to ship the vita alongside the ps4 copy. I've kickstarted plenty of titles... If you backed Broken Age, you know this is a drop in the bucket.

 
I honestly don't mind waiting for Skullgirls either. I already have a backlog so I'm already busy with other games.
For us it's more about reducing the number of questions we get - 70% of the units sold were PS4 so we figure sending that out separate for the combo orders should reduce questions pretty heavily. It's really been a drain on support to deal with PayPal disputes and constant questions regarding that release. I totally get it from the consumer side and don't blame anyone - but this doesn't make the idea of doing preorders in the future any more appealing.
 
People dont have that much patience nowadays.

They ask for pre orders. They get it.

When it gets delayed for a few months, they want to cancel. Sheesh.
 
Thanks Doomstink, I appreciate the customer service approach to have Volume shipped along with the future orders, I think I might go with that.  And no, I don't blame LRG for Skullgirls delay at all.

Personally I don't like prepaid pre-orders (the big retailers don't charge you for pre-orders), but since LRG vouched Skullgirls (and the game is pretty sweet too) I went for it.  I'm bringing this up because I'm now doing the same thing again for SRG's Strafe...  I hope all goes well.

 
Thanks Doomstink, I appreciate the customer service approach to have Volume shipped along with the future orders, I think I might go with that. And no, I don't blame LRG for Skullgirls delay at all.

Personally I don't like prepaid pre-orders (the big retailers don't charge you for pre-orders), but since LRG vouched Skullgirls (and the game is pretty sweet too) I went for it. I'm bringing this up because I'm now doing the same thing again for SRG's Strafe... I hope all goes well.
I'm familiar with the progress of Strafe and I think they already have orders placed with Sony. It should be a pretty painless preorder - I'd guess your order will ship between the 16th and 23rd.
 
This is the exact reason we won't do preorders. The delays here have nothing to do with us - we're at a standstill until the builds get approved by Sony. Although the delays have nothing to do with us, we're the ones consumers will ultimately blame. We've already paid royalties to our partners on this and we've spent countless hours doing customer service - we're going to eat the costs to ship the PS4 versions out before Vita but we can't also eat the costs to ship out Volume by itself. This whole ordeal has been way more costly than we ever imagined.

We will gladly combine Volume into any future/current orders, though.
That's a poor reason not to do preorders. Preorders don't have to only be done on unfinished and non-approved games. Granted with Skullgirls the only way LRG could publish it with the extra game content was by doing preorders, but that dev should have gone to Kickstarter for funding their development and not put that on LRG's shoulders.

LRG thrives on limited production (one run and done) quantities and a quick turn around time on orders.

I'd love to see you guys EXPAND on what you already do so well and attempt a preorder in that style.

This is how it could work...

Pick a standard release game that is approved and done and offer that for preorder for maybe 7 days (Friday 9am EST -> the following Friday at 6pm EST?) before the number is sent to Sony for production to begin. I'd imagine the timeframe between the end of preorders and actually getting the games would be respectably short if everything else with Sony (but the final number beyond some estimate) were completed in advance of the preorder opening.

Granted preorders won't work for every game. Some games just aren't going to do well in preorders and will only sell out using the current black-friday style sales. So if you ever do try this, please pick something with some hype behind it and some really solid gamer feedback.

The flip side to this too is because the timeframe would be so much shorter the nightmare of preorder cancellations wouldn't be as serious an issue (saving much stress on Customer Support), the nightmare of tracking down resellers wouldn't be an issue (since resellers would be open to buy as many copies as they figure they could sell) and the limited nature of the releases would still be locked in which would help retain that value that I think a great many of us see as part of the reason to buy these games. Heck you could still double down and round up production to the next 1000 and have a regular limited sale the next time you had titles ready to be sold. Also you guys know your timeframe better than anyone. IF you know how long it takes between production being locked in and actually getting the games you can set a realistic expectation for shipping the games to customers. If enough cushon was put into this expectation on delivery then it would set you guys up to look super reliable and result in more positive feedback.

 
No one seems to have mentioned Dreamfall Chapters. Only getting a physical release in Europe, but being released digitally everywhere on PS4/XONE (has already been out on PC for a while).

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01NCSF13A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1493653596&sr=8-1&keywords=dreamfall+chapters
Is the no US physical release confirmed? I noticed in recent trailers they were showing mock-up cases for PS4 and Xbox One with ESRB ratings, so I think there may still be a chance.

 
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Is the no US physical release confirmed? I noticed in recent trailers they were showing mock-up cases for PS4 and Xbox One with ESRB ratings, so I think there may still be a chance.
Does anyone knows if it's going to be released in region 3? I don't like the PEGI logo on the cover.
 
Is the no US physical release confirmed? I noticed in recent trailers they were showing mock-up cases for PS4 and Xbox One with ESRB ratings, so I think there may still be a chance.
They seem to avoid the question at all costs. Apparently it was confirmed on their forums, but I can't find the source. Maybe if there is enough interest they'll do a US release, but for now, it's just Europe for the physical edition. No retailers list a US physical edition at all and the game is due out in 3 days, so I don't think they're planning on it.

Also curious to know which trailers have a mock-up case with ESRB ratings. I saw trailers with the ESRB at the beginning, but none on a case.

 
Looks fun but just like Friday the 13th will probably be online only which I try to avoid.
I'll get Friday if it's 30 or less before gcu. I want to play it but not at 40+ as it's online and I can't see it having a big player base even at launch and not have a lot of players 6 months later. If it's 60 I'll pass because by the time it hits a price I'm willing to pay the player base will dwindle.

Very few online games I get the value out of except like overwatch or left 4 dead 1.
 
They seem to avoid the question at all costs. Apparently it was confirmed on their forums, but I can't find the source. Maybe if there is enough interest they'll do a US release, but for now, it's just Europe for the physical edition. No retailers list a US physical edition at all and the game is due out in 3 days, so I don't think they're planning on it.

Also curious to know which trailers have a mock-up case with ESRB ratings. I saw trailers with the ESRB at the beginning, but none on a case.
The trailer at the top of this page and the page itself shows case mock-ups with ESRP pending ratings boxes.

http://www.deepsilver.com/us/games/dreamfall-chapters/

 
On Kickstarter the developer said physical for Dreamfall Chapters was Europe only. (Those RP ESRB logos on the cases are really strange to me, then.)

I pre-ordered an import through Zavvi. ~$30 shipped.

 
I'll get Friday if it's 30 or less before gcu. I want to play it but not at 40+ as it's online and I can't see it having a big player base even at launch and not have a lot of players 6 months later. If it's 60 I'll pass because by the time it hits a price I'm willing to pay the player base will dwindle.

Very few online games I get the value out of except like overwatch or left 4 dead 1.
Looks fun but just like Friday the 13th will probably be online only which I try to avoid.
Friday the 13th is getting a free single-player update shortly after launch so it won't be online only forever.
 
Friday the 13th's single player is very gimped compared to its online mode.  In offline mode, you only play as Jason and kill counselors.  That's it.  Devs have stated it would be too difficult and time consuming to program a proper Jason AI.

 
I don't know if it counts as a obscured game but The Sexy Brutale has a physical release exclusive to Europe. The game got positive reviews and comes bundled with a soundtrack and game manual. Amazon UK has it in stock but I bought it from eBay because the seller assured me he will ship well protected.
 
I don't know if it counts as a obscured game but The Sexy Brutale has a physical release exclusive to Europe. The game got positive reviews and comes bundled with a soundtrack and game manual. Amazon UK has it in stock but I bought it from eBay because the seller assured me he will ship well protected.
They replied to some questions on twitter and have said that the physical edition will be coming to the US shortly - no exact date though.

 
If anyone cares, the Strafe PS4 game is "almost tapped out", and the PC version (and PC/PS4 bundle) are sold out:

https://www.specialreservegames.com/reserves/strafe
I decided to pull the trigger and grab a copy but the site isn't letting me proceed, I guess I'm having the same problems others were. Created an account, entered my full address, and when it tries to calculate shipping it just gets hung up and won't proceed to the payment screen.

 
Got my copy of Blue Rider after cancelling my YS Origin in favor of it. Definitely impressed with the presentation. Really looking forward to Release #4.

 
My Blue Rider finally shipped.  All it took was a month-long string of e-mails to their customer service with my PayPal transaction information, which would all be "passed along to the accounting team for verification" (none of which were ever answered).  Fed up, I finally e-mailed them last Wednesday and told them if it didn't ship by the end of the week I was filing a fraud report with PayPal.  Magically, I received a productive reply and shipment notice.

 
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Friday the 13th is getting a free single-player update shortly after launch so it won't be online only forever.
But what will that be? Multiplayer only you can play it single player? That's no fun. If it had a full fledged single player campaign kind of like a movie that could be fun. But I don't want to just run mp maps alone against the pc. Hell it Launches may 26th and hardly anyone even knows about it. I see this fizzling out before summer is even over.
 
But what will that be? Multiplayer only you can play it single player? That's no fun. If it had a full fledged single player campaign kind of like a movie that could be fun. But I don't want to just run mp maps alone against the pc. Hell it Launches may 26th and hardly anyone even knows about it. I see this fizzling out before summer begins.
FTFY

 
The PS4 version won't ship until May 22nd at the earliest per an update by Signature Edition Games today.
Didn't see that! Thanks for the heads-up!
I was curious as I ordered a bundle and a regular copy (Man, that site was really unintuitive...) and got a shipping Confirmation for USPS media mail for my 'bundle'.

 
bread's done
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