YianGaruga
Banned
PS4 games still get ~7k runs even when they're alone
People are just still underestimating little Vita!
I'm not mad, just pointing it out. The Oddworld run was obviously too small for whatever reason
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Limited Run Games - Putting digital games into your hands
- Thread starter dallow_bg
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PS4 games still get ~7k runs even when they're alone
People are just still underestimating little Vita!
I'm not mad, just pointing it out. The Oddworld run was obviously too small for whatever reason
Squarehard
Member
Should've just said you felt the print run was too small instead of comparing to another title then. ;D
YianGaruga
Banned
Steallth Inc sparked a discussion about run sizes last time because it took a long time to sell out. That's why I said that.
I have 2 as well, it makes me really sad they're not sold anymore in EU and NA.I should really import that candy orange JP model
so tasty
Nice
My brother has been trying since it said 700 left and he hasn't had any luck with your method.
Edit: Wooo! Managed to get one for him! I wonder why people are having so many issues.
CannonFodder52
Member
Nice
Just dealt with this. Was repeatedly refreshing Firewatch while it had hundreds in stock trying to get the shopping cart to accept that it was in stock. I panicked cause Oddworld was getting low in stock so I bought that. Then with only 50 Firewatch copies left it finally let me put an order through.
$30 shipping
FinaruDensetsu
Member
Forgot about the afternoon restock. I'll have to hope I can get one in January from Campo Santo!
FerretGamer
Member
To be fair, some people do have the blue cover variant in hand because of PSX. But yea, these things go up on eBay before they're even sold by LRG all the time.
I haven't kept up with this thread but just giving a heads up in case it wasn't mentioned here that today is the last day to preorder these editions of Summon Night 6 at gaijin works
http://www.gaijinworks.com/
http://www.gaijinworks.com/
sixteen-bit
Member
That Vita is gorgeous. I wonder if it looks as good in real life vs promo shots though.Steallth Inc sparked a discussion about run sizes last time because it took a long time to sell out. That's why I said that.
I should really import that candy orange JP model
so tasty
Kresnik258
Member
I'm glad Oddworld has done so well. Absolutely my favourite release so far.
But I also feel like it's the highest-profile game LRG have done for Vita so far, so was expecting a little more for a run.
Still, it's done and is another resounding success. I'd say they should make the (hopefully) inevitable Munch's Oddysee even bigger, but I'm not sure that game is anywhere near as popular as Stranger's Wrath.
But I also feel like it's the highest-profile game LRG have done for Vita so far, so was expecting a little more for a run.
Still, it's done and is another resounding success. I'd say they should make the (hopefully) inevitable Munch's Oddysee even bigger, but I'm not sure that game is anywhere near as popular as Stranger's Wrath.
I've asked LRG and will update OP when I get an answer.
Grim Patron
Member
wow my friend was awake at 430 am and managed getting 1 copy of Firewatch. He said there was a 1 per customer limit for the second batch.
It's not quite as vibrant but it's a nice looking unit, I own one.
Kresnik258
Member
https://twitter.com/LimitedRunDoug/status/809983103242534913
Don't quite know if this means they announced it on Monday and are announcing soon, or are announcing on Monday a game they signed.
I assume the latter
Don't quite know if this means they announced it on Monday and are announcing soon, or are announcing on Monday a game they signed.
I assume the latter
Grim Patron
Member
Now that Firewatch happened, The Witness not happening makes me sad.
Now that Firewatch happened, The Witness not happening makes me sad.
Same. The Witness was my favorite game this year and it's a real shame that there was no physical release despite Blow talking about it. A LRG release with nice cover art could easily sell 10k copies.
https://twitter.com/LimitedRunDoug/status/809983103242534913
Don't quite know if this means they announced it on Monday and are announcing soon, or are announcing on Monday a game they signed.
I assume the latter
I don't understand it too, I think they signed the game on Monday and are announcing it soon.
Thanks for the reminder, forgot all about this and thought it had already closed. Got one in before they shut it off last night.
Got my Stealth Inc games yesterday. Box was not taped shut again, but somehow nothing was missing. I'm pretty sure the only packages I've ever received that weren't taped at all have been from LRG and wer'e at 3+.
Weird.. happy nothing got lost but I feel like it's a matter of time, especially if it's happening to a lot of people.
Weird.. happy nothing got lost but I feel like it's a matter of time, especially if it's happening to a lot of people.
Kresnik258
Member
Josh has been tweeting about the recent run sizes:
Is it just me, or is this coming to completely the wrong conclusion from it?
I mean, to me, he's effectively saying with this "we need more collectors buying every release just because if we're going to increase print runs".
But for me - and the vast majority of consumers who I assume aren't full-set collectors - the value of a release comes down to the individual game itself.
I mean, using Stealth Inc. to gauge demand for Oddworld? I just don't get it. Use Stealth Inc. to gauge demand for Stealth Inc. 2. Maybe a similar game like The Swindle. Don't look at it and draw conclusions for Oddworld and Firewatch.
I appreciate that it's probably a horrific balancing act to get the print sizes just right, but lashing out at people who didn't buy 2D stealth platformer for the reason 3D action shooter got a smaller print run just seems insane to me.
Is it just me, or is this coming to completely the wrong conclusion from it?
I mean, to me, he's effectively saying with this "we need more collectors buying every release just because if we're going to increase print runs".
But for me - and the vast majority of consumers who I assume aren't full-set collectors - the value of a release comes down to the individual game itself.
I mean, using Stealth Inc. to gauge demand for Oddworld? I just don't get it. Use Stealth Inc. to gauge demand for Stealth Inc. 2. Maybe a similar game like The Swindle. Don't look at it and draw conclusions for Oddworld and Firewatch.
I appreciate that it's probably a horrific balancing act to get the print sizes just right, but lashing out at people who didn't buy 2D stealth platformer for the reason 3D action shooter got a smaller print run just seems insane to me.
Are you sure it wasn't opened by someone?
Before Oddworld New n Tasty, I didn't care about getting any LRG games, simply because I wasn't interested in them. If I wasn't a collector I'd only care about the games I'm interested in, and some of the releases are far more interesting than others. I really do hope that this situation doesn't rise again. Still, Stealth Inc sold much slower than I expected.
YianGaruga
Banned
For all intents and purposes Firewatch had a 4-5k run on LRG, not 7.5k. The decision to sell part of the run somewhere else is a bad one.
And Stealth Inc (a game that, let's be honest, not many really asked for) had a total run of 7k compared to Strangers 4.5k (The 1k extra are meaningless, since they're mostly extra copies that go to people who already bought one or two normal ones). Varieties obviously increase demand, which seemingly wasn't taken into account.
Can't really agree with Josh there. Demand for Oddworld was underestimated and demand for Stealth Inc was overestimated, that's all it is. No one is asking to increase runs across the board.
To make better estimates I would just consider doing less experiments with varieties and copies that are exclusively sold somewhere else and try to find a good baseline without those things first. It's obviously not working yet
edit: also echoing what hawk said before, total run size is more important than per platform size. Stealth Inc with 3.5k + 3.5k is not a "small run" compared to Oddworld.
And Stealth Inc (a game that, let's be honest, not many really asked for) had a total run of 7k compared to Strangers 4.5k (The 1k extra are meaningless, since they're mostly extra copies that go to people who already bought one or two normal ones). Varieties obviously increase demand, which seemingly wasn't taken into account.
Can't really agree with Josh there. Demand for Oddworld was underestimated and demand for Stealth Inc was overestimated, that's all it is. No one is asking to increase runs across the board.
To make better estimates I would just consider doing less experiments with varieties and copies that are exclusively sold somewhere else and try to find a good baseline without those things first. It's obviously not working yet
edit: also echoing what hawk said before, total run size is more important than per platform size. Stealth Inc with 3.5k + 3.5k is not a "small run" compared to Oddworld.
Well said, this release is by far the worst I've experienced, and a limited edition of an already limited run is not a great idea imo. Wasn't happy with the Triple Pack saying 'Sold Out' and not getting any reply before the second batch went live, so I missed my chance to pick it up.
I'm absolutely positive. There isn't a hint of a piece of tape or tape residue anywhere. No tears where tape was pulled off, just a newish looking box with a shipping label on it.
dickroach
Member
why not just uh... take pre-orders and gauge run size from that? or does that take the fun out of people scrambling to get on the page at a certain time hoping they can snag a copy?
Strange. How can they forget the tape three times? They never did for me.
YianGaruga
Banned
Pre orders sell less copies and are much more difficult to handle for LRG because of customer support and delays. It's not happening.
When print runs are correctly estimated, no one benefits from pre orders, it's a worse deal for everyone
They're not doing it this way because they want you to miss out, they're doing this because it makes the most sense. Plenty of the previous releases have been fine
I agree with Kresnik and Yian. Stealth Inc (and most of Curve Digital catalogue) won't be an easy sell and they should have small prints. Stranger's Wrath HD, coming from a very successful New n Tasty run, should've had more copies for sale. You can't just even out every single release so far and say that a more famous game doesn't warrant a bigger release because a less known game bombed.
Pre-order for 30 days to demand and then provide another 10-20% beyond pre-order on launch would alleviate most of this. They could surprise themselves and sell more like 12k copies of something like Firewatch. Also running a server to find out pre-release demand is a damn cheap way to know what 90% of your sales are going to be. The skull girls preorder was hopefully successful enough for them to see that.
Second, I'm into collecting physical releases but I'm not going to buy a game I'm not remotely interested in to support another game. Physical collecting has a toll of needing the real estate to house the media and so after you get past 100 or so games you have to become choosy.
Lastly, if they're running that thin on numbers they should look into alternative options. I see they're selling a fancy shipping box for $3.99, when they could just give us all fancy shipping boxes and still make a better margin but charging everyone 3.49 more. I know money is tight for all of us but the margin should provide for them to make a mistake or two if they can't negotiate a flexible preorder strategy. Hell, I personally would pay $5 more per title and have a quality shipping box and I didn't bother on any prior game because I assumed they were making enough money that they could afford to have a couple thousand titles sit around for six months.
YianGaruga
Banned
I bet if Stranger was a PS4 title it would have gotten a 6-7k run.
poor Vita
poor Vita
I'm pretty sure the first 2 times were done by the 3rd party shipping company they used. I think this one was done in house, if I recall.
I would not be surprised if the 5.5k copies actually reached out to fewer people online than a 4.5k regular run would have. Many were "forced" to buy three copies when they only wanted one or two and some were sold at PSX. That's definitely part of the issue at least, this was not a 5.5k run in terms of availability on their website.
True. I hope that someone wants to sell me a regular copy so I can have one sealed. If anyone in here wants to sell one of the regular copies, please let me know
. I'll pay well.I know LRG is against preorders (and I'm not disagreeing), but what about like interest polls?
Considering releases to be a linear showing of what print numbers should be just doesn't work in my mind. I've mentioned before that I've gotten almost every Vita release so far, but that I can't keep doing that. Had I been pickier around the time of its release, I'd never have gone for Stealth (sorry devs). But that doesn't mean a damn thing in terms of my interest for, say, Val-hall-a or Japanese games.
Not that I'm someone who knows about selling games, but being one who covers and talks about them as my job, it's pretty clear at times which indie games have the bigger buzz. I think LRG, if they want/need to keep that momentum, needs to make some better choices in what to release now that they're established. Or, again, do more research among their consumer base on which titles people are most interested in. Send out previous buyers a survey on upcoming releases or whatever.
Whatever is done, I just can't believe in the "you need to buy X game people might not care about in order to get a proper run for Y that people do" plan, because that has no option BUT failure at some point.
Considering releases to be a linear showing of what print numbers should be just doesn't work in my mind. I've mentioned before that I've gotten almost every Vita release so far, but that I can't keep doing that. Had I been pickier around the time of its release, I'd never have gone for Stealth (sorry devs). But that doesn't mean a damn thing in terms of my interest for, say, Val-hall-a or Japanese games.
Not that I'm someone who knows about selling games, but being one who covers and talks about them as my job, it's pretty clear at times which indie games have the bigger buzz. I think LRG, if they want/need to keep that momentum, needs to make some better choices in what to release now that they're established. Or, again, do more research among their consumer base on which titles people are most interested in. Send out previous buyers a survey on upcoming releases or whatever.
Whatever is done, I just can't believe in the "you need to buy X game people might not care about in order to get a proper run for Y that people do" plan, because that has no option BUT failure at some point.
mullet2000
Member
I don't even think they need preorders or anything, they just need to be a little more realistic about demand.
Very few people are going to buy every game. That's far-out mega collector territory, so don't assume that'll ever happen.
I have nothing against Stealth Inc, but they simply overestimated demand for it. Compared to their other releases, I'm not sure why they overestimated it (seems obvious to me that it would be one of their lowest demanded releases), but hey, just learn from it next time.
Likewise Oddworld was handled weirdly with not only being underestimated in terms of demand, but stock being split between the triple pack and PSX. Again, it seems pretty clear to me that Oddworld would have had more demand than Stealth Inc, but again, just learn from it.
Polls are a decent idea I suppose, but I don't even think it's necessary compared to keeping track of interest in individual games via twitter, their own site, etc, and making some assumptions based on the popularity of the game's original release. We're not looking at 1000 vs 100,000 copies here, we're talking factors of a few thousand or so. I think this is doable, and telling fans that more people need to support all releases is pretty unrealistic and unfair. I love LRG yet I've only purchased two games (would have been 3 if I got to New & Tasty before it sold out) and have no interest in purchasing anywhere close to all of the titles.
Very few people are going to buy every game. That's far-out mega collector territory, so don't assume that'll ever happen.
I have nothing against Stealth Inc, but they simply overestimated demand for it. Compared to their other releases, I'm not sure why they overestimated it (seems obvious to me that it would be one of their lowest demanded releases), but hey, just learn from it next time.
Likewise Oddworld was handled weirdly with not only being underestimated in terms of demand, but stock being split between the triple pack and PSX. Again, it seems pretty clear to me that Oddworld would have had more demand than Stealth Inc, but again, just learn from it.
Polls are a decent idea I suppose, but I don't even think it's necessary compared to keeping track of interest in individual games via twitter, their own site, etc, and making some assumptions based on the popularity of the game's original release. We're not looking at 1000 vs 100,000 copies here, we're talking factors of a few thousand or so. I think this is doable, and telling fans that more people need to support all releases is pretty unrealistic and unfair. I love LRG yet I've only purchased two games (would have been 3 if I got to New & Tasty before it sold out) and have no interest in purchasing anywhere close to all of the titles.
NinjamicWZ
Banned
Gamers were trying to buy thousands of dollars worth of electronics and game deals around the time Stealth Inc went on sale. It wasn't 7k for one platform and there wasn't a special blue holy grail fetching hundreds on ebay already to put blood in the water.
Kresnik258
Member
So that's it then. Everyone should be happy with the way things are because people didn't want a subscription model? No discussion; feedback and improvements; anything to change the way things are.
I disagree. The only way things improve is by experimentation; feedback and changes. And I don't believe for a second LRG are the kind of company who would just shut fans out and do what they think is best because fans didn't want one particular solution.
YianGaruga
Banned
The subscription thing would have helped a small number of people to never miss a game. It wouldn't have fixed the fundamental difficulty of estimating run sizes and there still would have been situations like this.
They would have helped you, but they wouldn't have helped everyone and we would still have this discussion right now
There will never be a 100% success rate, but now that we know something went wrong, the best thing to do is find out why.
They would have helped you, but they wouldn't have helped everyone and we would still have this discussion right now
There will never be a 100% success rate, but now that we know something went wrong, the best thing to do is find out why.
Just want to say I was there friday 10am EST and used Internet Explorer. I was logged in before and exactly at 10:00am, I put the Oddworld bundle game in the basket and went to check out.
It said for like 2 seconds I was on some wait line or something weird. Immediately the screen showed the bundle out of stock. Lets just say I was pissed as hell.
It said for like 2 seconds I was on some wait line or something weird. Immediately the screen showed the bundle out of stock. Lets just say I was pissed as hell.
Take pre-orders first and print the same amount later?
YianGaruga
Banned
The bundle thing can be easily avoided next time by not having stupidly limited variants
no
Pellegri Testament
Member
Sounds like a good idea to put them out of business. If they were to take preorders, they would not be printing even close to the same amount for non preorders as well.
Or not trying to sell those variants online. People just need to accept that having show-specific variants is a way of life and totally expected in a lot of circles. So long as LRG sold the exact same gamejust without the limited coveronline at a later point, that's all they needed to do.
Just want to say I was there friday 10am EST and used Internet Explorer. I was logged in before and exactly at 10:00am, I put the Oddworld bundle game in the basket and went to check out.
It said for like 2 seconds I was on some wait line or something weird. Immediately the screen showed the bundle out of stock. Lets just say I was pissed as hell.
I got a similar problem, mine got stuck in the queue for a minute and when I tried again it was sold out. And yes, I refreshed like a maniac and checked out with ONLY the triple pack as soon as it went live. My friend who put her order later than me (by more than 10 seconds according to her), didn't get stuck and managed to get the triple pack and the Firewatch games in the same order.
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