Indie games in physical form are not only wonderful little delights in their own right, but also part of what is quickly becoming a growing trend. There are several companies intent on bringing the most popular indie titles to a physical market audience - Super Rare Games, Limited Run Games, and Signature Edition Games to name a few - and their popularity appears to be going through the roof.
Super Rare Games recently announced a whopping nine new physical titles for Switch in one day, sickeningly tempting us to empty our wallets for a range of great Switch titles once again, but how does the whole process work? George Perkins, 'head of doing stuff' at Super Rare Games (yes, seriously), sat down with the folks at GeekRetro to explain.
Here's what he had to say when asked about the process behind choosing games worthy of release and the difficulties faced when releasing the games on Switch:
"We work very closely with the community to work out which ones people most want! Additionally, we are avid gamers and like to choose our favourite games. Often the two cross-over and we have the ideal situation!
"For the Nintendo Switch, the technical requirements are fairly low. The main difficulty arises from creating a marketing plan and helping the games reach a completely new audience. Luckily, every day our community grows and we have helped create a group of individuals who all love physical media."
We hear this a lot from indie developers working directly with Nintendo, but it seems that Super Rare Games finds working with the 'Big N' a pleasure, too:
"We work exclusively on the Switch and the process has been very fun with them! They are an amazing bunch of people and is very easy to work with them."
If you want to check out the full interview, make sure to give it a read here.
In the meantime, though, make sure to let us know if you've been building a collection of physical indie hits on Switch in the comments below.
[source geekretro.pl]
Comments 16
If the physical of Worms came out when the eShop did, i would have bought it. But since then, I have read the reviews and have gone off it now.
But I wish they would still do more physicals
Strange...
Somehow...
I have a little bit interest about Mutant Mudds Trilogy.
@Bunkerneath
For two main negative points in the NintendoLife Review:
a) Movement and aiming sticked at the same control stick:
Didn't bother me at all.
b) No Private Rooms in Online Multiplayer:
Patched in in the meantime.
Steredenn, Worms and Mudds please!
Wish someone would make a Snake Pass and Celeste physical edition.
Worms WMD day one buy from me.
I am still waiting for a physical release of Night in the Woods
It's a 7GB story-driven game, why nobody released it on cartridge yet?
Really loving the work these studios do. I'd be interested in knowing if they ever has issues with indie studios who don't want to publish their games physically and how long the process takes, etc.
Super Rare, can I just send you my backlog and you make physical copies of everything on it, so I can rent everything from GameFly? Pretty please? XD
@ReaderRagfish
The Review doesn't read too bad tbh:
https://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/switch-eshop/worms_w_m_d
A bit like The X Factor, there are plenty of would be pop stars all wanting that big break but in reality the market does not want that many. Similar with all the self published books, lots of budding authors all wanting to be the next JK Rowling or Dan Brown.
I guess the games industry is no different, the Switch has all the indi game makers flooding the Switch with stuff that won't sell or sell just a few copies and just a handful that will turn a profit.
Nintendo should be sorting out the wheat from the chaff that is cluttering up the system. So that the customer has a better idea what games are what.
The danger of to many physical games of this kind is that it will have an adverse effect down the line. For now it will give the impression that there are a lot of physical games out there for new Switch owners. In two years things will reverse and it will have people saying that most of the Switch games are rubbish. It happened to one of the earlier PlayStations.
@ReaderRagfish Same... I was like... is this the first time they play the series?
The thing I don't like about these is the whole concept of the limited physical release. They charge noticeably more for these games physically than they would cost to download, it seems like quite a few $20 games become $35 physical games when released like this. That alone messes up the deal, and then there is the fact that these are only sold out of the publishers store which makes things even more expensive and slows down the whole process of getting the games.
I mean I am sure the resale value is good on these, but you really gotta go out of your way for them and overpay by a considerable margin to get them.
They are doing Worms and Mutant Mudds Collection? Sign me up. It is a shame the games are more expensive but since they have to factor in the price of the gamecard, it is understandable.
@JayJ Niche markets pay niche prices. Companies like these are geared towards the hardcore collectors and the low print amount means they likely don't get the same bulk deal that companies printing 100k+ would.
@Regpuppy True, but then again I feel like there is a lot of markup because they can get away with it. Since they are targeting a hardcore niche market, they figure they can charge whatever and people will still buy it.
@JayJ I'm sure there's -some- markup, but at 35 I doubt it's much of one, to be honest. It's a pretty reasonable price, considering these games wouldn't have gotten a physical edition otherwise.
Though I will note that Limited Run Games is a bit better with value, at the same price, since they include a foil cover and manual with their games.
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