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[prateeko]

The bundles were made to price out scalpers and it worked. It was in stock for over 10 minutes.

We will make sure they are live on time for the next batch.

Yeah that would have made my checkout a little easier since I was going for both CEs and had to add items individually to my cart and then checkout. Given how quickly things sold out I feel lucky I was able to checkout with everything. I def looked at the main page before I opened up my tabs too so I don't think I missed it

 

[Oneself]

I'm not sure what to say if you refreshed and it was already gone, but some general advice:


2. If you use PayPal, login ahead of time (I'm not sure about other payment methods).

How do you do this?

 

[Conrad Link]

Managed to get Oceanhorn last time and Wonder Boy today, both for the PS4. These were my first two LRG releases (although I did try to buy Broken Age and got stuck in traffic on the way home from work, which made me miss out), and probably my last for a while because I am a little burned out on gaming lately. I don't have any nostalgia for Night Trap and I already have Cosmic Star Heroine from the Kickstarter so I can avoid those bloodbaths. I will be back and all in once they start Switch releases, though.

I fear for my poor wallet if they start doing Switch stuff, mah gawd! Nintendo systems just feel instantly more collectable IMO. I'd want so much stuff.

A larger, more rabid collecting fanbase. *looks over at Amiibo shelf*

 

[DaBargainHunta]

Tell me why there are no reprints.

I wouldn't mind reprints. Maybe an alternate cover so previous buyers still feel they got the "original" or whatever and don't feel slighted by the reprint?

Twilight Time occasionally does that with movies. If there's a reprint (which is rare), it's always with a different cover.

Same business model as LRG (limited to 3000-5000 Blu-rays). Most of them don't sell out quickly, but a few do.

On rare occasions, a movie that was previously Twilight Time ends up getting a wider release (Christine, etc.). For the most part, movie fans seem pretty chill about it. Would be a bloodbath in here if that ever happened with an LRG game though, lol (and I think it's inevitable and will happen eventually with at least one game down the road).

How do you do this?

Go to paypal.com in a separate window and sign in - easy as that.

 

[punkmaggit]

My internet went down and so I couldn't grab anything - now I'm frustrated that I won't be able to grab both covers unless I pay eBay prices.

I know that's part of the game, just wanted to vent. 😞

 

[prateeko]

My internet went down and so I couldn't grab anything - now I'm frustrated that I won't be able to grab both covers unless I pay eBay prices.

I know that's part of the game, just wanted to vent. 😞

Sorry. Maybe time again at 6PM EST?

 

[Semoreh]

I wouldn't mind reprints. Maybe an alternate cover so previous buyers still feel they got the "original" or whatever and don't feel slighted by the reprint?

The rights' owners are free to make another print after the LRG one is done. It happened with Soldner X-2 (and you can still buy it on Play-Asia).

 

[foobarry81]

What I think is a fundamental flaw in how LRG sees scalpers as a part of the demand.

Scalpers are not part of the demand: They buy up limited quantity BECAUSE there is unmet underlying demand from real buyers. This is an economic fact; If someone is scalper, they hold no intrinsic value for the product, only its resale value, so they only enter the demand if the quantity isn't enough at the price they selected.

Be wary of trying to placate scalpers as a necessary evil and piss off your customer base on the process. You will lose BOTH simultaneously.

I'm not sure what exactly it is that you want from LRG...? Should they simply deny the existence of scalpers as part of their customer base? Not sure how that would help.

They're already limiting the number of copies per customer, which frankly, is a risk for them. They would be better off if scalpers bought ALL of their copies in minutes, in stead of having to go through a 2nd round and hope for all of their stock to be sold out.

Also, with this bundle thing they tried today (which admittedly was flawed in execution), they imposed another scalper-unfriendly measure.

So it's not like they're facilitating scalper behaviour, or attracting them. I mean: attracting them is inherent to their business model. But they're not going to change thát, because their competitors who work differently are consistently stuck for months with remaining stock, which LRG likely couldn't afford.

 

[Theswweet]

Do we have any idea what the print numbers are going to look like for Ys: Origin? Please, please tell me it's going to be big. This is a series that has had individual games selling 100k+ physical copies, anything under 10k is woefully under-producing.

 

[ExitPlanetDust]

Standard edition Wonder Boy get. My shift changed and releases drop at the beginning of my work day now. Laptop open, juggling work and the LRG order process.

Yeah, I feel like entering your CC is actually much faster than going through an entirely different system like Paypal.

That's what I did and had no problems.

Yeah, my advice is to use a CC to check out. I manually entered everything and the checkout process took all of about 20 seconds. I don't trust PayPal anymore. There's always something missing or some required update that takes 15+ mins of troubleshooting to resolve when I use them. Always.

 

[Semoreh]

Scalpers are not part of the demand: They buy up limited quantity BECAUSE there is unmet underlying demand from real buyers. This is an economic fact; If someone is a scalper, they hold no intrinsic value for the product, only its resale value, so they only enter the demand if the quantity isn't enough at the price they selected.

Be wary of trying to placate scalpers as a necessary evil and piss off your customer base on the process. You will lose BOTH simultaneously.

It's not always true. You're missing the "time" variable. The total demand for a game is growing overtime, so scalpers anticipating the future demand WILL jump on a game at release even if the current demand is correctly estimated at time "t". And thus create some present value.

I do think they're a necessary evil, and not as wide a population as some think. They do hurt more when the demand is underestimated, like today, but it's hardly their "fault".

The only way to get "rid" of them, would be to stop limiting releases altogether, but LRG can't afford it.

 

[hawk2025]

It's not always true. You're missing the "time" variable. The total demand for a game is growing overtime, so scalpers anticipating the future demand WILL jump on a game at release even if the current demand is correctly estimated at time "t". And thus create some present value.

I do think they're a necessary evil, and not as wide a population as some think. They do hurt more when the demand is underestimated, like today, but it's hardly their "fault".

The only way to get "rid" of them, would be to stop limiting releases altogether, but LRG can't afford it.

Well, yes, but if we are at the point where the only scalpers left in the market are the ones expecting a surplus years in the future, we're looking at a tiny slice at best -- very different from the guaranteed, immediate ROI of every major LRG release.

These are all normative statements, by the way -- I'm not saying they should necessarily do anything. I'm saying that based on how they tend to talk about scalpers, they seem to sometimes see them as this underlying force of nature that must be placated, lest they leave the market. They are not -- they are people exploiting unmet demand.

 

[SMD]

"Limited Run" :3

Nominative determinism doesn't apply here.

Now you're just slandering.

Look, if it was just one thing I'd be like oh well I guess my luck wasn't in.
Put together the fact that the queue system doesn't reserve your cart, the sudden appearance of the bundle with LawBreakers with the whole premise of the company and its hard not to smell bullshit.

 

[hawk2025]

Nominative determinism doesn't apply here.



Look, if it was just one thing I'd be like oh well I guess my luck wasn't in.
Put together the fact that the queue system doesn't reserve your cart, the sudden appearance of the bundle with LawBreakers with the whole premise of the company and its hard not to smell bullshit.

There is no logic to it, though.

Why would they do that? They control price and quantity. Opening themselves to the bidding market and competing against themselves on copies they already sold doesn't make sense.

 

[Wereroku]

Look, if it was just one thing I'd be like oh well I guess my luck wasn't in.Put together the fact that the queue system doesn't reserve your cart, the sudden appearance of the bundle with LawBreakers with the whole premise of the company and its hard not to smell bullshit.

Oh come on. I disagree with a lot of what they do but they aren't keeping a stash to sale on ebay. We know they have personal copies they keep but only one has ended up on ebay and that was someone else selling it after a trade. The only copies they hold back are for replacements and they sale those on black friday.

 

[hawk2025]

Another interesting point is that this was a pretty damn expensive CE and it still sold in a second!

Seems to me like they have quite a lot of leeway for making more extravagant and expensive CEs in the future. Looking forward to some hardcover artbooks

 

[CannonFodder52]

Tell me why there are no reprints.

Nominative determinism doesn't apply here.



Look, if it was just one thing I'd be like oh well I guess my luck wasn't in.
Put together the fact that the queue system doesn't reserve your cart, the sudden appearance of the bundle with LawBreakers with the whole premise of the company and its hard not to smell bullshit.

You understand that a ton of people are interested in collecting games with smaller, limited runs.
This company is able to sell the amount they do because they don't do reprints and their customers feel they are getting a limited item.

I also don't see how the queue system issue supports your argument.

 

[Semoreh]

Look, if it was just one thing I'd be like oh well I guess my luck wasn't in.
Put together the fact that the queue system doesn't reserve your cart, the sudden appearance of the bundle with LawBreakers with the whole premise of the company and its hard not to smell bullshit.

That doesn't make it less slandery. The fact that your game is not reserved when you're in the queue isn't related in anyway to your accusation that LRG is smuggling some games on eBay. You're just being bitter.

 

[LiK]

Another interesting point is that this was a pretty damn expensive CE!

Seems to me like they have quite a lot of leeway for making more extravagant and expensive CEs in the future. Looking forward to some hardcover artbooks

Wonder Boy? Price is reasonable to me. DariusCS was probably the most expensive CE they had, iirc.

 

[Curler]

Another interesting point is that this was a pretty damn expensive CE!

Seems to me like they have quite a lot of leeway for making more extravagant and expensive CEs in the future. Looking forward to some hardcover artbooks

How often do you buy LEs?

 

[hawk2025]

Wonder Boy? Price is reasonable to me. DariusCS was probably the most expensive CE they had, iirc.

I'd say $35 extra for a soundtrack, a folded poster, and trading cards is expensive, yes.

How often do you buy LEs?

I buy almost all the NISA ones and all the LRG ones

 

[Curler]

I'd say $35 extra for a soundtrack, a folded poster, and trading cards is expensive, yes.

You don't buy LEs often, then. Not to mention the print run is tiny, compared to many. Fewer to print can = more expensive.

Edit: Just NISA?

 

[hawk2025]

You don't buy LEs often, then. Not to mention the print run is tiny, compared to many. Fewer to print can = more expensive.

Edit: Just NISA?

I can't think of any other CEs where just a soundtrack plus cards raised the price by $35?

 

[Curler]

I can't think of any other CEs where just a soundtrack plus cards raised the price by $35?

Let's compare company sizes/production runs between the two...

 

[LiK]

I'd say $35 extra for a soundtrack, a folded poster, and trading cards is expensive, yes.

Also special large box with unique art. The soundtrack itself could've easily gone for $25 easy.

 

[Kusagari]

Also special large box with unique art. The soundtrack itself could've easily gone for $25 easy.

Yeah, it's 2 discs and 89 songs.

Game OSTs like that aren't cheap.

 

[hawk2025]

Let's compare company sizes/production runs between the two...

Rationalizing why something is expensive does not make it not expensive.

I never said they are charging a huge markup -- I said I hope this justifies making even more packed CEs.

Also special large box with unique art. The soundtrack itself could've easily gone for $25 easy.

Yeah, it's 2 discs and 89 songs.

Game OSTs like that aren't cheap.

The Soldner 2CD was $15, and a smaller run.

 

[Theswweet]

...To be fair, XSEED are a small company, and look at what they managed for Ys: Memories of Celceta. 3CD OST, artbook/guide book, a cloth map, and a compass for only $20 extra.

 

[Curler]

Yeah, it's 2 discs and 89 songs.

Game OSTs like that aren't cheap.

In Japan, that could eadily be $30 on its own.

Some people have the notion that soundtracks are cheap, but it really various on the amount of songs, contracts, etc.

 

[Kresnik258]

Glad I wasn't buying anything today! Crikey.

Also, Lawbreakers standard still 17% as of 5:37 UK time (two and a half hours after listing). I guess the next batch will make it an all-weekend job.

 

[BBboy20]

...To be fair, XSEED are a small company, and look at what they managed for Ys: Memories of Celceta. 3CD OST, artbook/guide book, a cloth map, and a compass for only $20 extra.

Small branch of a big company.

 

[Curler]

Rationalizing why something is expensive does not make it not expensive.

I never said they are charging a huge markup -- I said I hope this justifies making even more packed CEs.






The Soldner 2CD was $15, and a smaller run.

There are many variables that can go into it. Soldner was just a stand alone CD, not including a big box etc. too.

Comparing companies can be tough, but NISA is big enough to cover both NA and EU, and have a decent budget.

XSEED can probably get away with their nice LEs, due to MMV and their (former) Falcom partnership. Might've been more feasible to do it cheaper, or they could've even eaten some costs. It's hard to say.

 

[Semoreh]

I'd say $35 extra for a soundtrack, a folded poster, and trading cards is expensive, yes.

I feel the Night Trap CE, with a $25 markup compared to the $35 of Wonderboy, is more reasonable.
But apparently Collector's Editions are a whole other market

guess the next batch will make it an all-weekend job.

At least ! I can see it lasting much longer. I don't remember if a game already sold so slowly on its first batch...

 

[Kusagari]

Unless we know the contract details and whatnot it's hard to say.

But I doubt doing an OST for Soldner and one for something like Wonder Boy was exactly the same process and costs.

 

[hawk2025]

Again, cost != price.

I'm sure there's a rationalization -- not the point. Y'all got so many stones ready to throw I can't even hope for a hardcover book without being questioned

 

[Curler]

Unless we know the contract details and whatnot it's hard to say.

But I doubt doing an OST for Soldner and one for something like Wonder Boy was exactly the same process and costs.

Exactly. A lot of people compare, but there arevso many variables and circumstamces with why one company can do it, but another can't. When a company couldn't do a physical copy, I used to hear "but Gaijinworks can do it!!" (Btwn when is my Summon Night 6 coming out? )

Again, cost != price.

I'm sure there's a rationalization -- not the point. Y'all got so many stones ready to throw I can't even hope for a hardcover book without being questioned

Hardcovers would prob cost more...

I look at these things from both a consumer/collector, as well as a business professional. A lot of people make businesses sound easy and compare a lot, without understanding a lot of inner workings (which we can only speculate, unless told directly).

I often back up the smaller companies, but I will freely call out big companies like Capcom and Nintendo for their poor decisions.

 

[IrishNinja]

had 2 friends try to grab me a copy of wonder boy & said it sold out while in their cart...ughh
what's my best chance of just getting a regular copy at 6?

 

[foobarry81]

had 2 friends try to grab me a copy of wonder boy & said it sold out while in their cart...ughh
what's my best chance of just getting a regular copy at 6?

Make faster friends.

There is no "magical trick". You just have to show up at 6 and be quick checking out.
Anyway, there are still 3000 of 5000 8000 copies left tonight, so I wouldn't worry too much about being able to secure your copy.

Edit: 3000 of 8000 apparently.

 

[hawk2025]

Anyways... Does the soundtrack include both the original and remade tracks, then?

had 2 friends try to grab me a copy of wonder boy & said it sold out while in their cart...ughh
what's my best chance of just getting a regular copy at 6?

Make faster friends.

There is no "magical trick". You just have to show up at 6 and be quick checking out.
Anyway, there are still 3000 of 5000 copies left tonight, so I wouldn't worry too much about being able to secure your copy.

Nah, do worry. It will sell out immediately, and there are ways to make it faster, so here's what you can do:

- log in to LRG 10 minutes before.
- log in to Paypal 4 minutes before, make sure your address is on file.
- hit refresh on the product page every second, 1 minute before. Keep going if it doesn't show up immediately until it does.
- hit paypal checkout, keep your phone number in ctrl+v to paste into the phone slot
- press submit, and done!

 

[foobarry81]

People have reported earlier that there were issues when they had logged in beforehand into Paypal. Just saying.

Also, I've never had to enter my phone number before.

 

[Semoreh]

there are still 3000 of 5000 copies left tonight

That's 3000 of 8000 since it includes collector editions, just saying

 

[foobarry81]

That's 3000 of 8000 since it includes collector editions, just saying

Oh, right. I thought they were talking about just the regular release earlier. Sorry, about that. Already thought it strange that more than half would be left for the 2nd batch...

Edit: With 8000 copies total, I don't feel like they grossly underestimated demand tbh. They'll likely sell out comfortably, but there are limits to how many copies they can sell over a weekend imo.

 

[Nostalgic Nightmare]

Yeah, this notion of the scalpers "stealing" all the copies is a bit silly. The whole point of scalping is that you make a quick buck off of scarcity. It's not like after this weekend eBay will be flooded with 500+ of copies of Wonder Boy.

Sure, there are likely scalpers who prefer to play the long game as well, hold on to their Wonder Boy copies and wait for them to be valuable in the future. But I think most of them are looking to sell through fairly quickly, and you'll see most of them do that in the next couple of months. There aren't going to be several hundreds of them.

Or Hours
http://www.ebay.com/itm/WONDER-BOY-...878452?hash=item4668bc4074:g:IF4AAOSwPH9ZhJi0

But yeah.

 

[Semoreh]

The next couple of months actually do start now

 

[ExitPlanetDust]

Nah, do worry. It will sell out immediately, and there are ways to make it faster, so here's what you can do:

- log in to LRG 10 minutes before.
- log in to Paypal 4 minutes before, make sure your address is on file.
- hit refresh on the product page every second, 1 minute before. Keep going if it doesn't show up immediately until it does.
- hit paypal checkout, keep your phone number in ctrl+v to paste into the phone slot
- press submit, and done!

This is good advice. A few other things to add:

-Have text edit/notepad open and off to the side with ANY piece of information you might need.
-Run some drills with existing merchandise so that you know where proper buy buttons and editable fields are.
-Know where you're going to have to click before the page even comes up. If a field is blank, you should have that info in your note pad off the side to copy and paste without thinking.

Add: If I remember correctly, Oceanhorn's afternoon batch sold out almost twice as fast as the morning's. Don't assume that people are going to snooze on the later batch because of the early morning hype.

 

[prateeko]

Nah, do worry. It will sell out immediately, and there are ways to make it faster, so here's what you can do:

- log in to LRG 10 minutes before.
- log in to Paypal 4 minutes before, make sure your address is on file.
- hit refresh on the product page every second, 1 minute before. Keep going if it doesn't show up immediately until it does.
- hit paypal checkout, keep your phone number in ctrl+v to paste into the phone slot
- press submit, and done!

This is good advice. A few other things to add:

-Have text edit/notepad open and off to the side with ANY piece of information you might need.
-Run some drills with existing merchandise so that you know where proper buy buttons and editable fields are.
-Know where you're going to have to click before the page even comes up. If a field is blank, you should have that info in your note pad off the side to copy and paste without thinking.

Add: If I remember correctly, Oceanhorn's afternoon batch sold out almost twice as fast as the morning's. Don't assume that people are going to snooze on the later batch because of the early morning hype.

It's a little sad that these things are actual, practical, sound advice. When you talked about drills for a second I thought it was satire but then it made sense to me since I have done similar things (to what is noted above) before

 

[IrishNinja]

jesus
I'm assuming a model of just taking as many orders as are received within a day or so wouldn't work? or reprints/increasing the pool later?

It's a little sad that these things are actual, practical, sound advice. When you talked about drills for a second I thought it was satire but then it made sense to me since I have done similar things (to what is noted above) before

my thoughts exactly: I've loved wonder boy since the SMS days, just want to give $ for a regular copy. resellers & sealed collector weirdos can go kick rocks.

Make faster friends

super helpful thanks

 

[PadPoet]

For reference, the asian LE looks like this:

- 33 BGM OST CD

- Sega master system style double cover

- 78cm X 30cm Desk mat

~43$

Any links to the above? Is the Asian LE still available?

 

[LiK]

Desk mat is pretty random, imo. Nice overall package.

 

[Deleted member 57681]

Nah, do worry. It will sell out immediately, and there are ways to make it faster, so here's what you can do:

- log in to LRG 10 minutes before.
- log in to Paypal 4 minutes before, make sure your address is on file.
- hit refresh on the product page every second, 1 minute before. Keep going if it doesn't show up immediately until it does.
- hit paypal checkout, keep your phone number in ctrl+v to paste into the phone slot
- press submit, and done!

This is good advice. A few other things to add:

-Have text edit/notepad open and off to the side with ANY piece of information you might need.
-Run some drills with existing merchandise so that you know where proper buy buttons and editable fields are.
-Know where you're going to have to click before the page even comes up. If a field is blank, you should have that info in your note pad off the side to copy and paste without thinking.

Add: If I remember correctly, Oceanhorn's afternoon batch sold out almost twice as fast as the morning's. Don't assume that people are going to snooze on the later batch because of the early morning hype.

Quoting for when it's Night Trap time!