Nintendo Puts Limited Run Deal On Ice To Focus On Publishers With "Bigger Print Runs"

Care not, I'll stick to digital unless the goods are something amazing and if I already own the game digitally certainly not double dipping for a physical release of anything.

That headline had me confused. I wonder if the cost of cartridges at the minute is why Nintendo are putting deals off on small production runs for a while. Maybe next year they will be cheaper. We've seen that a few indie games are more expensive in physical form on Switch than on other platforms, e.g. Rime, Axiom Verge.

Edit: And the very next story on this site has 2 more Switch games that are more expensive in physical format than on other platforms, Battle Chasers And Sine Mora EX.

More physical retail of e-shop games = Better.
Wanna see some eshop games like Portal Knights & others released on Switch cartridge after PS4 Blu Ray.

I'll gladly buy some LRG for Switch but, it wouldn't be a "need the whole collection" thing. And if the scalper scene hits even I won't touch it.

I bought a few LRG for Vita but, Idk the system is just kinda past it's prime now and I'm not as interested in it as I once was. And never had interest in LRG PS4 releases. But if they can bring Switch there's a few games I'd want.

I would rather digital only to keep prices down, physical is fine but its annoying when physical prices push up the digital price

Disappointing as I would love to have some more physical editions of my fave digital only games. Master Blaster Zero would have been a shoe-in for an early release.

If they did releases without so much extra stuff, I'd be more interested. I don't want more things lying around!

@lemonjellydude Limited Run Games are always a bit more expensive than the digital versions. Firewatch launched at $20, but the physical copy that arrived at a later date was $30. It's more for fans and collectors of certain franchises. There doesn't have to be a parity between physical and digital.

Good ol' Nintendo

Nintendo gonna Nintend

All digital when possible.

But something tells me certain big chunky games are better off physical for me this generation...

Always prefer physical. I have put off Monster Boy and Wonder Boy due to physical release rumors. Wish it was always possible to say that there will be a physical release at the moment it is sold on the eShop. Otherwise I might buy and upset myself.

This is a real shame, Limited Run offer a fantastic service.

To be honest I would rather have Nintendo focus on all their major third parties than LRG. Don't get me wrong LRG do great work but they are hardly system sellers whereas the likes of Skyrim and FIFA are.

I think Nintendo is wise to prioritize where they need to focus the most

These guys are pretty cool.

I hope they find a model for cooperation with Nintendo that sustains limited runs for indie games.

I think Digital-esque games with physical releases have done well on Nintendo consoles so far. The likes of a few of the Shantaes, FRN, Steam Word, Shovel Knight, Teslegrad, binding of Isaac, cave story and soon Axiom Verge. They seem to be catering for most of the big hitters already, as far as I can tell anyway.

I want limited run switch physical releases so bad

Good job Nintendo!

physical is the only way to gaming

That Wonder Boy remake is so classy - would be a wonderful pick for a physical release.

C'mon 'Tendo! Don't make them wait!

This is a so Nintendo decision. Unless of course they start bringing this digital games in physical bigger quantities.

Eh, kind of seems like poor reasoning to turn them down. Sure, these titles are cheaper as digital, but... how many people know they exist? Physical editions would give them much needed exposure. It's been made clear by the eShop's history that Nintendo doesn't quite know how to market digital third party games properly. Why not let other companies do some heavy lifting for you?

And of course, "hopefully 2018" is no guarantee at all. For all we know, 2018 could roll around and Nintendo may still take a similar line as here. Even factoring in cost of game cards, it seems like a boneheaded decision. They can afford to take risks with their still existing surplus from the DS/Wii days, and now is definitely the time to take risks to increase interest in the NS as much as possible.

@Anti-Matter Good luck getting one, Scalpers normally buy up a lot of the Limited Run games to resell for many times the original price.

Good idea on paper, but once again ultimately ruined by Scalpers. I'd rather go digital then forking out hundreds for a physical.

Without knowing Nintendo's software manufacturing model, it's hard to understand why Nintendo acts as a gateway. Are all Switch software titles produced through Nintendo as a middleman? Can't Limited Run go through an outside entity? Or does this have to do more with Nintendo's licensing process, in that they refuse to devote the time to allow LR to complete the approval process? (The latter would be odd, since the games they produce are already licensed via the e-Shop.)

@AirElephant Well, there is this:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-03-10-why-nintendo-switch-games-are-ending-up-more-expensive

So yeah, Nintendo is a sort of middleman here. Not to the degree they were in the N64 days, but still, the business model they've chosen naturally drives away business from companies like Limited Run or potential Kickstarter titles. (Which could even include the likes of a Yooka-Laylee NS version.) It comes into conflict with the business model of companies who traditionally use smaller print runs as well, such as Atlus. So the Atlus tax will be alive and well.

@Angelic_Lapras_King
I'm a game collector, not just only a gamer.
Physical games are really important items for a collector. It's not about the easy way to play or convenient. I don't mind to pull out / inserting my cart or disc everytime I want to play different titles.

Shame it's being held back, but good to hear it's just postponed and not canned. It could be a good thing as it's indicating there ARE bigger publishers with larger runs bottlnecking the Switch production queue!

@PlywoodStick That horrid article isn't much of a reference for anything. It's a loaded trap of idle speculation, with most of it debunked me mere logic and common sense. That's where half the premise of "cartridges cost so much more than discs!" ranting comes from, which was a knee jerk, poorly sourced article reacting to internet rage over Rime.

Meanwhile, on Earth, there's simply no way that the carts cost more than a few dollars more than a pressed disc, with some speculation that the smaller carts cost less, but at worst, we're looking at a few bucks. 80% of the cost of manufactuer is NOT going to be the cartridge/disc. It's the box, the factory space, the transportation, and the retail wholesale discount. IF we're talking $10 MORE for a cartridge we're talking the total cost to manufacture and deliver would be more than half the cost of the game itself....and if that were true, they'd have stopped selling games a decade ago

No, this is a Nintendo upcharge because the market will pay it, in addition to other expenses baked in. We don't know what the licensing fees and QA pass fees are for the big 3, but considering Nintendo games on cart/disc seem to launch a lot more solid than games on the other two, I'm going to guess they do more stringent QA, and charge mightily for the service. "Greater cost for Nintendo" doesn't mean "the lump of plastic and NAND costs $10 more than a BD." It means the total cost of supporting Nintendo, including licensing fees, additional QA runs (billable), etc.

@PlywoodStick
That's not what the article says. What it does say is that Switch cards are more expensive to manufacture than discs and also vary by the size of the card, which makes sense. It also discusses the price parity that Switch titles have between e-Shop and physical. At no point did the article explain how Nintendo acts as a gatekeeper for access, other than via its licensing program.

Does Nintendo have 1 guy going around making deals? It just always surprises me that they never seem to have the resources to bring games to the system even when other people are developing them.

I like Limited Run Games and I like what they do, but Nintendo is right. Their model would be HORRIFIC for Nintendo games. PS4 and Vita don't have anywhere near the number of collectors that Nintendo does, so without question, their "limited runs" would be snatched up quickly, most likely by scalpers, and sold at insane amounts of money on eBay. Just look at the price of Breach & Clear and some of their other early release titles. Imagine if that were Blaster Master Remastered. I would welcome physical releases of those digital games, but the only way they could do it would be to produce WAY WAY WAY more than they ever have for any PS4 release and I'm not sure that would fit their model or that they are in a position as a company to do that. Heck, I'm concerned about their ability to handle the physical re-release of Night Trap. But best of luck to them. They are a great group of people and I appreciate the work they do.

@AirElephant I think the idea there was that Nintendo doesn't own the card/cartridge production facility this time around. So even with wholesaling, Nintendo can make the case for markups for the higher data cards (which AAA productions will use) compared to previous portable consoles pretty easily this way. And apparently in this case with Limited Run, Nintendo is indeed acting as a gatekeeper, which is at least slightly correlated with the cost per batch of game cards in some way.

I guess with some bigger games such as I Am Setsuna not getting a physical release in a certain huge region, the situation must be even worse for indies. Which is a shame of course. At least some publishers (like Nicalis in collaboration with Headup Games, and WayForward) release physical versions of good indie games!

Unlike Wii U, the Switch doesn't have the (external) memory for going download-only. 256GB micro SD is a step down compared to the 1TB or 2TB hard drive (more space for less money) you can connect to the Wii U.

Also, cartridges! Much better than discs. It's just logical to get away from downloads and buy physical again as much as possible.

Also, I love what Limited Run Games does for PS4 and Vita. I hope they get their chance to do the same for Switch soon.

@NESTalgia That reminds me of a GamePro article from about 10 years ago, where they sleuthed around about the general price ratio of each essential part of the game production process. So in other words, tallying up each dollar that one pays into when a game is bought. Their conclusion was that (especially with disc media) there was somewhere around $10-13 of markup on any given $60 physical title for pure profit, which crept into the $20+ range when considering digital releases. And that was factoring in all of the aspects you mention. Considering warehousing, that's a middleman process which is completely bypassed with digital sales. And that was before the 2008+ recession. Record profits are reported by many large tech corporations every year...

So it's true that an extra few dollars for each card doesn't seem like much. But when you multiply that by the millions... Well, company management usually likes saving money where ever possible. I've heard from my father of a case where someone ended up dying due to a business manager not wanting to spend an extra few dollars per clothing item, because polyester is cheaper than cotton. Which, due to their electrical work... Resulted in them becoming a living flame and burning to death.

Obviously, that sort of thing is not going on here. (As long as the workers who create the chemicals used to manufacture the game cards are being adequately protected... Oh who am I kidding, fat chance.) I just wouldn't underestimate the greed that companies can have over a few extra dollars per item.

Not sure my comment will be popular, but GOOD move Nintendo. Limited Run Games and how they operate is disgusting. I pity anyone wanting one of those digital titles as a physical game considering they do such tiny sized runs. They warn people in advance when the stuff shows up to buy, and it's gone as fast as a Nintendo Classic Edition was. And just like the NCE, the stuff immediately rolls right back up online for sale for 2+ times the original price.

If Nintendo is trying to avoid pissing off legitimate Switch owners who really want a game in lieu of feeding subhuman scalping troll garbage some added money GOOD on them.

@LordGeovanni Me too. There a number of eShop titles that have a rumored physical release. Finally broke down and bought Snake Pass digitally the other day though, as I had $20 credit on the shop.

@Anti-Matter I know, I believe in Physical as well.

What I'm getting at is, are you really going to fork out $100+ for a $5-15-ish digital game because the scalpers know how to take advantage of your desire for physical media?

I would re-buy physical Snake Pass in a heartbeat.

@SKTTR They did at least future proof it by allowed future cards up to 2TB (If we ever get to that point, but with Nintendo Switchs selling like hot cakes, there'll be a desire to make em.) and I believe they did not rule out External Harddrives as a future update in an interview too.

Heck, if Sony can finally give in and allow External Harddrives on PS4, Nintendo can as well.

@Angelic_Lapras_King I'm not, it's why I personally boycott their games and will never purchase one and I'm a die hard physical ONLY buyer unless there truly is no option. I consider their releases under the truly no option. I'm on a few board and see nothing but endless crying and moaning when these games pop up online.

All I ever see was, I had to work, I went to the bathroom and came back..., someone was at the door and... The stuff is gone sometimes in seconds, sometimes in just a few minutes. They know they could run far more copies to meet demand in stages much like Atlus has done for like 20 years to sell out, but not screw interested parties but they won't do it.

Usually most the complaining I see is them swearing off the company and then selling off the game or few games they have because they can't get them all or don't want to support LRG any further and I don't blame them. Their entire business model is anti-gamer, pro-scalper.

The more the merrier.

The perfect collection for me: SnipperClips, Overcooked and NBA Playgrounds. Multiplayer goodness, but I'm sure it will NEVER EVER happen.

@Angelic_Lapras_King
I will not spent $100 for a single game, of course. I will try to find acceptable prices on Ebay. Price doesn't really matter for me, as long not too pricey and in physical form.

Good luck with using 'ebay' and 'acceptable prices' on a LRG title in this form of reality or dimension. That just doesn't happen.

It should matter if someone bought it for $20 to sell it to you for $100 as that's garbage. No one should ever feed the beast, they need to be starved.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE I'm still waiting for any Canadian retailer to finally put up Axiom Verge Switch physical version. So far, nothing. I want to pre-order this!

@Angelic_Lapras_King They will not allow external HDs because it would break the concept of playing on the go. They won't go for it.

I've gone digital since the Switch so meh. But Nintendo better get these guys on board quick, fans'll be crazy to buy one of those copies!

@MattFox Just quoting what I read in an interview (To which I can't remember when or where but I think it was on Nintendolife most likely.). It wouldnt destroy the concept if you could pick and choose what games to bring with you and leave on the Harddrive, 32GB+the extra 256GB+ on a card is more then enough content to play on the go....

I'm ok with this for now. Right now Nintendo needs to focus on getting the big draw titles on the shelves for Switch. Nobody is busting down gamestop's door to have a physical copy of NBA Playgrounds on any system. Let Switch get as many Heavy hitters as they can on the shelves and then they can start padding out the shelf space. If the system doesn't sell well they will only get a small section of a store and those indies are going to be stuffed at the middle section with spines out (not the place you want to be). It would be something else if you couldn't access these games otherwise (And I ADORE physical so this isn't a digital is better push here) but for now we need big sellers.

really only affects scalpers trying get anything from LRG is a nightmare

I can see this deal falling apart completely, Ninty will try get the deal going with the indie guys and release them themselves and they won't have a limited run of just 2 thousand

@chess227 This already happens on PS4 and Vita.

@Gentlegamer I know. That's my point exactly. Imagine how much worse it would be with a Nintendo title at the same print runs. That's why it's a good idea Nintendo is telling them no, they want to work with people who do larger print runs.

@chess227
Larger or smaller, it don't matter, it ain't eating no meat. Bad idea from Ninty, limited run games would bring physical games that otherwise wouldn't come out, plus they have a lot of clout with the indie devs on vita and they would persuade them to release their games on switch. So yeah bad business from ninty

@Angelic_Lapras_King I've ought the last three vita releases no problem. Just set your alarm for a few mins before they go on sale. You are given plenty of warning via email during the week. They arrive really quickly too.

@tanookisuit I'm pretty sure if you arttempt to buy multiple copies your account is banned.

@tanookisuit honestly LRG titles are not difficult to buy.

"Nintendo has halted bringing us on board so that they can focus on publishers doing bigger print runs"

Like none? 99% of the Switch games is download-only.