Limited Run Games shipped CD-Rs to customers

[Reprise]

Yeah, that's another thing I don't get is the obsession with special editions that some people have. You're paying more money for a bunch of junk you'll never use

The rise in "collector's editions" since the days of the PS4/XB1 (or was it the generation before?) will never not confuse me, because of this very reason.

They're so expensive for what they are and it feels like they exist purely to appeal to collectors who intend to hold onto them as some kind of investment to flip later. They're just full of junk.

A nice limited edition case or steelbook with alternative artwork I can understand the appeal of more, but not really those massive oversized boxes that just have a standard copy of a game and then a bunch of cheap, poorly manufactured crap I don't really get.

I also hate it because it makes it annoying trying to research what some of the rarest games are (that had proper retail releases) and all you can find is "collector's editions" of cheap common games and a bunch of LRG/Special Reserve Games/Super Rare Games stuff.

[ElkinFencer10]

I can understand collector's editions if it has a decent quality figure (like, even inexpensive ones are fine if they look nice, like what Popup Parade does), a good artbook, or a CD soundtrack. This new trend of collector's editions that don't even come with the damn game, though? That's what blows my mind.

[marurun]

Why do people buy sports bobbleheads? It’s a show of fandom or support for shit you like. Those collector’s editions are how you say, “I’m a huge fan, brah!”

[Ack]

It's also a way to make money, since execs think people will pay the price regardless.

A similar thing happened in the '90s with comic books after a few issues were sold between collectors for big money. Suddenly, people saw them as an investment. And companies publishing them saw buyers swooping in, so they started releasing special events, alternate cover art, so on and so forth. The end result felt like a deluge of stuff, the investor types largely wandered away, but the mentality hadn't changed from the publishers.

Since we see articles and news stories on "video games are worth MONEY", we have investors, and we have companies trying to make money off that. It feels trashy, but when did a company say no to someone wanting to spend money?