German Publisher First Press Games Will Distribute Physical Releases For Switch

The more the merrier. We as a game community need to send the message that physical media is what we want. We can't let these companies slip into digital only- they will try, because it's cheaper for them. But if you're paying money for a game, why wouldn't you want to have an actual cart? That you can resell, loan a friend, etc.

Das ist sehr gut! Strictly Limited Games is also from Deutschland. :>

https://www.strictlylimitedgames.com/

While I prefer physical games, I’m not a fan of all these (often too expensive) limited releases.

“Not another one”

Crazy. There won’t be many collectors willing to buy all the releases from all these now and the buy a £5 digital game from £35 quid is getting old now... before it was believable that only top top indies were getting releases now it’s any old muck

More publishers is a good thing!
While I understand that these smallest publishers can't sit on unsold stock over too much time, I feel akward about the "trust our releases to stay limited" part. I want physical releases because I'm a collector and I like to be able to hold them in my hands, I'm not buying stuff just because someone else can't get it.

Muchas gracias, Danke schön !
More digital only games become physical merrier.

Edit: I DEFY the convenience for playing games.
I would rather switching the cartridge than tapping the apps.

@mozzy1 Your point is relevant to the big publishers but these new publishers are for indie releases only. You can't expect every indie to release their game physically. The ones that do though, end up costing around double what they do on the Eshop. So while it may cost the publisher more, it also costs the consumer more.

For me, digital all the way. It's more convenient, better for the environment and if backwards compatability is a thing on the next Nintendo console, it will likely be for digital releases only.

@Sinton The collectors editions are pricey but I find most of the regular releases around $30-40 which isn't bad. It's normal to expect a mark up for physical. I've gotten a few Limited Run Games and they aren't expensive. The reselling market is crazy though.

I just wish publishers would stop cutting corners and release their games properly. Crazy I even have to think like that tbh.

Can we please stop referring to memory cards as cartridges.

Are they going to include cartridges in the physical boxes?

Although I buy most of my games physical. Indies are great because they are cheap to buy so making these physical doesn’t make much sense to me as they are then price like a full retail game

@OorWullie your assuming its going to change the cart format again, which it wont

@DarkLloyd What evidence is there that Nintendo won't change the format of their next console?

@GrailUK Not every developer can afford to release their games physically. A digital release is still a proper release.

@OorWullie yeah, unfortunately you are the problem. My comment was directed at people who get it. Sorry.

@Indielink Oh I agree, of course, a digital release is proper release. I was referring more to companies releasing codes in boxes, or half a game physically. These boutique companies are doing physical games proud

@tobibra it just becomes a race for the highest bidder, i would rather just buy the digital copy which will be far cheaper, it's not my preferred choice but what else can you do apart from buy from a scalper for a couple of hundred with the release being so limited, they can see it's a big business so more will jump on the bandwagon.

that is honestly not what physical is all about, but it's a good question too, will physical in the future be outsourced to these publishers in the future when physical is even further reduced? i certainly don't want that to happen.

@Judgedean a memory card is what you can copy and edit files onto, you can't do that with switch games so the correct way to say it is cartridges which is read only and can't be overwritten...

@Nintendofan83 hence the issue i have with it.

This is getting out of hand. We're already beginning to see overlap with the physical releases of indie games.. For example, Limited Run and Warned Collectors both selling copies of Furi. I don't want to end up with doubles of too many games, complete collection be damned.

@mozzy1 speak for yourself. I want digital media. Some of use have moved into the future, while people like you, still live in the past with a plastic box and an incomplete game. I’ll take Convenience over a plastic box that will sit on a shelf and collect dust.

It'll all come down to the price, but another retail publisher means we can't buy digital games without the fear of seeing them get the physical treatment later anymore.

@mozzy1 While the big AAA titles targeting the hip people might go digital but I don't think the biggest 1st party, the smallest companies like these, and the niche like Pqube, NIS America or Xseed will stop retail releases.. (Yes I'm aware they do some digital only too)

So along with Signature Edition (everyone seems to forget them. They’ve been around longer than Special Reserve) that makes FIVE “Limited release” sellers for Switch.

I would be cool with this but I’m not because I can’t buy every game right away. By the time I can, the buying period is over and scalpers got to them.

@Tendogamerxxx
Ooh...
I like to collect games in physical. 🤓
It's called a hobby
Get dust ? Easy....
I will clean it up and it will be fun to see a whole collections organized like library books.

@mozzy1
Are you physical games collector too ? 🤓

@LittleSplatling There are more than 5.
-Limited run games
-Super rare games
-Strictly limited
-Special reserve
-Signature edition
-Red art games
-Warned collectors
-East Asia soft (PlayAsia)
-Fan Gamer (has atleast two games, maybe Retro city rampage, dunno who released that)

@tobibra @LittleSplatling
You forgot...
-iam8bit
-Skybound Games
-VBlank Entertainment (Retro City Rampage)
-Hard Copy Games
-Gamefairy
-Ultra Rare Games

I hate this limited game releases. They should just make an time period to order so they know how many they should make and ship them, after that a new time period and so on. People want to buy physical releases but can't do it always on time. This artificial shortage, damn I hate it.

More physicals mean (hopefully) someone high up will notice this is what we (as consumers, and collectors) want

@mozzy1 I’m all for physical media but I and many others as consumers are not fans of paying double or triple the price of the game compared to the eShop.

First off this only falls in line for indies not major publishers they don’t care since the majority are going digital due to convenience (some for the environment), end of story there.

However this practice of creating limited runs and hiking up the price steeply is very profitable for them I’m sure which is why everyone is getting in on publishing Indies now. They see people can be milked high and dry for a couple of usually (not always) cheaply made pieces of plastic & metal and mass produced copies of handmade art. I could buy 2 to 3 games for the price their charging for one. If the physical was $5-$10 more I’d consider getting more of these but the prices they’re charging are outrageous paying AA and AAA prices for indie games.

It’s getting abusive and all were doing now is showing companies were willing to pay 2 to 3x as much for physical so they’ll take advantage. There will be no price parity and it’s not good for the consumer.

I specifically get physical media cuz not only do I love the feeling of having something tangible for the box art, inner case art, manuals, art books and the cartridge itself, but I also get deep discounts for going physical with BB’s gamer club. Once that expires though there’s little savings left in going physical unless it’s AAA games now. It pisses me off so much.

Anyway my point is a minority buying a couple of thousand units is not going to show any major publisher that demand for physical media is high as they’re looking to move software by the millions.

@CrazyZelda79
Words of wisdom, my sir.

Alas, Wrong topic...

@GrailUK it’s funny how people think that PS4/XBone games are any different. You can’t buy the disc and play anymore without mandatory d/loads I don’t see u guys complaining about that. There is no more buying the disc and playing straight out of the box. Not for the full experience of most new titles anymore anyway.

I agree that a box with a code is absolutely ridiculous and an atrocious practice. A waste of plastic and slap to the face for consumers.

@GrailUK That all comes down to cost. Some games are too expensive to have entirely on a single cart. It's just not always feasible but companies still want to offer SOMETHING to players who prefer physical.

There are definitely cases of companies cheaping out, such as Rayman Legends or Capcom's MegaMan Collections. But then, Youngblood for instance, is a very large sized game with a budget price release; putting that on the appropriately sized card would likely result in Bethesda losing money.

All these limited-print indie companies are oversaturating their own market, and at some point, it'll surely end up crashing down on them.

Woot. I'm down for any physical publishers. The more the merrier.

@Magician
@tobibra
Thanks. Does Nicalis also count?

I forgot about Fangamer. I was mostly counting the ones with “super limited never ever print again” editions.

I hate how most of these companies print a super small number to sell instead of doing open preorders like Limited Run. Couple that with numbered releases and collecting is simply too stressful for the super obsessive among us. As a result, I mourn any title I wanted to buy released by any company besides Limited Run because I have to pass for my own sanity.

Edit: Dang, there are even more companies doing this than I thought. It's way too easy to not even know a game you want came out on top of all the other issues.

I should clarify though...some companies I can work with. Fangamer isn't actually trying to be super limited of course. Special Reserve has entered the "open preorder" system and doesn't number releases.

As for people complaining about the prices... there's no way a small company could print and ship a few thousand copies of a game for the low eShop price and stay in business. The premium we pay is necessary for the product to exist at all. High volume is key to low cost, which is why it's so infuriating that Squenix and Capcom can't be arsed to do proper releases.

@LittleSplatling Personaly I don't. I only count publishers who's releases is only aviable at their own store. (I know about Best Buy buying from LRG, but LRG still do exclusive stuff) I think Nicalis is more like Pqube or NISA, you can buy standard editions from moste well stocked stores, but who knows how long until they are OOP.

Tbh I don't know how limited Fan gamer or Red Art games's releases are, I just think they are rare. (And if they do reprints, I think that is good. Aviable for more people)

@LittleSplatling - Personally, I wouldn't classify Nicalis as a boutique publisher since their releases are distributed nationwide rather than just via a website. Then you have Limited Run, who conducts most of their business online but also has select Switch releases sitting on Best Buy shelves.

Maybe some day one of these companies will give us bigger games like Wolfenstein: Youngblood on a cartridge. The price would be quite high, sure, but it doesn't always have to be indie games, does it?

@Tisteg80 While its a nice thought, the problem is to convince those bigger developers.

@Tisteg80 - To my knowledge the only publisher using the 32GB game cartridge is Square Enix. For the Japanese release of Dragon Quest Heroes I&II and again for FFX/X-2. Every publisher is afraid to exceed the $60 msrp for fear of potential lost sales or pissing off retailers. Even though many games were released with an msrp over $60 during the 16-bit era of SNES and Genesis.

I am not a fan of these services, I always feel like they are creating an artificial demand for games by limiting it's release.

@mozzy1 Agreed. Sadly i know people who see and feel that the switch is best as a purely digital system and they have opted for it in that way. This is especially odd as these are all people who have been lifelong collectors. I'll never understand it personally. The artwork is as big a thing to me as the game.

The PS4 and Sony started this ball rolling by making it easy for indie companies to get their games to physical release, The Switch is running with that ball. Whilst it is amazing sometimes i feel myself rushing to buy games that i might not be completely sold on due to their small print volume.

I'm all for physical releases, but there's a limit (pun intended).
On a serious note, I've finally realized I can't keep buying 'em all as I'd love to... high cost, import duties, release timing (pretty useless when a game gets a physical release 2 years after) so I' think I'm going all the way digital for most indies, keeping physical for big, mainstream games or critically acclaimed indies (i.e. Celeste and the like) but just for the sake of collecting.

Anything that leads to more physical copies of games rather than digital is a good thing to me.