MrFortyFive
Member
I remember a limited edition video game related art print site that actually had some pretty crazy requirements to put an order through. I wish I could remember the name of the site, but I could actually take some notes from them and apply those to future runs.
For example, if they offered a Zelda print they would ask potential customers to send them a picture of their two favorite Zelda games from their collection. Once received, that customer could order the print.
We could do something like that on our end. 100 copies of each game could go up for sale early - fans wanting to buy them would have to jump through a game specific hoop or two to order. With something like that in place, those 100 copies would definitively go to fans.
I keep seeing open preorders mentioned and just want to say again, there is quite a lot of people who see those in the same light as "open editions" and it causes those people to not care about buying the thing anymore. Yes, these are folks who are rarity-chasers, and that's OK. We need those customers to make these releases possible. I am personally one of those people - I compulsively buy limited edition items for things I like but don't really need (iam8bit just got close to $100 for me with the Rare vinyls).
Just think about this - honestly, if Breach & Clear was not limited, would people want it? The game has sold no more than 2,000 copies digitally on Vita and it was not reviewed super-well. We have our fans, but I'd imagine less than 100 people would have said "Yes - I'd buy it!" if there was not a component of rarity. The mere fact that the game was limited drove enough interest to make it sell out in two hours. Plain and simple, if the game was not limited there is no way a physical version could exist.
Our goal is to make more physical releases a reality, and we can't do that just on the games alone. It's unfortunate, but the limited aspect has to exist to drive demand. The best we can do is try to scale runs so they last longer and come up with ways to make sure games can go to the people who really want them before they go to anyone else.
We're doing our best here to create an ecosystem that lets physical releases of small or lesser known games exist. If we're angering people with what we're doing, we appreciate your feedback and are honestly sorry that we won't be seeing you as customers. Unfortunately, for the betterment of developers and just to simply bring these physical releases into the world - we have to stick to our guns on being truly limited in every sense.
Even if I'm not quite 100% on board with the logic, I'm absolutely thrilled to see this kind of communication, consistency, and openness. Just tell me what hoop to jump through for Saturday Morning RPG