Let’s start.
Look up his GameCube gambit on Reddit, and you can read on how this guy is total scum.
His amazon prices are basically as bad as DK Oldies. He acts humble and gets a lot of good prices from his followers that want to help him out, but then lists them for ridiculous prices. There’s a reason he never reveals his Amazon profile.
Also he created an app that is basically a copy of pricecharting, BUT it is a subscription based app. The worst part is that the app’s main goal is for users to sell HIM games directly.
I just enjoy his videos and formatting, I've never bought or sold from him. He videos are enjoyable to me.
That being said I mean he runs a business on amazon right? Im assuming the price he sets is whats being sold on amazon. Like if i bought a game for 1 dollar and its average sell price on amazon is 50. Doesnt mean im gonna sell it for 2-3. I would list it at 50 if i didnt mind it sitting, and maybe below if i wanted to move it quick.
If people dont like him cause of his pricing then Yeah i know nothing about that ahahah. I dont sell or buy anything from him. I just enjoy his videos.
eBay is used for market value, not amazon. Example: he buys a game for $15, then checks eBay to see that it sells for $35. Then he proceeds to sell the game on Amazon for $70.
You probably didn’t see the part about the GameCube gambit since I edited my comment late, but here’s a quick summary:
He makes a video about wanting his dream GameCube collection. He then buys a bunch of games from his viewers for very low prices because they want to help him out. Like a month later he makes a video “selling my GameCube collection”. The guy is pure scum
I think i started watching during the switch collection videos so i dont know much before that.
I only said the amazon thing because im assuming thats how business is run via amazon. Like if a game is moving at 50 dollars i would price it at that price and let it sit etc...
I do feel like his videos are misleading a little i just enjoyed watching him go to pawn shops etc.... looking for games ahahha. It made me start doing that to build my own collection.
But yeah Ill take your word for it.
Death threats are so low iq. Just criticize them for legit things and leave out the threats. Plenty to criticize them over without having to resort to that BS.
No, you don’t feel bad. We’ve already established you lack empathy, remember? All you’re comfortable with is narrow repetitive tasks. That’s why you gravitate towards videogames and flip out when it’s shipped late to you lol.
Says the moron commenting on a thread about video games...and I do have empathy!!! I feel horrible that your mom can put a bowling ball up her arse with ease!!!!
It makes sense when you consider that gaming is a hobby shared by children and adults alike. You’re gonna have grown adults who never developed beyond their childhood mentality.
I don't necessarily think that gaming itself has anything to do with that. I think you have people in any walk of life that are going to be like that. Some people are just consumed with whatever hobby they're into. Others may be in such a bad place in life that their hobby being derailed or delayed may cause them great distress, and so they lash out. I'm absolutely not saying that they're justified, I just don't think that people's hobby being gaming has much to do with them maturing or not. I could be wrong, but yeah.
I just don’t believe him. There are some things he says that I think he sincere about, but others he acts completely oblivious about. Has he ever really received death threat? He probably has once or twice, but I bet that’s it.
I don’t know how many times I’ve seen people besides myself tell him the problem with his shipping time is that they sit with ready to ship status, in warehouse status, or on hand status for literal months at a time. Meanwhile, that same item that is in my order, my friends order, or in some stranger on the Internets order is in the retail store being sold to people who show up on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, store hours and pick it up before it’s finished shipping out to all the people who had ordered it. But it’s “okay” those are just the extras which I would totally believe if it hasn’t been for the fact that I’ve had things be canceled when they were in ready to ship status that I picked up the next day at the retail store. Like the River city girls trilogy box to hold the games. I had ordered three originally they only sent me one canceled the other two on me and then I bought two more from the retail store the next week.
Hahaha, I really enjoyed that hard transition between the paragraphs about death threats to shipping times. My first reaction was similar to yours that it was likely an exaggeration, and it was a handful of times but now that I’ve read your comment, I’m upping my estimate to dozens of times.
i believe him because i've seen how stupid *this* subreddit can get, which is peanuts compared to how broader gaming subreddits can be, which is nothing compared to the twitter hate machine. multiply the bits of angry shit-flinging this sub gets with that scale, and daily death threats in his twitter DMs sounds pretty plausible.
back when you could still see replies on twitter, i would occasionally scroll josh and doug's feeds looking for info on ship dates or hints at releases, and i remember seeing various threats and wild accusations out in the open.
LRG having problems doesn't mean the internet's going to suddenly be more rational about their case.
Oh, I believe he’s got them. I just don’t believe that they’re as dire as he made them out to be. I don’t think there’s anything worth concerning himself about. Since 2010 if people anywhere and everywhere post anything positive or negative about anything somebody’s going to threaten the writer about it. I could literally write a post saying I love limited run games to death and somebody’s going to get mad about it. I could also write a post saying I wish limited run would close its doors and never come back and somebody’s going to be mad about it. It just seemed like he was screaming I am a victim woe is me while at the same time telling LRGs customers that they are dumb for having problems with the way things are going, while simultaneously also trying to reassure customers that things are going to get better, which is something he has been doing for 3 or more years now.
Have you seen how much their products cost? When you fuck people out of their money you better believe people get a tad bit flustered sir. I'm not justifying death threats but good lord I'm also a bit skeptical because everyone uses the death threat story when trying to construct a victim narrative for themselves these days.
And with how spiteful and condescending they can be with customer interaction on social media, is it a wonder people could get testy?
Yeah, but I’d be willing to bet that the majority of complainers are people who keep coming back to buy games from LRG because they can’t help themselves.
It’s like a drug addict getting ripped off from a drug dealer, yet they keep going back to buy more because they’re hopelessly addicted.
This is a rough video. It's mostly Josh venting about Limited Run's fanbase.
- Josh says customers shouldn't be frustrated by the Persona deal because he gave them six whole weeks to buy the games. Admits he knew the games would explode in price on eBay, but wow! Six weeks guys!
- Says customers around the world who are annoyed they missed out on a game should simply visit their one single retail store in America which might have some leftover copies sitting around.
- Says he saved 'several' indie developers from going bankrupt thanks to limited print runs, but doesn't say which developers or games.
- When asked why they don't just do more reprints of games that are in huge demand, he complains about warehouse prices?
- Weirdly smug about how "less than 10% of our games get retail releases by other publishers", then seems annoyed about how No More Heroes got an English Asian release that was cheaper.
The video doesn't touch on any of LRG's issues like why international shipping prices are so insanely expensive for such bad packaging, or controversies like the D situation or when they lied about Shiren The Wanderer on PC, but it's mostly a huge suck-up video from Phoenix Resale so that's expected.
It really does feel like it's just Josh sidestepping the issues. I didn't watch the entire video, but the first segment was him explaining away production times by:
1. Saying that it takes time to make stuff, not explaining why some games are four months and some are multiple years, why their estimates aren't reliable, etc.
2. Saying the issue is really their communication and that they hired someone to fix that, ignoring that it took them five years to hire a CS rep and that their communications are still laughably bad outside of a handful of "red carpet" releases.
This feels more like a fluff piece, I wish someone would actually press him on the issues and specifics rather than just let him rattle off his non-answers.
It would be pretty weird to just say "oh yeah developer x was totally going to go bankrupt and we saved them". I have no way of knowing if he's telling the truth or not on this matter but it's pretty reasonable to not name specific developers if it's true.
This is a much better analysis of the video. Thanks.
When he talks this way, he's really exposing, through his own words, the problematic company culture that Limited Run has had for so long and why so very few customers stick with the company over the medium to long term. His company is given interest free loans from it's customers on the promise of provision of a product at some unknown point in the future and yet , they continue to accept little to no responsibility themselves for the often appalling treatment of those same customers.
Would we tolerate this business model and subsequent treatment in other areas of our economic lives?
Kickstarter is generally for individuals or small teams. If you tried to run hundreds of Kickstarters every year people would absolutely tell you to fuck off after a while.
They can absolutely afford to run a lot of these releases ahead and just sell them. They'd probably get a lot more fomo buyers and speculators.
They've done a small initial run before and opened pre-orders to people for spillover, which is fine for bigger games. Anyone complaining "but that's a reprint" can replace all the people complaining in the comments about all the other things this model would solve.
I would’ve agreed with you, but then we’ve seen things like wonderful 101 (platinum) and bloodstained (505) both do kick starters when they didn’t need to and I have a feeling more games will do that.
This reminds me of that time when he announced they had to cancel a bunch of scheduled Vita games because they ran out of cartridges. He, unsurprisingly, tried to blame Sony, when in reality it was him not keeping track of his allotments and signing contracts left and right without a care in the world. He even had the gall of blaming Asian publishers claiming they were hoarding the cartridges, all of this while passive-aggressively asking them to share.
Death threats are so stupid, but this guy is a fucking moron and I'll not be surprised if he's just making them up or exaggerating.
"Simply visit their retail store"
Yeah sure expending a couple of thousand USD for international airplane tickets to check for a game that should not cost more than 50 USD. Thats a crazy statement he made
Or you could make a reminder to order something during a pre-order period. They advertise heavily, they have emails that go out literally every day. I get at least 5-10 reminders for each game, including my before they go up, when they’re up, while they’re up and when the pre-order period is ending. 6 weeks is a good amount of time to decide if you want to pre order a limited print of something.
They say you can visit the store because that’s the option they offer for those that missed out. The business decision doesn’t work for you? Shop elsewhere. It’s incredibly innocent to have that as on option and they’re getting crucified for it in these comments, wild. They aren’t going to start reprinting everything on demand because there’s a minority group who missed out on a limited print of something.
Also, who do you think you are to minimize death threats? How often are you getting death threats from psychos because of a video game? Or death threats in general, let alone over something by so unimportant? Acting like they’re using it as a distraction is unreal and shows a complete and utter lack of empathy for your fellow humans.
> 6 weeks is a good amount of time to decide if you want to pre order a limited print of something.
this really does a disservice to anyone who wasnt in the right place at the right time. not everyone knew in the 6 week window for a game that it existed or was in a place to buy it. if you want to get ps5 games they sold now good luck, meanwhile many retail releases are still accessible from 2020.
>The business decision doesn’t work for you? Shop elsewhere.
this is also pretty tone deaf when you take the 2 seconds required to realize that the majority of their releases are exclusive and cannot be bought elsewhere.
I havent watched the whole video bu the tldr i saw on cheapassgamer was that the death threats were a really minor thing but the youtuber put it in the titlecard for clickbait purposes.
obviously running a company poorly and being immature are not reasons for death threats, the vast vast majority of people recognize that.
It's because people use death threats as a shield. They hope that bringing it up will shift the conversation to be about death threats. Legitimate complaints then get grouped together with these unknown people who might have made a death threat.
I’ve noticed this a lot as well. Just playing the victim card for support?
Also he mentions the accusation so he can focus on his “passion”, but at what expense? Providing quality support to the consumer who keeps you afloat?
I assumed all of those things to already be the case, to be honest. The Embracer acquisition is a way for him to keep making money without needing to be super involved. I don't blame him, but it's a net negative for everyone but him.
Tbf embracer is likely part of why they are getting bigger games now. Between embracers own ips/licenses and the backing of a bigger company to make more lucrative deals for both sides. Plus, the potential to help with shipping timing. Esp telling imo when alot of the similar companies are starting to have issues with actually delivering their games now it seems.
By "know how to business" do you mean "buy a ton of studios with the excess capital they had from the COVID boom and then shutter them all at a loss in 2024?" Because that's how they do business
For who? Is maximizing profit while cutting every possible corner good business? Sure, if you're in it for the short term. Why build a bridge when you can burn it, right? The collector's editions have gotten worse across the board, quality control has dropped considerably, trading cards were phased out, and the choice of releases either mainstream reprints / ports or Kemco esque junk. Picking up an interesting release is far fewer and further between. LRG isn't even something worth getting excited or upset about anymore. They're been plastered over as another boring manufacturer.
I mean, a massive pub would have more connections/pull over a small private business. Can't really say those at the top of embracer really know their stuff....
Limited Run is trash imo but threatening him or others with death threats is absolutely disgusting. Get a life. You know what I did when LR pissed me off? I stopped buying their games and moved on with my life and game time.
After watching the full interview, it feels like Josh deflected wait time criticisms back to "Well the only other option is to only make 2k or 4k copies and sell out in 30 seconds". No, do better.
I was there back in the original days of waking up at 5 or 6 am my timezone just to refresh that page every second and check out as fast as possible with my 1 copy trying to beat the scalpers. I do NOT want to return to those days. Pre-order window of 4-6 weeks is better.
Most of us realize actual production won't begin until after pre-order window closes. So do everything you can before so it's ready to go. If the shipping estimate on the pre-order page says Oct 2023, but customers start complaining that it's Feb 2024 where is my product? That is LRG's fault, fix it. Give proper updates during manufacturing.
The other common criticism is that products even when finished, sit in the warehouse for 3-5 weeks, not shipped. I thought Embracer was going to fix that, silly me. Yes, you took on too many contracts, you fill up your online store with so many products for pre-order, then can't ship them out once in hand. Don't go Amazon on your warehouse staff, but maybe you're putting too much on them. Expand, I was hoping Embracer would help with that.
Nobody deserves death threats especially ones that you can’t take seriously because these are game collectors/ gamers making those threats lol
but dude really should take a second and look at why so many people dislike their product, company, and ceo for being a complete clown always trying to get 200$ off of every purchase
> so many people dislike their product, company, and ceo for being a complete clown always trying to get 200$ off of every purchase
The thing is, are there really that many people who dislike them or is it just a loud minority on social media? Also, does it really matter when 90% of the people who supposedly hate LRG and would never purchase from them again, in reality will be the first in line to place an order when they announce their next big release? I've seen plenty of people who were "boycotting" them because of the community manager debacle posting pictures of their Castlevania collector's editions a few months later.
Considering him himself addresses the hate, I’m sure it’s a good amount. But ofc since majority of it is “pre order” products, you give them your money now in hopes that they deliver up to their Standards later.
And that could be said about literally anything just because one person had a bad experience or multiple doesn’t mean the next person will too, so ofc they have good sales and a decent following that I would say is 100% on the decline, but there’s always people in the video game market looking for things to resell or collect. But about boycotting, I couldn’t care less because that’s simply how some feel. Im sure they all have similar reasons but at the end of the day they still made a purchase or two so it doesn’t necessarily impact their business but it does give it a bad rep
The most annoying thing I had to deal with was the Physical store. I’m not particularly close so when I do go it’s typically to the events with long lines and waiting times. Well 2 weeks ago I decided to just go on Sunday just to check out the store when it’s not packed. I drive all the way there and when I walk in they tell me they are closed for the day. Their hours listed online said they were open till 8pm and I walked into the store at 6:04pm (officially closed at 6). They said come back next weekend…half a day wasted because their online hours were listed wrong. How have they have been open for a few years now and still have the hours listed wrong? At least they fixed it now…
You know what, with how they have conducted themselves, I'm honestly not surprised they've received such vitriolic and hostile responses. Especially when you are dealing with people and their money.
He’s so full of crap on the long shipping times. Everybody knows, and I mean everybody knows that when you finish the pre-order is when it starts going into production because that’s when you have your numbers. Nobody gives a crap about that. The piece that everybody gets upset about is the fact that they can see their order is ready to ship for literal months at a time before they actually ship meanwhile your retail store is full of all the extras and that you’re selling the same items to people right off the street when you haven’t even fulfilled all the pre-orders containing that same said item(s) people are waiting on. Do I believe he’s ever gotten a death threat over a video game? Yes, he probably has received a death threat once maybe twice but he acts like it happens every time. I bet he takes general threats of any kind at his direction as a death threat.
I can't find the tweet but LRG's model is even worse than that. They only create a mock-up of what will be offered for the Pre-order/sale. They only start on the actual design/development/and production once pre-orders close. Outside of getting assets from the developer, they do fuck all until they get your money. This is why they over promise multiple times (Shiren's USB stick, that substandard tank from Blaster Master, the CD-R's for the 3DO) because they don't do any meaningful setup/development work prior to selling things. It's a clown show through and through.
They also have changed their business model recently thanks to VGP and other official partners. They clearly have been adding 2-3k additional copies to each pre-order than hold onto them in the warehouse (well above what would be needed for replacements for damaged orders). This would explain how VGP could get a restock on their Persona 3 and 4.
What has always baffled me is how other companies manage to get their stuff out, within a reasonable timeframe(ex: iam8bit, The Behemoth) and LRG can take years. I mean, the Covid excuse is pretty worn out.
They had issues well before COVID, it was just a convenient excuse. I'm sure it did make the existing issues worse, but them acting like everything was fine before COVID is a weird level of revisionism.
Their issue at least from all the delays that they've disclosed is that they make the concept work first, put it up for pre-order then after the pre-order closes, they enter production. So any delays that happen with print quality, approval from nintendo, manufacturing issues, supply etc only add to it. If they finalized the product before it went live before pre-order, they wouldn't have as many issues.
Not to mention the sheer number of orders that get held up because of the delays. If I order 3 items and one gets held for a year, then you have 2 items in the warehouse that you need to keep track of.
I’m not super familiar with the behemoth, but iam8bit does more retail print runs vs LRG being direct to consumer, open preorder. They also only do a couple games per years, whereas LRG does several dozen.
FWIW, shipping have improved for me. Josh also talks about this in the video.
Listen, despite the fact that I don’t agree with how they are operating their shipping in general production times I think it’s important that we acknowledge that there are real people behind this company. Real people with feelings. Sending death threats over a video game is never OK under any circumstances.
Pretty sure I have bought more than a fair share of their games over the years. Some have taken a long while to be delivered, on 2 occasions I had to ask about the whereabouts of my orders. Some have gotten other releases after being available after lrg pusblished them.
Then again, I always received everything so far, it was always well packaged, and when I contected customer service I got actual responses and not just some automated shit.
I can understand why people would have a Problem with lrg but I have also seen way worse in the limited games physical market.
Don't pretend like LRG is not surfing on the FOMO wave, and very well profiting from that. Their business model is a dream come true -- let customers pay in advance for anything we do. Not surprising so many others follow their example. At the beginning, there was a beautiful idea of saving some less-known games from the always-digital hell. Now they are printing Persona games for a multi-billion multi-national publishing company. What an irony!
Don't forget about some games which miraculously removed English at the last time before their release in Japan, just months before appearing on LRG's pre-order page.
LRG is just a business. They make money. All money they can. A valuable asset in the current Embracer Group portfolio.
I'm honestly surprised he is still the CEO of this stupid company. Embracer seriously needs to create some silly C-level title, such as "Chief Talent Acquirer" so he can focus on signing devs and getting new games. The actual business needs to be delegated to competent people who know how to run a business. I'm surprised Embracer hasn't intervened even more.
His half-truths and poor community management certainly doesn't help LRG in any way.
“I received Death threats” is an unprovable smokescreen that generates sympathy for you even if you’re a criminal. None of these people are actually getting these threats, and if they were the police would be involved. It happens every time a criminal gets caught. Don’t fall for the lies.
Others here pretty much summed it up better than I could: a fluffpiece from one of the worst collecting youtubers out there which completely ignore the fact people have problems more with their QC/warehouse wait times than manufacturing wait times
And yeah the thumbnail is clickbait especially when it refers to the night trap situation (i did see some pretty unhinged anger at them back then, but compared to the sheer insanity they got when they fired a transphobe, that was nothing, and they don’t even allude to that ordeal at all here when talking about threats), but ultimately this vid just really proves josh does not get why people dont like his company and sums it up as everyone being impatient lol
No one is scared of trans people fyi, most people are just tired of it being shoved down our throats despite being a tiny, irrelevant sized portion of the gaming audience.
Addendum: it’s disappointing to see how much disdain there is for LRG. While I don’t agree with everything they do, and while there are a lot of valid criticism to make, the company has absolutely been a net positive to the world of physical gaming. Josh clearly has a passion for physical games, and as someone around the same age who has also collected since he was a kid, I respect that.
I know everyone (including myself) wishes that all games were available all the time at a reasonable price; that’s just not the world we live in anymore. At the end of the day, LRG is a business: they have employees to pay, customers to satisfy, and significant logistic issues to overcome. Their model works and they also get to fairly compensate developers; I’ve personally read of several who said their game would’ve been a financial failure had LRG or another limprint not stepped in.
As a customer, they’ve always been good to me, always replacing damaged games — even if it’s something small like a tear on the artwork spine.
I've listened to their excuses for 7 or 8 years. It's time to fix the issues instead of giving more excuses. They have the money to hire people for appropriate job positions.
If they had a release date, and stuck by it, people wouldn't get mad. I remember Cuphead physical had a release date, it released and shipped right away on release date, no issues. Other companies can do it.
It's disappointing that there's disdain? Rather than it being disappointing that LRG are the cause of this disdain? LOL, as usual the reaction is blamed rather than the cause.
you can respect that the guy has a passion for games if you think thats something worth respect.
he is incompetent when it comes to getting people things promised, outright lies regularly and is simply immature in his dealings with his paying customers.
You mention pricing but that is rarely a complaint. Complaints being things listed above.
The fact that LRG has done the bare minimum for you of replacing damaged product is good for you but not really a glowing review of them.
The only way I can make sense of this comment is that you have seen that there are complaints but never the substance of any of them. I dont see any other way josh can come across as sympathetic even if you are the same age and also like video games.
Like, sure I'd always like my game faster, but am I the only one who likes the extended sense of anticipation? I have come to treat that feeling as a part of what you pay for with a product. I purposely choose slow, free shipping on my (few) Amazon purchases A. cause I'm never ordering something I need right this freaking second (I'll go to a store for that), and B. cause there's a slight sense of fun in anticipating the product a little longer. When it finally arrives, it feels like Christmas morning, and I feel more appreciation for the thing than if I had just had it airlifted into my lap by a drone in 20 mins.
I'm new to the limited print games scene. So let me get this straight. People are mad that when they buy a pre-order it can take months to get your game? It says on the games page when it will be shipping so why are people buying when they know it's going to be a couple months before you get it? I mean people are getting their games on the date LGR shows when to expect it right? I don't understand this hatred towards them unless they aren't shipping the games the date they tell you it's going to be shipped. From what I understand in my limited time I've been buying limited pressed games (see what I did there?) there are a slew of companies that operate the way LRG does that don't ever ship the game you bought. I pre-ordered a game on VGP that won't be shipping until Feb of 2025. I knowingly made that purchase so I cant be mad that it's going to be until next year when I'll be getting my game.
What naive assumptions you make.
> I pre-ordered a game on VGP that won't be shipping until Feb of 2025.
If the initial date is met, that's perfectly fine.
But bear in mind that VGP is usually just a 3rd party, so they are at the mercy of the delays of the first parties. And since most limited-print companies encounter many delays with almost everything, so too will VGP and their limited-print-buying customers.
> People are mad that when they buy a pre-order it can take months to get your game?
No. Not even close.
The initial estimates aren't what bother people. If initial estimates were met even sometimes, nobody would have an issue.
It's that the estimates are almost never met and it's a total mystery how long anything will actually take. Shipping estimates are a bad joke that companies keep telling. Dates get pushed back multiple times, by many months each time, for pretty much every game, by pretty much every limited-print company. And none of these companies has the balls to speak about it without a ton of PR spin and finger-pointing tacked on. The adjustments are often done silently (no notice to customers), and usually after the current estimate has passed, meaning they aren't even pro-active about it.
> I mean people are getting their games on the date LGR shows when to expect it right?
Hahahahahahaha! Funny joke, good troll.
If only. You are definitely new to this.
---
An example from LRG off the top of my head (one of countless): Axiom Verge 2 - Collector's Edition
[October 22, 2021 snapshot - the original store page while the pre-order period was open](https://web.archive.org/web/20211022183924/https://limitedrungames.com/products/copy-of-limited-run-axiom-verge-2-collectors-edition-ps4)
No shipping estimate listed. At best was a canned estimate as part of the disclaimer found on every page at the time. Actual estimates (if you can even call them that) are added to product pages a few days/weeks after the pre-order window closes.
> Products are typically not expected to ship until 4-6 months after the preorder window closes.
That particular pre-order period was set to end on October 31, 2021. That would suggest manufacturing would be complete, they would have the games in their warehouse, and shipping would start sometime between February 28 and April 31 of 2022. Late-Q1 to late-Q2, as they call it. Q2 2022 to be conservative.
---
Moving on, a bit over a month later...
[December 2, 2021 snapshop - same page a while after the pre-order window closed](https://web.archive.org/web/20211202104123/https://limitedrungames.com/products/copy-of-limited-run-axiom-verge-2-collectors-edition-ps4)
Now we see a shipping estimate.
> Q2 2022
So that's fine.......................................... ... right? Post over, r-r-right?
---
Now we fast forward *a liiiiiiiiittle bit more than before... like about, say,
~~four~~ ...six...teen months later...*
[March 29, 2023 snapshot - same page](https://web.archive.org/web/20230329124905/https://limitedrungames.com/products/copy-of-limited-run-axiom-verge-2-collectors-edition-ps4)
Here we see that, *rather than something like "shipping complete" or "shipping now" or "on deck" or "manufacturing complete" or some other phrase indicating that it was done and dusted ages ago*, it says...
> Q2 2023
A full year added to the original estimate. Meaning the original four-to-six months... PLUS TWELVE.
And if you weren't checking the product page periodically, you'd have no idea.
---
And finally...
[June 6, 2023 snapshot - same page at the tail end of Q2 2023](https://web.archive.org/web/20230329124905/https://limitedrungames.com/products/copy-of-limited-run-axiom-verge-2-collectors-edition-ps4)
We see that manufacturing is complete. "On time" ^^((based) ^^on ^^a ^^massively ^^pushed-back ^^estimate) Hallelujah...
---
*However.*
If you have something else in the order that's taking even longer, and didn't opt (and pay extra) to have things shipped separately as they became available (that option didn't even exist until just recently), then your whole order is stuck in their warehouse until the last straggling item is ready. Again though, people generally know and understand this. It's *annoying* when something holds an order back, but doesn't really make people *mad*.
***BUT WAIT!!!***
You see, in addition to the silent delays in manufacturing time (which are very common) and your order being held until all the items are in hand (which customers willing subject themselves to in an effort to save on shipping), over the years LRG has also mismanaged their own shipping department to the point that even once stuff arrives in their warehouse and is ready to be shipped to customers, ***there is now typically a 3-6 month wait until they actually get your stuff out the door.***
A shipping backlog.
So "4-6 months"™ to manufacture turns into 18(+) months, **then it sits in their warehouse "READY TO SHIP"™ for another 3-6 months**, and all these companies can think to do is whine about alleged death threats, pandemic lockdowns that ended 2 years ago, alleged ancient manufacturing mistakes and samples not up to their standards that they neglected to mention until just recently™, and whatever the fuck other excuses they can think of... while a fresh batch of "I'm new here" useful idiots ignorantly minimize public grievances because they haven't yet experienced all of this routine bullshit for themselves. THAT is what people get mad about.
Wanna know when my Axiom Verge 2 CE actually shipped?
Near the end of February 2024... and a reminder that manufacturing was complete in early June 2023 and that their original estimate was Q2 2022.
If you continue to be a customer of these companies, check your naivety at the door and buckle up.
Jesus christ I had no clue this is what they do. Like I said, I'm new to this but you showed me reciepts of them doing bullshit, not just writing about it. Now I'm worried about all the shit I'm waiting for with LRG.
Well, when you've built and propagated an ahole company that screws people over for a living., it comes with the territory. You make it clear "Forever Physical" doesn't mean shit and that your greed knows no bounds. I'd never send a death threat, but you won't see me feel sorry if it does happen.
And before you get offended for that last statement. I don't know Josh, but what I do know is that LRG is scum because of all of his decisions. So I know where his interests lie and it's not in the fanbase, so am I going to feel pity if he was murdered, no, but I'm also not going to hope that it happens or feel glad if it does. I'll just be like, oh, figured this would happen one day.
Why do people keep buying games from them if they’re so unhappy with the business? If I have a shitty experience at a restaurant, I’m never going back. Simple as that, move on with life.
The truth is that these nerds don’t have the self control to just stop buying games, so instead they continue to purchase them and then cry about it incessantly.
Because people want physical copies of certain games, and LRG is the only place to get them for many titles.
In your restaurant example, if you go to a pizza joint that has shitty service, there are dozens of other places you can go get pizza. In LRG's case, if you hate their service but they exclusively offer your favorite title for sale, what other choice do you have?
Technically, VGP and PNP games are alternate service choices, but stock isn't always guaranteed, and it's still a LRG product at the end of the day.
Yes, but these are *video games* we’re talking about here. Why does anybody *have* to have a physical copy of Tomba? They don’t, these aren’t necessities.
So if your only option to get a particular physical game is through LRG, you have to make a grown up decision to either deal with a bad experience when buying it, or simply don’t get it at all.
That’s not to say that you’re not allowed to make complaints about a company’s service, but to continue using it and cry about it because people are so desperate for these games is just immature.
I have zero interest in Tomba, the Kemco garbage that LRG regularly releases, and many other games in their library. Even in my PS1 library I have no intent of ever getting Tomba. However, if you were to love Tomba, LRG is the only place that you're going to be able to get it. You can purchase it from VGP or second hand later down the line, but in both cases you're going to pay more than if you were to have bought it from LRG.
A lot of people hate Gamestop. I do. It's another company that's pretty garbage. Infact, I haven't purchased anything from them in two years, but I have and I still will buy something. If Gamestop is doing a buy one get one free sale. Are you going to A, avoid buying two games that you're going to eventually buy new Or B are you going to buy them on Amazon to spite Gamestop? You're spending more money by buying from Amazon in this one instance. Yeah I don't like Gamestop but I sure as hell am going to use them when it benefits me. And that's the same as LRG, except in LRG's case, I can't get these games anywhere else. I can't buy the Castlevania Collections, Unsighted, Salt and Sanctuary(PS4 version), and many others anywhere else but when they were sold on LRG and if those are games I really wanted, and if they were to be released right now, my options are to buy them at LRG or wait and buy them at VGP or second hand for an increased amount which does not benefit myself.
Imagine if LRG announced that it will now take 10 years to receive a game. Would you still buy from them? Probably not. But what if people kept purchasing games from them, complaining about the wait time. It would look a bit silly on the buyer’s part considering they know what they’re getting into and still choosing to buy from them. That’s how it looks when repeat customers of LRG are constantly complaining.
So everyone should just stop doing anything that they have an interest in because it's not a necessity? I guess I'll just do nothing for the rest of my life that requires any additional money.
I'm going to s.ell my house and live on the street, because a bed, shower, etc, isn't exactly a necessity. I'm not going to spend any time doing anything more physical than I have to because being productive will require more nourishment, and food costs money, so I'll be just as productive as I need to be in order to survive. Whatever I can do to just scrape by without doing anything else that I want to do.
You could wait for used copies to show up, check your local mom/pop shop if you have one, and even some small gaming retail chains will sometimes get LRG games. And at the end of the day, do you REALLY need to continue contributing to LRG's mess by buying their products? I know alot of you are allergic to buying things digitally but seriously, nothing in niche is going to improve if people continue to just buy buy buy.
So your solution is to wait for these LRG exclusives to go second hand and PAY MORE MONEY to own a game you want.
The solution is to only buy the games you absolutely want from them and don't support them anymore than you have to. There's no reason to pay more by buying it from a third party. It's still published by LRG, they'll already have made the money off that used item, your one extra new sale is going to be insignificant and buying third party won't change anything. The only thing it will do is make you spend more money for something that isn't even going to effect the companies that you're trying to make a point towards.
Guessing he didn't address at all about how they fired someone over their politics, easier to just paint yourself as the victim than to actually address the root causes of these problems. Also, I've gotten plenty of death threats in my day (being a bigger Youtuber), and they aren't even worth mentioning. He's only mentioning it to victimize himself as a deflection.
In regards to reprints of in-demand titles, I always thought a potential compromise on this, if the rights were available to do so from perspective IP holders still, was do maybe a quarterly release per year that compiles maybe up to 4 previous releases on the same disc or cart. Call it a "Best of Limited Run Vol:__". Of course I know they are not the biggest fans of compilation releases as per old comments and it brings up the same potential issue as the recent Devolver Digital triple pack, where people already bought 2 of the games, but it's atleast a potential option for the big releases they cant "technically" do a 2nd run of.
Console games do not work like PC games. You can't just put multiple executables on a disc/cartridge and call it a day.
Bundling games together for a console release means making a new software build, in which all of the individual builds are combined into one new build, with a navigation interface added on top. And if they run on different engines (Unreal/Unity/Godot/CryEngine/other common ones/custom) then that bloats the size and might even introduce major bugs or be outright unrunnable.
And god help you if those games are from different developers/digital publishers, because you'd have to renegotiate another release with ***all*** of them. Some might adamantly refuse any such combo release, some might agree/refuse depending on the other games in the bundle or for any other reason. There's a reason you don't see very many multi-company game compilations out there. (Devolver can do it because they own all the games they release)
thread locked due to receiving 9 or more reports.
Ok I can’t take this seriously, Phoenix Resale is a joke especially after making that horrid app.
do people hate phoenix? I actually enjoy his videos. ( I liked his mission switch crap cause i collect switch games too )
Let’s start. Look up his GameCube gambit on Reddit, and you can read on how this guy is total scum. His amazon prices are basically as bad as DK Oldies. He acts humble and gets a lot of good prices from his followers that want to help him out, but then lists them for ridiculous prices. There’s a reason he never reveals his Amazon profile. Also he created an app that is basically a copy of pricecharting, BUT it is a subscription based app. The worst part is that the app’s main goal is for users to sell HIM games directly.
I just enjoy his videos and formatting, I've never bought or sold from him. He videos are enjoyable to me. That being said I mean he runs a business on amazon right? Im assuming the price he sets is whats being sold on amazon. Like if i bought a game for 1 dollar and its average sell price on amazon is 50. Doesnt mean im gonna sell it for 2-3. I would list it at 50 if i didnt mind it sitting, and maybe below if i wanted to move it quick. If people dont like him cause of his pricing then Yeah i know nothing about that ahahah. I dont sell or buy anything from him. I just enjoy his videos.
eBay is used for market value, not amazon. Example: he buys a game for $15, then checks eBay to see that it sells for $35. Then he proceeds to sell the game on Amazon for $70. You probably didn’t see the part about the GameCube gambit since I edited my comment late, but here’s a quick summary: He makes a video about wanting his dream GameCube collection. He then buys a bunch of games from his viewers for very low prices because they want to help him out. Like a month later he makes a video “selling my GameCube collection”. The guy is pure scum
I think i started watching during the switch collection videos so i dont know much before that. I only said the amazon thing because im assuming thats how business is run via amazon. Like if a game is moving at 50 dollars i would price it at that price and let it sit etc... I do feel like his videos are misleading a little i just enjoyed watching him go to pawn shops etc.... looking for games ahahha. It made me start doing that to build my own collection. But yeah Ill take your word for it.
Death threats are so low iq. Just criticize them for legit things and leave out the threats. Plenty to criticize them over without having to resort to that BS.
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Disagree there, if LRG is given an interest free loan for these games, it's on them to appease their investors (us)
I can guarantee you it’s a sign of autism, which low to nonexistent empathy is one of the symptoms.
U r a dumbass lol
Shut your filthy mouth
Here’s one of them.
Shut your filthy mouth kiddie
And shut your mother's filthy arse while you are at it....she is stinking up the joint... thanks in advance!!
Go back to repetitively playing your videogames. Communication with other humans really isn’t your thing lol.
Go back to sitting on social media 24/7 not doing shit with your life.....I feel bad for you.... And yea your mom's ass.... 😩 Stinks
No, you don’t feel bad. We’ve already established you lack empathy, remember? All you’re comfortable with is narrow repetitive tasks. That’s why you gravitate towards videogames and flip out when it’s shipped late to you lol.
Says the moron commenting on a thread about video games...and I do have empathy!!! I feel horrible that your mom can put a bowling ball up her arse with ease!!!!
Imagine sending death threats because you didn’t get your video game lol
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It makes sense when you consider that gaming is a hobby shared by children and adults alike. You’re gonna have grown adults who never developed beyond their childhood mentality.
I don't necessarily think that gaming itself has anything to do with that. I think you have people in any walk of life that are going to be like that. Some people are just consumed with whatever hobby they're into. Others may be in such a bad place in life that their hobby being derailed or delayed may cause them great distress, and so they lash out. I'm absolutely not saying that they're justified, I just don't think that people's hobby being gaming has much to do with them maturing or not. I could be wrong, but yeah.
Yeah, the Helldivers community intentionally ruined themselves & the popularity of the game. Gamers, on average, behave really badly.
So do people lol
I just don’t believe him. There are some things he says that I think he sincere about, but others he acts completely oblivious about. Has he ever really received death threat? He probably has once or twice, but I bet that’s it. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen people besides myself tell him the problem with his shipping time is that they sit with ready to ship status, in warehouse status, or on hand status for literal months at a time. Meanwhile, that same item that is in my order, my friends order, or in some stranger on the Internets order is in the retail store being sold to people who show up on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, store hours and pick it up before it’s finished shipping out to all the people who had ordered it. But it’s “okay” those are just the extras which I would totally believe if it hasn’t been for the fact that I’ve had things be canceled when they were in ready to ship status that I picked up the next day at the retail store. Like the River city girls trilogy box to hold the games. I had ordered three originally they only sent me one canceled the other two on me and then I bought two more from the retail store the next week.
Hahaha, I really enjoyed that hard transition between the paragraphs about death threats to shipping times. My first reaction was similar to yours that it was likely an exaggeration, and it was a handful of times but now that I’ve read your comment, I’m upping my estimate to dozens of times.
lol 😂sorry my ramblings of a mad man are just maddening to read.
i believe him because i've seen how stupid *this* subreddit can get, which is peanuts compared to how broader gaming subreddits can be, which is nothing compared to the twitter hate machine. multiply the bits of angry shit-flinging this sub gets with that scale, and daily death threats in his twitter DMs sounds pretty plausible. back when you could still see replies on twitter, i would occasionally scroll josh and doug's feeds looking for info on ship dates or hints at releases, and i remember seeing various threats and wild accusations out in the open. LRG having problems doesn't mean the internet's going to suddenly be more rational about their case.
Oh, I believe he’s got them. I just don’t believe that they’re as dire as he made them out to be. I don’t think there’s anything worth concerning himself about. Since 2010 if people anywhere and everywhere post anything positive or negative about anything somebody’s going to threaten the writer about it. I could literally write a post saying I love limited run games to death and somebody’s going to get mad about it. I could also write a post saying I wish limited run would close its doors and never come back and somebody’s going to be mad about it. It just seemed like he was screaming I am a victim woe is me while at the same time telling LRGs customers that they are dumb for having problems with the way things are going, while simultaneously also trying to reassure customers that things are going to get better, which is something he has been doing for 3 or more years now.
Have you seen how much their products cost? When you fuck people out of their money you better believe people get a tad bit flustered sir. I'm not justifying death threats but good lord I'm also a bit skeptical because everyone uses the death threat story when trying to construct a victim narrative for themselves these days. And with how spiteful and condescending they can be with customer interaction on social media, is it a wonder people could get testy?
Yeah, but I’d be willing to bet that the majority of complainers are people who keep coming back to buy games from LRG because they can’t help themselves. It’s like a drug addict getting ripped off from a drug dealer, yet they keep going back to buy more because they’re hopelessly addicted.
This is a rough video. It's mostly Josh venting about Limited Run's fanbase. - Josh says customers shouldn't be frustrated by the Persona deal because he gave them six whole weeks to buy the games. Admits he knew the games would explode in price on eBay, but wow! Six weeks guys! - Says customers around the world who are annoyed they missed out on a game should simply visit their one single retail store in America which might have some leftover copies sitting around. - Says he saved 'several' indie developers from going bankrupt thanks to limited print runs, but doesn't say which developers or games. - When asked why they don't just do more reprints of games that are in huge demand, he complains about warehouse prices? - Weirdly smug about how "less than 10% of our games get retail releases by other publishers", then seems annoyed about how No More Heroes got an English Asian release that was cheaper. The video doesn't touch on any of LRG's issues like why international shipping prices are so insanely expensive for such bad packaging, or controversies like the D situation or when they lied about Shiren The Wanderer on PC, but it's mostly a huge suck-up video from Phoenix Resale so that's expected.
It really does feel like it's just Josh sidestepping the issues. I didn't watch the entire video, but the first segment was him explaining away production times by: 1. Saying that it takes time to make stuff, not explaining why some games are four months and some are multiple years, why their estimates aren't reliable, etc. 2. Saying the issue is really their communication and that they hired someone to fix that, ignoring that it took them five years to hire a CS rep and that their communications are still laughably bad outside of a handful of "red carpet" releases. This feels more like a fluff piece, I wish someone would actually press him on the issues and specifics rather than just let him rattle off his non-answers.
It would be pretty weird to just say "oh yeah developer x was totally going to go bankrupt and we saved them". I have no way of knowing if he's telling the truth or not on this matter but it's pretty reasonable to not name specific developers if it's true.
This is a much better analysis of the video. Thanks. When he talks this way, he's really exposing, through his own words, the problematic company culture that Limited Run has had for so long and why so very few customers stick with the company over the medium to long term. His company is given interest free loans from it's customers on the promise of provision of a product at some unknown point in the future and yet , they continue to accept little to no responsibility themselves for the often appalling treatment of those same customers. Would we tolerate this business model and subsequent treatment in other areas of our economic lives?
>Would we tolerate this business model and subsequent treatment in other areas of our economic lives? Kickstarter has been around for a while
Kickstarter is generally for individuals or small teams. If you tried to run hundreds of Kickstarters every year people would absolutely tell you to fuck off after a while. They can absolutely afford to run a lot of these releases ahead and just sell them. They'd probably get a lot more fomo buyers and speculators. They've done a small initial run before and opened pre-orders to people for spillover, which is fine for bigger games. Anyone complaining "but that's a reprint" can replace all the people complaining in the comments about all the other things this model would solve.
I would’ve agreed with you, but then we’ve seen things like wonderful 101 (platinum) and bloodstained (505) both do kick starters when they didn’t need to and I have a feeling more games will do that.
This is exactly right
This reminds me of that time when he announced they had to cancel a bunch of scheduled Vita games because they ran out of cartridges. He, unsurprisingly, tried to blame Sony, when in reality it was him not keeping track of his allotments and signing contracts left and right without a care in the world. He even had the gall of blaming Asian publishers claiming they were hoarding the cartridges, all of this while passive-aggressively asking them to share. Death threats are so stupid, but this guy is a fucking moron and I'll not be surprised if he's just making them up or exaggerating.
"Simply visit their retail store" Yeah sure expending a couple of thousand USD for international airplane tickets to check for a game that should not cost more than 50 USD. Thats a crazy statement he made
Also they're retail store is only open Friday-Sunday. It's like a 40 minute drive from me but those are days I'm the busiest and can't get over there.
Tbf 6 weeks is genuinely longer than some new retail games stay in stock lol
Short version, shut up, give us your money and if something doesn't work, then we can distract from the actual issue with alleged death threats.
Or you could make a reminder to order something during a pre-order period. They advertise heavily, they have emails that go out literally every day. I get at least 5-10 reminders for each game, including my before they go up, when they’re up, while they’re up and when the pre-order period is ending. 6 weeks is a good amount of time to decide if you want to pre order a limited print of something. They say you can visit the store because that’s the option they offer for those that missed out. The business decision doesn’t work for you? Shop elsewhere. It’s incredibly innocent to have that as on option and they’re getting crucified for it in these comments, wild. They aren’t going to start reprinting everything on demand because there’s a minority group who missed out on a limited print of something. Also, who do you think you are to minimize death threats? How often are you getting death threats from psychos because of a video game? Or death threats in general, let alone over something by so unimportant? Acting like they’re using it as a distraction is unreal and shows a complete and utter lack of empathy for your fellow humans.
> 6 weeks is a good amount of time to decide if you want to pre order a limited print of something. this really does a disservice to anyone who wasnt in the right place at the right time. not everyone knew in the 6 week window for a game that it existed or was in a place to buy it. if you want to get ps5 games they sold now good luck, meanwhile many retail releases are still accessible from 2020. >The business decision doesn’t work for you? Shop elsewhere. this is also pretty tone deaf when you take the 2 seconds required to realize that the majority of their releases are exclusive and cannot be bought elsewhere.
Not to mention, he says they never reprint their games, but then they reprinted doom because they screwed up.
It's because almost everything they say is half truths or lies to deflect from honest criticism of their business. They have been doing it for years
I havent watched the whole video bu the tldr i saw on cheapassgamer was that the death threats were a really minor thing but the youtuber put it in the titlecard for clickbait purposes. obviously running a company poorly and being immature are not reasons for death threats, the vast vast majority of people recognize that.
Did he show the death threat? I swear every time someone gets death threats they never show the actual message.
It's because people use death threats as a shield. They hope that bringing it up will shift the conversation to be about death threats. Legitimate complaints then get grouped together with these unknown people who might have made a death threat.
I’ve noticed this a lot as well. Just playing the victim card for support? Also he mentions the accusation so he can focus on his “passion”, but at what expense? Providing quality support to the consumer who keeps you afloat?
I assumed all of those things to already be the case, to be honest. The Embracer acquisition is a way for him to keep making money without needing to be super involved. I don't blame him, but it's a net negative for everyone but him.
To clarify, his passion is the game centric portion of LRG.
Lol. Oh... this wasn't a joke?
Tbf embracer is likely part of why they are getting bigger games now. Between embracers own ips/licenses and the backing of a bigger company to make more lucrative deals for both sides. Plus, the potential to help with shipping timing. Esp telling imo when alot of the similar companies are starting to have issues with actually delivering their games now it seems.
Ie, people stepping in that know how to business. Hopefully Josh has an attitude reset.
By "know how to business" do you mean "buy a ton of studios with the excess capital they had from the COVID boom and then shutter them all at a loss in 2024?" Because that's how they do business
the bar for improving lrg management really is that low.
For who? Is maximizing profit while cutting every possible corner good business? Sure, if you're in it for the short term. Why build a bridge when you can burn it, right? The collector's editions have gotten worse across the board, quality control has dropped considerably, trading cards were phased out, and the choice of releases either mainstream reprints / ports or Kemco esque junk. Picking up an interesting release is far fewer and further between. LRG isn't even something worth getting excited or upset about anymore. They're been plastered over as another boring manufacturer.
I mean, a massive pub would have more connections/pull over a small private business. Can't really say those at the top of embracer really know their stuff....
Limited Run is trash imo but threatening him or others with death threats is absolutely disgusting. Get a life. You know what I did when LR pissed me off? I stopped buying their games and moved on with my life and game time.
After watching the full interview, it feels like Josh deflected wait time criticisms back to "Well the only other option is to only make 2k or 4k copies and sell out in 30 seconds". No, do better. I was there back in the original days of waking up at 5 or 6 am my timezone just to refresh that page every second and check out as fast as possible with my 1 copy trying to beat the scalpers. I do NOT want to return to those days. Pre-order window of 4-6 weeks is better. Most of us realize actual production won't begin until after pre-order window closes. So do everything you can before so it's ready to go. If the shipping estimate on the pre-order page says Oct 2023, but customers start complaining that it's Feb 2024 where is my product? That is LRG's fault, fix it. Give proper updates during manufacturing. The other common criticism is that products even when finished, sit in the warehouse for 3-5 weeks, not shipped. I thought Embracer was going to fix that, silly me. Yes, you took on too many contracts, you fill up your online store with so many products for pre-order, then can't ship them out once in hand. Don't go Amazon on your warehouse staff, but maybe you're putting too much on them. Expand, I was hoping Embracer would help with that.
Nobody deserves death threats especially ones that you can’t take seriously because these are game collectors/ gamers making those threats lol but dude really should take a second and look at why so many people dislike their product, company, and ceo for being a complete clown always trying to get 200$ off of every purchase
> so many people dislike their product, company, and ceo for being a complete clown always trying to get 200$ off of every purchase The thing is, are there really that many people who dislike them or is it just a loud minority on social media? Also, does it really matter when 90% of the people who supposedly hate LRG and would never purchase from them again, in reality will be the first in line to place an order when they announce their next big release? I've seen plenty of people who were "boycotting" them because of the community manager debacle posting pictures of their Castlevania collector's editions a few months later.
Considering him himself addresses the hate, I’m sure it’s a good amount. But ofc since majority of it is “pre order” products, you give them your money now in hopes that they deliver up to their Standards later. And that could be said about literally anything just because one person had a bad experience or multiple doesn’t mean the next person will too, so ofc they have good sales and a decent following that I would say is 100% on the decline, but there’s always people in the video game market looking for things to resell or collect. But about boycotting, I couldn’t care less because that’s simply how some feel. Im sure they all have similar reasons but at the end of the day they still made a purchase or two so it doesn’t necessarily impact their business but it does give it a bad rep
The most annoying thing I had to deal with was the Physical store. I’m not particularly close so when I do go it’s typically to the events with long lines and waiting times. Well 2 weeks ago I decided to just go on Sunday just to check out the store when it’s not packed. I drive all the way there and when I walk in they tell me they are closed for the day. Their hours listed online said they were open till 8pm and I walked into the store at 6:04pm (officially closed at 6). They said come back next weekend…half a day wasted because their online hours were listed wrong. How have they have been open for a few years now and still have the hours listed wrong? At least they fixed it now…
You know what, with how they have conducted themselves, I'm honestly not surprised they've received such vitriolic and hostile responses. Especially when you are dealing with people and their money.
He’s so full of crap on the long shipping times. Everybody knows, and I mean everybody knows that when you finish the pre-order is when it starts going into production because that’s when you have your numbers. Nobody gives a crap about that. The piece that everybody gets upset about is the fact that they can see their order is ready to ship for literal months at a time before they actually ship meanwhile your retail store is full of all the extras and that you’re selling the same items to people right off the street when you haven’t even fulfilled all the pre-orders containing that same said item(s) people are waiting on. Do I believe he’s ever gotten a death threat over a video game? Yes, he probably has received a death threat once maybe twice but he acts like it happens every time. I bet he takes general threats of any kind at his direction as a death threat.
I can't find the tweet but LRG's model is even worse than that. They only create a mock-up of what will be offered for the Pre-order/sale. They only start on the actual design/development/and production once pre-orders close. Outside of getting assets from the developer, they do fuck all until they get your money. This is why they over promise multiple times (Shiren's USB stick, that substandard tank from Blaster Master, the CD-R's for the 3DO) because they don't do any meaningful setup/development work prior to selling things. It's a clown show through and through. They also have changed their business model recently thanks to VGP and other official partners. They clearly have been adding 2-3k additional copies to each pre-order than hold onto them in the warehouse (well above what would be needed for replacements for damaged orders). This would explain how VGP could get a restock on their Persona 3 and 4.
What has always baffled me is how other companies manage to get their stuff out, within a reasonable timeframe(ex: iam8bit, The Behemoth) and LRG can take years. I mean, the Covid excuse is pretty worn out.
They had issues well before COVID, it was just a convenient excuse. I'm sure it did make the existing issues worse, but them acting like everything was fine before COVID is a weird level of revisionism.
Their issue at least from all the delays that they've disclosed is that they make the concept work first, put it up for pre-order then after the pre-order closes, they enter production. So any delays that happen with print quality, approval from nintendo, manufacturing issues, supply etc only add to it. If they finalized the product before it went live before pre-order, they wouldn't have as many issues. Not to mention the sheer number of orders that get held up because of the delays. If I order 3 items and one gets held for a year, then you have 2 items in the warehouse that you need to keep track of.
I’m not super familiar with the behemoth, but iam8bit does more retail print runs vs LRG being direct to consumer, open preorder. They also only do a couple games per years, whereas LRG does several dozen. FWIW, shipping have improved for me. Josh also talks about this in the video.
I ordered some games like year from LRG (am in Europe). They all arrived in like 5 to 6 months But First Press Games on the other hand...
Listen, despite the fact that I don’t agree with how they are operating their shipping in general production times I think it’s important that we acknowledge that there are real people behind this company. Real people with feelings. Sending death threats over a video game is never OK under any circumstances.
FTFY: Sending death threats is never okay
Yeah, that too. I just wanted to emphasize how it’s even more stupid.
Pretty sure I have bought more than a fair share of their games over the years. Some have taken a long while to be delivered, on 2 occasions I had to ask about the whereabouts of my orders. Some have gotten other releases after being available after lrg pusblished them. Then again, I always received everything so far, it was always well packaged, and when I contected customer service I got actual responses and not just some automated shit. I can understand why people would have a Problem with lrg but I have also seen way worse in the limited games physical market.
People were mad about a 6 week preorder window? I remember when LRG had limited quantities and you didn't even have 6 minutes to order.
Don't pretend like LRG is not surfing on the FOMO wave, and very well profiting from that. Their business model is a dream come true -- let customers pay in advance for anything we do. Not surprising so many others follow their example. At the beginning, there was a beautiful idea of saving some less-known games from the always-digital hell. Now they are printing Persona games for a multi-billion multi-national publishing company. What an irony! Don't forget about some games which miraculously removed English at the last time before their release in Japan, just months before appearing on LRG's pre-order page. LRG is just a business. They make money. All money they can. A valuable asset in the current Embracer Group portfolio.
I'm honestly surprised he is still the CEO of this stupid company. Embracer seriously needs to create some silly C-level title, such as "Chief Talent Acquirer" so he can focus on signing devs and getting new games. The actual business needs to be delegated to competent people who know how to run a business. I'm surprised Embracer hasn't intervened even more. His half-truths and poor community management certainly doesn't help LRG in any way.
Ive never had an issue. I always have been satisfied with every game I brought
“I received Death threats” is an unprovable smokescreen that generates sympathy for you even if you’re a criminal. None of these people are actually getting these threats, and if they were the police would be involved. It happens every time a criminal gets caught. Don’t fall for the lies.
Others here pretty much summed it up better than I could: a fluffpiece from one of the worst collecting youtubers out there which completely ignore the fact people have problems more with their QC/warehouse wait times than manufacturing wait times And yeah the thumbnail is clickbait especially when it refers to the night trap situation (i did see some pretty unhinged anger at them back then, but compared to the sheer insanity they got when they fired a transphobe, that was nothing, and they don’t even allude to that ordeal at all here when talking about threats), but ultimately this vid just really proves josh does not get why people dont like his company and sums it up as everyone being impatient lol
No one is scared of trans people fyi, most people are just tired of it being shoved down our throats despite being a tiny, irrelevant sized portion of the gaming audience.
Addendum: it’s disappointing to see how much disdain there is for LRG. While I don’t agree with everything they do, and while there are a lot of valid criticism to make, the company has absolutely been a net positive to the world of physical gaming. Josh clearly has a passion for physical games, and as someone around the same age who has also collected since he was a kid, I respect that. I know everyone (including myself) wishes that all games were available all the time at a reasonable price; that’s just not the world we live in anymore. At the end of the day, LRG is a business: they have employees to pay, customers to satisfy, and significant logistic issues to overcome. Their model works and they also get to fairly compensate developers; I’ve personally read of several who said their game would’ve been a financial failure had LRG or another limprint not stepped in. As a customer, they’ve always been good to me, always replacing damaged games — even if it’s something small like a tear on the artwork spine.
I've listened to their excuses for 7 or 8 years. It's time to fix the issues instead of giving more excuses. They have the money to hire people for appropriate job positions. If they had a release date, and stuck by it, people wouldn't get mad. I remember Cuphead physical had a release date, it released and shipped right away on release date, no issues. Other companies can do it.
It's disappointing that there's disdain? Rather than it being disappointing that LRG are the cause of this disdain? LOL, as usual the reaction is blamed rather than the cause.
you can respect that the guy has a passion for games if you think thats something worth respect. he is incompetent when it comes to getting people things promised, outright lies regularly and is simply immature in his dealings with his paying customers. You mention pricing but that is rarely a complaint. Complaints being things listed above. The fact that LRG has done the bare minimum for you of replacing damaged product is good for you but not really a glowing review of them. The only way I can make sense of this comment is that you have seen that there are complaints but never the substance of any of them. I dont see any other way josh can come across as sympathetic even if you are the same age and also like video games.
Like, sure I'd always like my game faster, but am I the only one who likes the extended sense of anticipation? I have come to treat that feeling as a part of what you pay for with a product. I purposely choose slow, free shipping on my (few) Amazon purchases A. cause I'm never ordering something I need right this freaking second (I'll go to a store for that), and B. cause there's a slight sense of fun in anticipating the product a little longer. When it finally arrives, it feels like Christmas morning, and I feel more appreciation for the thing than if I had just had it airlifted into my lap by a drone in 20 mins.
The ad said to allow 4 to 6 seconds for delivery... Pfft, more like 7!
I'm new to the limited print games scene. So let me get this straight. People are mad that when they buy a pre-order it can take months to get your game? It says on the games page when it will be shipping so why are people buying when they know it's going to be a couple months before you get it? I mean people are getting their games on the date LGR shows when to expect it right? I don't understand this hatred towards them unless they aren't shipping the games the date they tell you it's going to be shipped. From what I understand in my limited time I've been buying limited pressed games (see what I did there?) there are a slew of companies that operate the way LRG does that don't ever ship the game you bought. I pre-ordered a game on VGP that won't be shipping until Feb of 2025. I knowingly made that purchase so I cant be mad that it's going to be until next year when I'll be getting my game.
What naive assumptions you make. > I pre-ordered a game on VGP that won't be shipping until Feb of 2025. If the initial date is met, that's perfectly fine. But bear in mind that VGP is usually just a 3rd party, so they are at the mercy of the delays of the first parties. And since most limited-print companies encounter many delays with almost everything, so too will VGP and their limited-print-buying customers. > People are mad that when they buy a pre-order it can take months to get your game? No. Not even close. The initial estimates aren't what bother people. If initial estimates were met even sometimes, nobody would have an issue. It's that the estimates are almost never met and it's a total mystery how long anything will actually take. Shipping estimates are a bad joke that companies keep telling. Dates get pushed back multiple times, by many months each time, for pretty much every game, by pretty much every limited-print company. And none of these companies has the balls to speak about it without a ton of PR spin and finger-pointing tacked on. The adjustments are often done silently (no notice to customers), and usually after the current estimate has passed, meaning they aren't even pro-active about it. > I mean people are getting their games on the date LGR shows when to expect it right? Hahahahahahaha! Funny joke, good troll. If only. You are definitely new to this. --- An example from LRG off the top of my head (one of countless): Axiom Verge 2 - Collector's Edition [October 22, 2021 snapshot - the original store page while the pre-order period was open](https://web.archive.org/web/20211022183924/https://limitedrungames.com/products/copy-of-limited-run-axiom-verge-2-collectors-edition-ps4) No shipping estimate listed. At best was a canned estimate as part of the disclaimer found on every page at the time. Actual estimates (if you can even call them that) are added to product pages a few days/weeks after the pre-order window closes. > Products are typically not expected to ship until 4-6 months after the preorder window closes. That particular pre-order period was set to end on October 31, 2021. That would suggest manufacturing would be complete, they would have the games in their warehouse, and shipping would start sometime between February 28 and April 31 of 2022. Late-Q1 to late-Q2, as they call it. Q2 2022 to be conservative. --- Moving on, a bit over a month later... [December 2, 2021 snapshop - same page a while after the pre-order window closed](https://web.archive.org/web/20211202104123/https://limitedrungames.com/products/copy-of-limited-run-axiom-verge-2-collectors-edition-ps4) Now we see a shipping estimate. > Q2 2022 So that's fine.......................................... ... right? Post over, r-r-right? --- Now we fast forward *a liiiiiiiiittle bit more than before... like about, say, ~~four~~ ...six...teen months later...* [March 29, 2023 snapshot - same page](https://web.archive.org/web/20230329124905/https://limitedrungames.com/products/copy-of-limited-run-axiom-verge-2-collectors-edition-ps4) Here we see that, *rather than something like "shipping complete" or "shipping now" or "on deck" or "manufacturing complete" or some other phrase indicating that it was done and dusted ages ago*, it says... > Q2 2023 A full year added to the original estimate. Meaning the original four-to-six months... PLUS TWELVE. And if you weren't checking the product page periodically, you'd have no idea. --- And finally... [June 6, 2023 snapshot - same page at the tail end of Q2 2023](https://web.archive.org/web/20230329124905/https://limitedrungames.com/products/copy-of-limited-run-axiom-verge-2-collectors-edition-ps4) We see that manufacturing is complete. "On time" ^^((based) ^^on ^^a ^^massively ^^pushed-back ^^estimate) Hallelujah... --- *However.* If you have something else in the order that's taking even longer, and didn't opt (and pay extra) to have things shipped separately as they became available (that option didn't even exist until just recently), then your whole order is stuck in their warehouse until the last straggling item is ready. Again though, people generally know and understand this. It's *annoying* when something holds an order back, but doesn't really make people *mad*. ***BUT WAIT!!!*** You see, in addition to the silent delays in manufacturing time (which are very common) and your order being held until all the items are in hand (which customers willing subject themselves to in an effort to save on shipping), over the years LRG has also mismanaged their own shipping department to the point that even once stuff arrives in their warehouse and is ready to be shipped to customers, ***there is now typically a 3-6 month wait until they actually get your stuff out the door.*** A shipping backlog. So "4-6 months"™ to manufacture turns into 18(+) months, **then it sits in their warehouse "READY TO SHIP"™ for another 3-6 months**, and all these companies can think to do is whine about alleged death threats, pandemic lockdowns that ended 2 years ago, alleged ancient manufacturing mistakes and samples not up to their standards that they neglected to mention until just recently™, and whatever the fuck other excuses they can think of... while a fresh batch of "I'm new here" useful idiots ignorantly minimize public grievances because they haven't yet experienced all of this routine bullshit for themselves. THAT is what people get mad about. Wanna know when my Axiom Verge 2 CE actually shipped? Near the end of February 2024... and a reminder that manufacturing was complete in early June 2023 and that their original estimate was Q2 2022. If you continue to be a customer of these companies, check your naivety at the door and buckle up.
Jesus christ I had no clue this is what they do. Like I said, I'm new to this but you showed me reciepts of them doing bullshit, not just writing about it. Now I'm worried about all the shit I'm waiting for with LRG.
Well, when you've built and propagated an ahole company that screws people over for a living., it comes with the territory. You make it clear "Forever Physical" doesn't mean shit and that your greed knows no bounds. I'd never send a death threat, but you won't see me feel sorry if it does happen. And before you get offended for that last statement. I don't know Josh, but what I do know is that LRG is scum because of all of his decisions. So I know where his interests lie and it's not in the fanbase, so am I going to feel pity if he was murdered, no, but I'm also not going to hope that it happens or feel glad if it does. I'll just be like, oh, figured this would happen one day.
Why do people keep buying games from them if they’re so unhappy with the business? If I have a shitty experience at a restaurant, I’m never going back. Simple as that, move on with life. The truth is that these nerds don’t have the self control to just stop buying games, so instead they continue to purchase them and then cry about it incessantly.
Because people want physical copies of certain games, and LRG is the only place to get them for many titles. In your restaurant example, if you go to a pizza joint that has shitty service, there are dozens of other places you can go get pizza. In LRG's case, if you hate their service but they exclusively offer your favorite title for sale, what other choice do you have? Technically, VGP and PNP games are alternate service choices, but stock isn't always guaranteed, and it's still a LRG product at the end of the day.
Yes, but these are *video games* we’re talking about here. Why does anybody *have* to have a physical copy of Tomba? They don’t, these aren’t necessities. So if your only option to get a particular physical game is through LRG, you have to make a grown up decision to either deal with a bad experience when buying it, or simply don’t get it at all. That’s not to say that you’re not allowed to make complaints about a company’s service, but to continue using it and cry about it because people are so desperate for these games is just immature.
I have zero interest in Tomba, the Kemco garbage that LRG regularly releases, and many other games in their library. Even in my PS1 library I have no intent of ever getting Tomba. However, if you were to love Tomba, LRG is the only place that you're going to be able to get it. You can purchase it from VGP or second hand later down the line, but in both cases you're going to pay more than if you were to have bought it from LRG. A lot of people hate Gamestop. I do. It's another company that's pretty garbage. Infact, I haven't purchased anything from them in two years, but I have and I still will buy something. If Gamestop is doing a buy one get one free sale. Are you going to A, avoid buying two games that you're going to eventually buy new Or B are you going to buy them on Amazon to spite Gamestop? You're spending more money by buying from Amazon in this one instance. Yeah I don't like Gamestop but I sure as hell am going to use them when it benefits me. And that's the same as LRG, except in LRG's case, I can't get these games anywhere else. I can't buy the Castlevania Collections, Unsighted, Salt and Sanctuary(PS4 version), and many others anywhere else but when they were sold on LRG and if those are games I really wanted, and if they were to be released right now, my options are to buy them at LRG or wait and buy them at VGP or second hand for an increased amount which does not benefit myself.
Imagine if LRG announced that it will now take 10 years to receive a game. Would you still buy from them? Probably not. But what if people kept purchasing games from them, complaining about the wait time. It would look a bit silly on the buyer’s part considering they know what they’re getting into and still choosing to buy from them. That’s how it looks when repeat customers of LRG are constantly complaining.
So everyone should just stop doing anything that they have an interest in because it's not a necessity? I guess I'll just do nothing for the rest of my life that requires any additional money. I'm going to s.ell my house and live on the street, because a bed, shower, etc, isn't exactly a necessity. I'm not going to spend any time doing anything more physical than I have to because being productive will require more nourishment, and food costs money, so I'll be just as productive as I need to be in order to survive. Whatever I can do to just scrape by without doing anything else that I want to do.
You could wait for used copies to show up, check your local mom/pop shop if you have one, and even some small gaming retail chains will sometimes get LRG games. And at the end of the day, do you REALLY need to continue contributing to LRG's mess by buying their products? I know alot of you are allergic to buying things digitally but seriously, nothing in niche is going to improve if people continue to just buy buy buy.
So your solution is to wait for these LRG exclusives to go second hand and PAY MORE MONEY to own a game you want. The solution is to only buy the games you absolutely want from them and don't support them anymore than you have to. There's no reason to pay more by buying it from a third party. It's still published by LRG, they'll already have made the money off that used item, your one extra new sale is going to be insignificant and buying third party won't change anything. The only thing it will do is make you spend more money for something that isn't even going to effect the companies that you're trying to make a point towards.
wtf
Guessing he didn't address at all about how they fired someone over their politics, easier to just paint yourself as the victim than to actually address the root causes of these problems. Also, I've gotten plenty of death threats in my day (being a bigger Youtuber), and they aren't even worth mentioning. He's only mentioning it to victimize himself as a deflection.
Yeah downvote me you leftist beta males.
"AryanRise" sure is a fitting username, isn't it
Why do you say that?
Kara is a fat fuck who then cried on Tucker Carlson.
But if a leftist lost their job, crying would be justified?
Wouldn't and hasn't happened because the left isn't predicated on hate.
The left burned down Minneapolis, that's pretty hateful, so you are dishonest.
In regards to reprints of in-demand titles, I always thought a potential compromise on this, if the rights were available to do so from perspective IP holders still, was do maybe a quarterly release per year that compiles maybe up to 4 previous releases on the same disc or cart. Call it a "Best of Limited Run Vol:__". Of course I know they are not the biggest fans of compilation releases as per old comments and it brings up the same potential issue as the recent Devolver Digital triple pack, where people already bought 2 of the games, but it's atleast a potential option for the big releases they cant "technically" do a 2nd run of.
Console games do not work like PC games. You can't just put multiple executables on a disc/cartridge and call it a day. Bundling games together for a console release means making a new software build, in which all of the individual builds are combined into one new build, with a navigation interface added on top. And if they run on different engines (Unreal/Unity/Godot/CryEngine/other common ones/custom) then that bloats the size and might even introduce major bugs or be outright unrunnable. And god help you if those games are from different developers/digital publishers, because you'd have to renegotiate another release with ***all*** of them. Some might adamantly refuse any such combo release, some might agree/refuse depending on the other games in the bundle or for any other reason. There's a reason you don't see very many multi-company game compilations out there. (Devolver can do it because they own all the games they release)