Potential thread worthy news for fans of both Ruiner and tangible game releases. Special Reserve Games announced today that their planned physical treatment for Reikon Games' science-fiction shooter on the PS4 will be not released thanks to the recent mandate of ESRB ratings on physical console copies. I believe this might be the first actual game cancellation due to this new requirement from the rating organization outside of the mail-order 32X cover variant planned for Limited Run Games' Night Trap: 25th Anniversary Edition.
More bits of information are available on the official website. Apparently, one release for Ruiner will still be launched within the next few weeks, likely on PC based from their past batches for Strafe and Shadow Warrior 2, along with some merchandise. Special Reserve Games further clarified that they will focus on "[producing] discs for legacy digital titles already on the market" at a more reasonable cost in regard to the ESRB requirements. These costs impacted another aforementioned distributor, Limited Run Games, who loaded down their July and August release schedule with a total of fourteen titles to bypass the sudden financial requirement for a selection of their catalog. Hoping for LRG to save the day? Doesn't look likely, I'm afraid. It appears the actually pricing for the rating fee is determined by the production cost of the game, thus making a costly hurdle that impacts small developers from making physical releases of their digital darlings.
If the ESRB are clamping down on digital-to-physical stuff in the U.S., perhaps those outside of its authority, like newcomer Strictly Limited Games (Germany) or even Eastasiasoft/Play-Asia (China), can make dreams come true?
Apologies if another thread already exists.
More bits of information are available on the official website. Apparently, one release for Ruiner will still be launched within the next few weeks, likely on PC based from their past batches for Strafe and Shadow Warrior 2, along with some merchandise. Special Reserve Games further clarified that they will focus on "[producing] discs for legacy digital titles already on the market" at a more reasonable cost in regard to the ESRB requirements. These costs impacted another aforementioned distributor, Limited Run Games, who loaded down their July and August release schedule with a total of fourteen titles to bypass the sudden financial requirement for a selection of their catalog. Hoping for LRG to save the day? Doesn't look likely, I'm afraid. It appears the actually pricing for the rating fee is determined by the production cost of the game, thus making a costly hurdle that impacts small developers from making physical releases of their digital darlings.
If the ESRB are clamping down on digital-to-physical stuff in the U.S., perhaps those outside of its authority, like newcomer Strictly Limited Games (Germany) or even Eastasiasoft/Play-Asia (China), can make dreams come true?
Apologies if another thread already exists.
