But here's the thing - if they over produce and don't sell they lose money. They sit on unsold inventory which is tough to sell. They likely cap it at a specific number to protect their margins (i.e. we sell 400 out of 500 and we break even - the other 100 is pure profit). If they never sell up to 400 they lose on that title and hope to make it up in future titles.
Its such a gamble for them to even release these titles in physical format where a few bad release could cause them to close up. The blind boxes help sell through crap inventory no one would have bought in the first place by placing a few gems they have extra copies of (if you think they only made 500 out of 500 you're wrong. They make 10% extra to account for defects/returns/etc.)
I definitely get where you're coming from (though my original comment really wasn't about LRG, so I'm not sure the blind box thing was applicable, but their business model is, indeed, similar). And, like I said, it totally makes sense from a business stand point. I'm a consumer, though, and I typically look at things from that angle first, as that's more important to me. When PA/EAS release a game with a print run of 500-1000, it becomes valuable simply because they made that decision. Then the consumer needs to either buy it at full price as soon as its available--no waiting for a sale, no time to consider or shift spending priorities, etc--or it goes OOS and becomes crazy expensive. I get that that is literally the business model--create inflated demand by releasing small numbers--but it does kind of suck for the consumer.
Over the past year I've just been getting more and more soured on the new limited release trend in video games. If one wants to keep up with every release that they find interesting, then there is a ton of money to be spent every month on limited releases alone. And heaven forbid if you are away from your phone for the first 5-10 minutes that one goes on sale. It's become laborious, expensive, stressful, and has eaten up an awful lot of shelf space (lol). I was more okay with it when it was only LRG, and they weren't releasing 10-15 games (counting PS4/Vita versions) a month. Now we have numerous copy cat companies (SRG/SLG/SEG/PA/Iam8Bit/Fangamer/Vblank, not to mention the limited retail releases from Soedesco and Nicalis that do tend to dry up rather quickly) and LRG making it rain titles and versions (I know they're scaling back; LRG wasn't really the focal point of this anyway).
I know that one could make the trite internet argument of "just don't buy them!" But I am a game collector. If a physical copy of a game that I think looks interesting exists, then I'd like to have it. And that mind set alone has become increasingly difficult to keep up with over the last year--in a way that is rapidly making it not fun anymore.
Just some thoughts based on yet another game being released--that's honestly worth $5 - $10 at most--being sold for $30 plus S/H and with only 1,000 made. Isn't video game collecting great? :3
