Limited Run Games sucks. Here’s my reason why.
If you’re not into gaming, this company and my story probably won’t mean much to you. If you are, you’ve likely heard of Limited Run Games. They’re one of if not the original of the companies that have sprung up in recent years, offering physical versions of various indie and occasionally bigger titles, often with lavish collectors editions that have lots of extra stuff. They’ve done over 1,000 releases with dozens of partners, small and large, and have become the biggest player in the space, getting acquired by Embracer Group in 2022.
They’re also a terrible company and you don’t have to look far for reasons why. This doesn’t even include the recent kerfuffle involving the firing of an employee because of controversial tweets, which I don’t know much about, nor do I care to. If you really want a deep dive into the company’s business, I recommend this excellent video:
I didn’t notice any of this before deciding to use them not once, but twice. In this post, I’m going to relay my story of this company’s scummy practices, why I will never buy from them again, and why I don’t think you should either.
My first experience with Limited Run was in 2020. When EA announced the excellent Command & Conquer Remastered Collection, a physical collector’s edition was also announced in partnership with Limited Run. I wanted to both show support for the project and as a huge C&C fan, I thought the stuff offered in the collector’s edition looked neat, so I got in on the pre-order run. Not long before it was due to ship, Limited Run told customers that the release would have to be delayed. They blamed supply chain disruptions due to COVID-19 and given that those were very much a thing at the time, I understood. They also said that we would get our Steam keys for the game in time for launch, and we did. I figured fair enough and indeed, my physical edition arrived several months later. I ended up selling it unopened on eBay for a profit because my employer looked to be on shaky ground at the time and decided the monetary cushion was more important. But in general, I was satisfied.
Fast forward to August, 2022, which is where the real fun begins. Ziggurat Interactive announced that they had acquired the rights to a SNES game called Rendering Ranger: R2 and would be doing a physical release through Limited Run. The game was developed by the director of the beloved Turrican series and is considered a technical masterclass on the SNES. Due to how late it was completed, it was only released in Japan (in English only no less) and only 10,000 copies were made. Needless to say, it’s exceptionally rare and I thought it would be cool to get a modern release of a virtually unknown gem on a real SNES cartridge. I placed my order on August 29, 2022 for $82.89USD and it was originally supposed to ship within a couple of months, which is what Limited Run always promises. They also explicitly state that all sales are final.
So I waited. And waited. And waited. I sent repeated emails to their customer service, which would sometimes not get responses for a week or more, always telling me that they were working on it and hoping to ship soon. I would press for more details and they wouldn’t provide any.
Then out of the blue, I received this email on September 28, 2023:
Over a year after I placed my order, they said the “final SNES units” — which I assume means cartridges — were on their way to them and they would ship by the end of Q4. That’s a funny way to say “by the end of the year” to me, but sure. They didn’t explain why this took so long or why it was so difficult when tiny outfits like Retrotainment Games seemed to have no problem doing it more quickly. Mid-December arrived and still no Rendering Ranger.
At the end of my patience, I submitted another support ticket telling them I wanted a concrete answer on where my game was. What I got back was this automated response:
I immediately wrote back saying that wasn’t good enough and that regardless of what their “all sales final” policy said, if I didn’t get a satisfactory answer, I’d be pursuing a chargeback. Only 2 days later instead of the typical 7–14, a representative responded and said that my order was “in the active shipping queue” and would be heading out to me shortly. Remember this from above?
Notice how the order status is still showing “In Production”? That’s what it says to this day. It never updated to indicate it was being prepared to ship. I asked about this and got no response. However, the representative did email me several more times with nebulous messages indicating that the issue was still being handled.
On January 4, 2024 — which you might notice is after Q4, 2023 — I got an email with tracking information. Now, I regularly order stuff from an eBay seller who lives not too far from where Limited Run is located in North Carolina. He sends my orders to me with USPS and typically, it takes 3–5 days. My copy of Rendering Ranger: R2 arrived on January 16, 12 days after it was shipped out. Keep in mind, shipping with Limited Run is not free. Even better, this is what the tracking information shows at time of writing.
According to their own shipping partner, it was never delivered. It also said “no estimated delivery date” the entire time it was in transit. And don’t forget, my order is still “In Production” according to their orders page. If I was a less scrupulous person, I could totally use this as proof that it never arrived and theoretically, get a free replacement I could flip.
To make things clear, the time from when I ordered this game to when I received it was 505 days. For a modern production SNES game that other, much smaller companies can turn around in a fraction of the time. Getting any useful information from the company during the wait was near impossible and no explanation or apology has been offered since. There is simply no excuse for this. None.
But you may ask, I finally did get the game so, how is it? Well, I haven’t cracked it open yet as I’m waiting to put together a proper setup to play it, but here’s what I got:
It was well packaged and arrived undamaged. The box is nicely sealed in a plastic protective shell, which has plastic wrap on top of that. Overall, a solid packing job. As for the box itself, I think the art and design are both pretty underwhelming, even compared to releases from back in the 90s. It’s not awful and the resolution is nice and sharp, but I think the front art isn’t exciting and I think the back layout is just poorly done. I obviously can’t tell you if the cartridge works yet, but I’m confident it will. Believe me, Limited Run will hear about it if not.
I’m happy to have a modern reproduction of this otherwise unobtainable SNES oddity, but my experience with Limited Run Games was awful in every aspect except the part where they took my money. It’s not the worst purchase or customer service experience I’ve had, but it’s easily in the top 10, if not the top 5. The biggest player in the space who is owned by a stumbling, but still multi-billion dollar conglomerate with so many more complicated releases to their name simply has no excuse for failing to deliver for so long and for customer service that barely qualifies as such.
I’m obviously not the first person to complain about this company and my experience is clearly not unique, but many more keep showing up to buy their releases, though I do wonder how many come back a second time. Regardless, I wanted to get my story out there to add to the chorus because the only way companies like this will learn is if people stop supporting them until they change.
I will never give a dime to Limited Run Games again and until they get their act together, I don’t think you should either.
