Limited Run Games is a company that prides themselves on preserving digital-only games onto physical media. Operation Rainfall had a chance to sit down with the company at E3 2016 to talk about what they have planned for the future and why preserving these games is so important. Additionally, we talked about the relationship they’ve created with developers like Sekai Project and Koei Tecmo.
How big is Limited Run Games?
[Douglas Bogart and Josh Fairhurst look at each other.]
Just us.
Where did the idea originally come from?
Josh – We’ve been developing games at Mighty Rabbit for quiet some times. I really hated the idea that my games were just available digitally because I know that in 20 or 30 years when those servers that are storing my games get shut off, I will lose them. They wouldn’t exist or have a legacy; that didn’t sit right with me. I started talking with Sony after I saw the success of Retro City Rampage. I told them that I wanted to release more games in this format. Also, I let them know that I wanted to bring Breach and Clear and Saturday Morning RPG to disc or cartridge. I asked them, “Can we do that?” After sending emails to 12 different people over eight months, we were finally able to do it.
We tested the waters with Breach and Clear. If it didn’t work out we’ll just go out of business. If it does work out we can say, “Cool, we’ve proved the market.” Thankfully, we put the game out and it sold out in a few hours. 108 minutes is the exact number, Bill at Zeboyd games told me that.
Douglas – If they didn’t sell out he was just going to steamroller what was left.
Josh – We had so much money tied up into producing it. That, if it didn’t sell out that wouldn’t have been good. But it did and the rest is history. From there we were able to do Saturday Morning RPG, Oddworld, Futuridium, Ocotodad, and more.
Recently it was announced that you’d be releasing some Sekai Project games. How did this come about?
Josh – I like visual novels, specifically like, Danganronpa and Steins;Gate. So, Sekai Project’s stuff is exciting for me cause I want more visual novels on Vita. I’m not one to sit in front of my computer and play visual novels. I wanna sit on my bed with a Vita and read one. I think they fit the system so well.
You are currently releasing Rabi-Ribi and Fault-Milestone, how were these games chosen?
Josh – They chose them. They were games that they were looking to bring to PS4 and Vita. They actually hired our studio, Mighty Rabbit, to work on the Fault-Milestone PlayStation ports.
Is it difficult to port visual novels to physical media?
Josh – The engine they use is Renpi, which doesn’t support consoles out of the box. So we had to come up with some kind of solution to take those games and bring them into Unity. Which is a very multi-platform friendly engine.
Do you see this partnership continuing?
Josh – Yes, it’s our hope that we can get to some of the bigger titles like Clannad and Grisaia on physical media.
What do you say to the crowd of people that are pro-digital media?
Josh – Sorry, but you’re you’re going to get burned in ten-fifteen years. However long it takes for the next generation of gaming to come out and PSN shuts down.
Douglas – We’ll have people argue with us on Twitter asking why we are making physical games when they can just play their digital games no matter what. I’ll ask, “What if the servers shut down?” and they’ll say, “That’s not a problem.” That’s when I’ll reply, “Well, you’re not playing it legally.”
Josh – I don’t want to ever have to go to Piratebay or mod my systems to play games.
Limited Run Games is very transparent on their Twitter and with fans; is that what you guys aim for?
Josh – For us, we just want to be authentic. Also, as consumers we like to know that the people we are buying stuff from are authentic.
Shipping nightmares happen sometimes and we are very quick to let our customers know that we are looking out for them.
As of now, it seems your prices for games are super low when it’s released. However, after the game sells out, it appears on eBay for 4 times as much. So what makes you keep it at a low price?
Douglas – It’s a fair price to us. We don’t want people to be scared of the price. We don’t want to put a game out at $60 and get the argument that the game is $15 digitally.
Josh – At $60, how many people are we losing that actually want the game? We want to have an attractive price for the people that really want to own the game.
As you gain popularity, are more companies approaching you guys to make games?
Josh – The vast majority of developers have come to us. Except for like “dream projects”, such as, Nuclear Throne, Octodad, and Cosmic Star Heroine.
Do you think there will be other companies that try to make their own Limited Run type of business?
Josh – I think their are people that are going to take note. I’m not too worried because I will try to buy all the limited releases that come out. Whether their competitors or not. I know that our costumers are just like me and there’s room for competition. If it gets oversaturated, I feel like since we’re doing it first, people would have already started their Limited Run Games collection and they’ll keep coming back.
Is it hard for indie developers to get their games onto physical media?
Josh – No, it seriously takes a couple hours. On Vita, it’s literally like ticking a check box and it’s ready for physical media. On PS4 they have to make a disc image and tick another check box. Overall, it’s just a couple hours of work.
Douglas – If we talk to them before the game’s release, it’s even easier. Sometimes developers have DLC planned, we’ll all agree to wait till all the DLC is released before the physical version. We don’t want to preserve the game, without all the extras. A good example is: you’ll have Saints Row come out and a year later the complete edition will come out.
Josh – We have been running into an issue on one game that we haven’t announced yet. The code base is so old that they don’t know how to get the DLC added in with the main game. So that be a special case where we can’t release it with the DLC.
Do you have a set number of releases that Limited Run Games is aiming for?
Josh – The ideal amount of game releases a month is two. The max, I think we’ll ever do is four. We don’t want to oversaturate our own market. There might be a month that has more than four, but that’s not something we plan on doing often.
There’s been some talk that that you guys are looking to work with Koei Tecmo?
Douglas – I can say, “Yes, we’ve talked.” It’s just a matter of figuring out the logistics of it. Can’t go into further detail, but they’re interested in the idea.
Josh – Our goal is to start with the Arland trilogy for Vita.
How do you feel about physical media? Do you prefer digital content? Let us know in the comments below.
