The digital-only future is reliant on a platform holder to keep their services open. When something like WiiWare shuts down, a whole score of lesser known titles become inaccessible overnight. That’s what has inspired operations like Limited Run Games, which does the work to create physical versions of digital releases for the niche audience who want to preserve them. That niche audience has a better opportunity to grow today with the news that Best Buy will partner with the company to distribute select games from their catalog.
According to messaging sent by the company, Best Buy reached out during the initial pre-order campaign for Yooka-Laylee. While PS4 and PlayStation Vita releases stick to a small print run of several thousand copies, Switch games go up via a general pre-order. Best Buy placed their orders during the pre-order period. This means that the copies they’ll have in stores will be from the same initial run. In an email distributed on their mailing list, the company stated that Best Buy ordered just 5,000 copies of one of the titles. Limited Run Games famously operates under a policy of “no reprints” in order to keep up the collectibility of its releases.
Yooka Laylee, Golf Story, and an unannounced game. Golf Story and Yooka should be in store by end of November. Unannounced game is likely late December
— Josh Fairhurst (@LimitedRunJosh) October 19, 2018
Best Buy will initially sell three games thanks to the Limited Run partnership. These include Yooka-Laylee and Golf Story in November and an unannounced third game in December. The Best Buy copies will carry a different cover art than the ones sold through Limited Run’s website. Despite the protest of some, both copies will still carry the company’s collector’s number. Each release can be considered part of a set. Many Limited Run customers purchase every release in order to have a complete collection.
Company founder Josh Fairhurst spoke via Twitter that announcements for future Best Buy titles will be up front. He also reassured his vocal fans that the company remains dedicated to collectors first and foremost.
