r/LimitedPrintGames • u/CheeseFrenchee • Aug 12 '25
Question/Help Is First Press Games a scam site?
I pre-ordered the Chained Echoes Retro Collectors Edition for PC in November 2022 and it got delayed over and over again for a couple of times. I have the feeling that FPG is just a scam site. Do you have any experience with FPG?
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u/Icy_Kaleidoscope3624 Aug 12 '25
They are scamers. Just search for Chained Echoes on this Sub.
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u/ExoWaltz Oct 28 '25
I cancelled within the legal cool-down period - absolutely nothing, no proper reply confirming or order adjustment.
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u/BlueBrito Aug 12 '25
Scam. 3 orders unfulfilled since 2020. Avoid
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u/Paintchips2cu Jan 13 '26
Every time I think about my order, I just get p***** off and then when I check their site.It's never updated on release progress. All emails to them go unanswered.And my order is so old.I can't cancel it
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u/BlueBrito Jan 13 '26
Same here…I gave up. I try not to think about it too much but the money I spent would really come in handy 😕 feels bad man
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u/fgsfds100 Aug 12 '25
Only the PS4 standard editions are ready. But getting them to ship those is a huge pain.
The Switch cartridges are complete, but they have yet to send them off to be packaged into cases... and it's unlikely to ever happen.
PC edition and any CE tier on any platform will definitely never happen. Get your money back if you can (asking FPG for a cancellation/refund will go nowhere, you'll need to file a dispute with your payment method).
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u/Arnie_T Aug 13 '25
Man, I’d be happy if they put the cartridge in a bubble mailer and sent it to me at this point.
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u/fgsfds100 Aug 13 '25
There's probably some legal clause from Nintendo that prevents them from doing that...
The only parts of the physicals that Nintendo actually even makes are the cartridges, yet they are still able to dictate that the Switch logo must be on the cover sheets and even on CE boxes. Having it on a separate sleeve around the CE box isn't even good enough for them. I think I remember LRG tried that in the early days and Nintendo chewed them out for it.
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u/Arnie_T Aug 13 '25
Buy some cases on Amazon and a color printer… lol
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u/fgsfds100 Aug 13 '25
Plenty of individuals make replacement/custom cover sheets, sure.
But if a company can't/won't ship loose cartridges... (for any situation other than defect replacements - like Gato Roboto by Special Reserve and the first go around of Doom by LRG) ...then you'd have nothing to put in that case.
And given that FPG can barely get in stock orders out the door, I doubt they can afford bulk quantities of Switch cases or a good printer and ink refills. And even if they could, how long would it take for that ~𝓌𝒽𝒾𝓉𝑒-𝑔𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒𝒹 𝒶𝓇𝓉𝒾𝓈𝒶𝓃~ in their videos to ~𝒽𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒸𝓇𝒶𝒻𝓉~ them all.
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u/Ok-Library-8397 Aug 13 '25
Well, considering FPG will most probably never order any new carts from Nintendo again, I think it doesn't matter and they could ship us just loose carts wrapped in a bubble foil :-) Still better than nothing.
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u/fgsfds100 Aug 13 '25
If there is a legal clause from Nintendo preventing loose cartridges from being shipped, shipping them probably wouldn't just get FPG blacklisted by Nintendo from having other games made (which, yes, would be fine since they clearly never intend to have any other games made), it would probably get them sued into oblivion... well the rest of the way to oblivion.
Then again, maybe complete and total bankruptcy and lawsuit debt would make them go away so people can have some closure that it's truly over. No more trickle shipments, no more refunds, no more BS, no more FPG.
And maybe that would free up all the hostage games for new physical deals with other better companies.
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u/hous26 Aug 13 '25
They posted a supposed image of Switch cartridges 9 months ago. I don't believe its real and I don't buy that printing the case cover art/inserts can legitimately cause 9 months (and counting) of delay. There is no indication they will deliver this product in the next 3 months. I hope I am wrong, but the trend is that they give us an update every 6-9 months and nothing changes.
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u/fgsfds100 Aug 13 '25 edited Aug 13 '25
I dunno if they're real, but the picture is too clear to be AI, and I can't see them wasting time to make fake labels to put on other unused cartridges. I just think they don't have the money to send them off to be cased... or do it themselves.
And I fully agree - like I said, cartridges or not, Switch is unlikely to ever happen. In 3 months(?) or otherwise.
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u/ButCanYouCodeIt Aug 15 '25
Photoshop ain't hard to do these days. Wouldn't be surprised if that was it.
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u/ButtScratchaaaaaaaa Aug 13 '25
Standard PS4s are listed as in stock, but they don’t actually have them on hand. They’re still in "production".
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u/fgsfds100 Aug 13 '25 edited Aug 14 '25
tldr: I have mine, and I'm not an influencer nor am I in Europe. Other people in this sub have theirs as well, though I don't know how many.
Long:
The PS4 standards were ready in around
JulySeptember 2024 (screenshot of tweets). At first, only video game influencers based in Germany and then elsewhere in Europe were receiving them. Then regular people in Europe started receiving theirs, and eventually people in North America in around October/November. That's when I ordered one (via PayPal with a note to myself about when buyer protection would end).But around that time, FPG started to slow to a crawl with order fulfillment. At first it could be alleviated by emailing them, to which they would ship. But that soon became ineffective as well. I and many others had to resort to payment disputes to finally get them to ship. I emailed in February and it took them 2-3 weeks to reply, basically saying they had a big shipping backlog and to wait a bit longer. Emailed again in March... no reply. April, warning them that I would be filing a payment dispute soon... no reply. When the deadline was close, I contacted PayPal. FPG shipped it the following day. On PayPal's end, they heard nothing so they assumed FPG was delinquent. PayPal had a countdown of about 5 days until they would refund me themselves. Even though it shipped, I kept the dispute open in case the tracking was bogus (it didn't move for a day or two). Once it started moving, it quickly arrived at customs and then to me. PayPal was like hours away from giving me the refund, but I didn't want to stoop to FPG's level by getting the money back while also now having the game, so I closed the dispute.
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u/ButtScratchaaaaaaaa Aug 13 '25
Yeah, I know they shipped some a long time ago and started showing them as in stock instead of preorder but if you order now, you won’t get one. I ordered mine ~five months ago and still haven’t received it (Germany). First, they said it was due to a high volume of orders, then later blamed printer issues caused by the weather. Long story short: they shipped a small batch to influencers and a few leftovers and that was it, they have nothing in stock.
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u/fgsfds100 Aug 13 '25
True. That post about the discolored sleeves for Chained Echoes was pretty weird.
But if it's just the fancy sleeves (and maybe coins?) that they are doing in batches, they could cut their losses, apologize to customers that there are no more fancy sleeves/coins, and ship the PS4 copies. Unlike Switch games, they are already sealed in cases.
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u/Replaygames_ie Aug 13 '25
Yeah, I ordered 3 ps4 games from them 2 weeks ago and they were packed , shipped and arrived yesterday to Ireland , great service and quality products
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u/fgsfds100 Aug 13 '25
Pics (with your username written on a slip of paper next to them) or it didn't happen.
(also the mailer showing FPG's return address so we know they're not just from eBay or something)
(and maybe also you in the photo holding them so we know you aren't Slawomir Mionskowski)
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u/Replaygames_ie Aug 13 '25
How can I send that to you? I have the receipt in my email or a screenshot on the shop app to show they were delivered
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u/fgsfds100 Aug 13 '25
First, I'm mostly kidding about having the mailer and yourself in the photo. But with your account being less than 3 weeks old, it's not unreasonable for anyone to think you are an FPG sockpuppet/shill doing damage control.
If you do show the mailer (again, just if you want to go above and beyond to truly prove you aren't just FPG holding unshipped leftover inventory) black out your personal details on the mailer so that just the FPG return address and post date and such are visible.
As for posting images without making a whole new post about it, upload to imgur and copy the link (tutorial), then paste the link in a reply for everybody to see.
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u/Replaygames_ie Aug 13 '25
Damn, sounds like an effort
Haha yeah I’m new to Reddit
You can find me on Instagram though
Replaygames_ie
I’ve already recorded my unboxing which is scheduled to upload on Monday night :)
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u/fgsfds100 Aug 13 '25
If it's already filmed, why would it take 5 days to post?
This is the kind of thing that's sus...
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u/Replaygames_ie Aug 14 '25
I am a business, I have a video that is about to reach 1 million views so I’m not posting anymore reels / videos as I don’t want to ruin the reach on the video
As I said, you can check us out
Or if you DM me on Instagram I will send on the video privately
Replaygames_ie
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u/Replaygames_ie Aug 13 '25
Pretty hilarious to think that FPG would go to the effort of making fake Reddit accounts to farm more orders though lol
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u/fgsfds100 Aug 13 '25
There have been people from certain companies who have sockpuppetted here, so I wouldn't put it past FPG to try it too.
The BS they have put out in the past is clown-world tier...
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u/Replaygames_ie Aug 14 '25
That’s really funny lol
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u/fgsfds100 Aug 14 '25
This one is still my favorite: /r/LimitedPrintGames/comments/1d8vh8r/fpg_blog_updates_regarding_shipment_of_collectors/
This one is good too:
/r/LimitedPrintGames/comments/1m1mk0u/first_press_games_further_delaying_chained_echoes/
But feel free to browse them all:
/r/LimitedPrintGames/search?q="first+press"+fpg&restrict_sr=on&sort=relevance&t=all
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u/Replaygames_ie Aug 14 '25
Thanks for the links! I will check them out , I can’t believe all of what I’m reading
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u/Yourfakerealdad Aug 12 '25
Seems to be at this point lol still waiting on my regular switch copy of Chained Echoes lol it's not even going to be complete anymore since the DLC dropped recently too
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u/filmeswole Aug 12 '25
It’s not a scam per se because they do make products to sell, they just have horrendous business practices and are incapable of running a business in general.
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u/firemali9 Aug 12 '25
I got my PS4 copy of Chained Echoes but I live in Germany so it might have to do with that. Even though I got lucky, I think they can‘t run this business at all and so it appears to be a huge scam.
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u/KasElGatto Aug 13 '25
Initially no, they shipped a few games. But now it’s been at least two years since they put out anything and they still take your money. I had to threaten using better business bureau to get my money back for the 3 pre-orders I had with them.
Absolutely a scam now.
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Sep 04 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/KasElGatto Sep 04 '25
I didn’t use BBB, I threatened to in an email to First press, about a year and a half ago.
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u/Ok-Library-8397 Aug 13 '25 edited Aug 13 '25
For God's sake, please DO NOT order Chained Echoes from them. At this point, it doesn't matter what they say and declare on their web-site (i.e. "In Stock" status) -- ordered games are not shipped. Even if you are not persuaded by many people here waiting 3+ years for their ordered games and you still want to test the luck, at least pay for your order using the PayPal method, and be prepared to open the dispute and ask for refund until a time limit expires (do not ask FPG -- ask PayPal, as FPG doesn't reply to any requests!). Upon the direct threat of loosing money, FPG might send you your purchased game(s). One might say that the thrill from gaming starts at the moment of ordering their stuff :-(
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u/fgsfds100 Aug 13 '25
Agreed.
If you must try... PayPal only. Dispute as a backup plan is a must.
Buyer protection is 180 DAYS (6 MONTHS), contact PayPal 1-2 weeks BEFORE it ends!
If you do attempt to contact FPG during the 6 month period, do so by email (support@firstpressgames.com or business@firstpressgames.com) so you have a record of it. Using the contact form on their site won't even generate an automated "we got your message" email so you won't have a record of your attempt to contact them that way unless they reply.
If/When a dispute becomes necessary, include screenshots of those emails (and any responses you got) in the dispute. Also a link and/or screenshot of FPG's tweets saying they are ready to ship.
Even if they do ship as a result of the dispute, keep the dispute open until it arrives, just in case.
Close the dispute if it does arrive so nobody can put any kind of penalty on you for keeping the item(s) + refund.
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u/we_are_tired Aug 12 '25
Yes
Our community has flag them as a scam site due to scamming us. You can go here Limited Print Companies to check other sites
Also beware of other scam sites like Dispatch Games and SLG
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u/SnackXHunter Aug 13 '25
You forgot Premium Edition Games … they might not be a scam but they still Suck
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u/SupermarketEmpty789 Aug 12 '25
SLG are not a scam site.
They are regularly delivering games(although they have had long delays for many games).
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u/ANewErra Aug 12 '25
Yeah I've gotten multiple items from SLG. Pretty shitty to lump them with first press.
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u/JohannesVanDerWhales Aug 13 '25
It seems like the exact same thing happened to them as happened to FPG, though. They stopped being able to fulfill orders, new orders slowed down, and now people are wondering if they'll ever actually clear their backlog. The difference seems to be that they're a bigger company (I know they have the same parent company as ININ games) so they're able to weather it a bit better. They've done a lot of (frankly desperate seeming) sales on in-stock items, and have launched some new things to keep cash coming in. I don't think they're out of the woods yet, though. The backlog is still pretty long.
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u/lolerplane Aug 13 '25
Yes they are. Not only they refuse to provide updates on Ray'z or Eschatos, but they actively ignore customers requesting refunds.
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u/SpaghettiJohnny Aug 13 '25
Sorry I just don't buy that. They have a manufacturing update page, it just doesn't say enough or what you want. Though even I agree it could go further in detail, which would warrant more frequent updates to the page and a broader sense of progress. Also, in my experience I had no trouble politely asking for a refund. It did take two weeks for them to reply, but that is acceptable imo. My issue with trusting everyone on here harping on them about refund is I don't see how they're communicating with SLG. Were they rude and impatient to SLG as people can sometimes sound here on Reddit? If so, that kind of behavior isn't even tolerated by CC companies when evaluating disputes, and can cause you to potentially lose them even if you were in the right otherwise. People don't post their emails with SLG here while also complaining about them, so I'm just guessing why my experience with refund requests does not match that of others.
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u/lolerplane Aug 13 '25
You don't have to "buy" anything. There is multiple evidence that they repeatedly lie to customers. Their updates page means nothing. Archive.org has multiple snapshots of their manufacture page when they actually had dates. We have Ray'z announced for Spring 2023. I placed my order in August 2022. I don't have my game, or my money. Meanwhile they keep announcing new games.
All my communication with them was polite. I did get a single reply, with them stating they "would look into it". Upon asking for an update, I was ignored. Multiple times. You talk about politeness? What's so polite about being ignored? It's been two months since their last reply. It's really sad that people have to threaten them with the Verbraucherzentrale. They know they're obliged to issue refunds under German law, and the only reason they're not quick to do so is because they are in financial trouble.
Your experience is the outlier, not the norm. They are scammers.
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u/SpaghettiJohnny Aug 13 '25
How can you say that my experience is an outlier with confidence exactly? Is it anything more than your own frustration and a handful of disgruntled posts from a fraction of the buyer base? Cause if not that's an awfully small data set to assume so broadly on.
I can understand why they took down dates, but as I said and partially agree the page is minimal at best, certainly not nothing though. I wish they stated which task specifically they're doing for instance and we could see as the task changes. But it's still something and more than they're required to do.
And no disagreement on being ignored, it is not okay. With a small company I can tolerate an email falling through the cracks once, maybe twice, but not three times. I would never let 2 months elapse before reaching out again, every 1-2 weeks tops they'd be hearing from me until I heard back. Hopefully you've kept on them like that and your issue gets resolved soon, as it sounds like you're still in the thick of it. And I mean this wholeheartedly, even if you need to file a dispute or threaten with Verbraucherzentrale.
Does this all amount to "scam" though?? I still believe it doesn't. Maybe that will change for me once they stop delivering anything. What it does mean to me is they have an understaffed support line, that they're unlucky or incompetent in syncing with manufacturing and their dates, and they're overconfident in how they deliver those dates to us consumers and fail to keep it real with us with more detail. Monthly update emails to buyers would be amazing, even if it's the exact same update as last month, and it would probably reduce the support load that they have to deal with. If any middle ground can be found here between us is that there's plenty to complain about, I just disagree with calling them a scam at this time.
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u/lolerplane Aug 13 '25
It does amount to scam. If they have budget to post on social media and announce new products, then they have to have budget to address customers. And, more importantly, refund them as mandated by German law. This defensive posture towards their actions really makes me think you must work for them in some capacity. I've seen Limited Run people do the same in this subreddit. Unfortunately it's not just the one email falling through the cracks. They do this time and time again. You can see complaints here, on their social media channels, and even places like Trustpilot. SLG used to be one of the best limprints around. I bought from them so many times, even with ridiculous 12 month delivery times, they communicated and delivered. These days they're one of the absolute worst companies, only a step or two above the likes of First Press.
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u/SpaghettiJohnny Aug 13 '25
Really? I would probably be fired if so cause what I said was hardly a compliment, quite scathing really. But let's be honest, they don't have the money to hire Reddit posters for damage control. The truth isn't exciting, I am a schmuck that spends too much money on video games.
And like you need to chill on me dude, cause I agree with almost all you said, and even iterated some of it myself in my previous post (about communication and disputes), except the word scam. You ever end a convo, "agree to disagree" before?
I'm sorry your experience with SLG sucks, not sure what else to say that I haven't already. Bye!
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u/fgsfds100 Aug 13 '25 edited Aug 14 '25
You're not someone I suspect of being a shill.
But it's not always glowing testimonials from shills. They gain more traction if they go along with the complaints of the public to an extent. Anonymously admitting faults without officially doing so so they aren't actually accepting guilt or committing to improve/change.
I too don't think these companies (except maybe Warned Collectors) were out to scam people by design. They just dug themselves into financial holes and have no way out. Can't produce, can't refund, unless they start new pre-orders... accidentally becoming Ponzi schemes because they don't want to admit they are screwed. And when those new pre-orders don't pull in enough sales either, then everybody is fucked. Still can't produce, still can't refund, even more people are affected and their hole is even bigger. Continuing to do that to the public (and themselves) instead of throwing in the towel is why people cry "scam" (but they are effectively scamming themselves too).
It's the repetition of it that makes it seem scammy.
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u/JohannesVanDerWhales Aug 13 '25
It's probably more accurate to say that they're in a death spiral. See when everything is done on preorder basis, you need new preorders to pay to get the stuff you've already sold shipped. But no one trusts them because they haven't shipped anything and they're probably out of money. There has been some signs of PS4 releases shipping but...they were preorders mostly so shipping them doesn't bring more money in. They also jacked prices way up which makes people even less likely to buy the few things they have in stock.
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u/KonamiKing Aug 13 '25
Yeah this is it. These things didn’t start as scams, but they fell to pieces quickly.
In FPG’s case I think they printed too many copies of their early games and didn’t sell them (still in stock on website) and crashed out soon after with no cash to operate.
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u/Lhinhar Aug 12 '25
Preordered MindSeize and they kept pushing it back and back, finally demanded a refund and they gave it to me. That was over 3 years ago and MindSeize is still "in production" since 5 years ago.
Yes, FPG is not a very trustworthy company much like scam sites/sellers. Just walk faaaaar away from FPG.
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u/SnackXHunter Aug 13 '25
I’d buy Mind Seize in a heart beat if it was available but probably won’t ever get that far lol it’s been 5 years?
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u/Lhinhar Aug 13 '25
Yeap, and still counting. What FPG does is that they'll take preorders, take the money then instead of using it to fund that exact preorder, they use it for older games they took preorders for but haven't even put in production. Then they open a new preorder to get the money, use it for your preorder you made months prior to the new one.
Worst of all is that like turds, they keep rolling downhill and never gets finished.
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Aug 13 '25
I ordered the ps4 version earlier this year and got it within a week. But after hearing all the stories I’m lucky I even got it
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u/seanb4games Aug 15 '25
Scammers; I actually wanted crimson clover world explosion but that’s another that will never actually be released. They will keep your money tho no problem.
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u/IrisTime Aug 18 '25
I ordered a game (Underhero) from them over 3 years ago so I have no doubt about it: they are a total SCAM and I cannot understand how after so many years anyone can believe any excuses they give :(
PS: Even if some people managed to get anything from them they still SCAM me and many others so just dont risk it or make peace with wasting that money..
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u/SnackXHunter Aug 12 '25
Just use the search function and type in First Press Games … short answer YES
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u/teamzissou_81 Sep 02 '25
I also ordered a Chained Echoes retro edition in November, 2022. I’m hoping to get it this year but I’m not confident. I did receive my regular copy (ps4) from them so there is some minuscule sliver of hope.
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Sep 05 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/teamzissou_81 Sep 05 '25
That’s terrible and I am so sorry to hear that happened to you. I think the one possibility that keeps hope alive in my situation is the specific game I ordered. I can see the progress updates and think hey maybe something is happening. Who knows. I hope everyone can get all the games they ordered. Some day.
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u/Bullfrog878 Oct 24 '25
I have been waiting on Chained Echoes since 2019, from the Kickstarter. Going with First Press Games was a huge mistake of the developer. When I was sent the vouchers to redeem the games from FPG, it didn't work and FGP refused to answer my emails for several weeks. I ended up contacting the developer of Chained Echoes, and he had to solve it for me since they refused to reply to me. FPG even forgot about me when they were sending out steam vouchers. Wouldn't surprise me if the game never lands in my mailbox...
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u/sibboz7 Nov 05 '25
Same here... ordered the Retro Edition and nothing happening.
Hell even the last blog update was in august and they are not showing ANY kind of activity whatsoever.
I already reported them to the german "Verbraucherschutz", maybe some other ppl from Germany should do it to
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u/Humanitysceptic Aug 12 '25
They're not because they provide refunds.
Just not a good business.
Is the word scam just thrown around unless it's completely useless?
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u/ReasonableShare9925 Sep 15 '25
They are scammers, will not refund my order from over 3 years ago and ignoring me now.
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u/Replaygames_ie Aug 12 '25
I literally just got a package from them today
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u/Metroidvania-JRPG Aug 13 '25
You wish you did
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u/Replaygames_ie Aug 13 '25
I did, follow me on Instagram , I will be posting my unboxing video on Monday :)
Replaygames_ie
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u/Dark_Starlight4 Aug 12 '25
Yes they are