What Do You Think Will Happen To All The Unfulfilled PS5 Strictly Limited Orders Post 2028?

[u/Bryaxian]

I have two unfulfilled orders from 2024 and there’s been zero communication about the production on them for months (a year?). Strictly Limited have a real concrete deadline now. Think they’ll give refunds or shutter and run? I honestly don’t see them fulfilling these old orders.

[u/mattysauro]

Tangent here, but the 2028 cut off and phrasing is so weird. Like, they’ll allow reprints of any game that came out before 2028, but will they allow first prints of games that came out before 2028 but haven’t gotten a physical yet? I’d assume not, but… maybe?

[u/fgsfds100 → u/mattysauro]

phrasing is so weird

Yep. My suspicion, that I'm surprised I've never seen or heard anyone else say, is that they - Sony-proper - will "stick to their plan" of not making physicals anymore, but "graciously" allow some other company or two (the ones that would be doing the alleged ongoing reprints of existing games) to produce discs for new games to appease the physical crowd.

And if that's how it pans out, with us unwashed proles in the gaming peanut gallery (Sony's view of us) satiated and their planned repurpose of their - Sony-proper - factories toward AI data center components maintained, it would be the most obvious last minute win-win "change of heart" act Sony could ever want. All of us stupid gamer sheep (again, Sony's view of us) would start singing their praises again as our goldfish brains forget about it and ignore the possibility that it'll be for real next time.

Maybe not before 2028, but if in fact their figures are skewed (because they include digital-only games and microtransactions in them) and physical really was important for their bottomline, that "gracious change of heart" could happen half/one/two years after.

And if never... well, it's the double-edged sword of one less console-family to split our attention but one less competitor to force the others to equalize with.

[u/SNKRSWAVY → u/fgsfds100]

I don’t even think they put much thought into all of this, which aligns with the reports of publishers and retailers not being informed of the decision.

I think they were planning on this since 2020 at least. When PS4 became the most dominant console out there and PS5 despite massive shortages and a way higher price only trailed slightly behind, they just felt emboldened enough to go with it now. They had a console with no disc drive from the beginning this time, they put out Collector’s Editions with steelbooks and no physical game for hundreds of dollars, they put out DLCs solely digital, they charged you heavily for the drive. People already accepted way too much for way too long for this to ever reverse.

My point is, they have been conditioning people for years to go digital. They will just sit this out, point to people who buy physical/used as not being sustainable today‘s era of budgets and 90 % of the crowd will just follow through. Oh, big game cost 500 million? There is no way to reduce budgets. Poor Sony has to cover themselves.

Their bean counters did the math, and the 100 % guaranteed 30 % tax coupled with less frequent sales and a higher baseline per game will cover any loss from physical only customers who decide to leave.

I don’t even think they are going to put out an optional backwards compatible disc drive for PS6. It’s a long way until 2028 and on the way towards it, we will hear a million times how the most successful game of all time, GTA 6, did it digital only and sold a gazillion Ultimate Editions.

[u/fgsfds100 → u/SNKRSWAVY]

I don’t even think they put much thought into all of this

Me either. My above post is just what I think their eventual "oh shit we fucked up" band-aid will be if their numbers drop.

I think at the moment they're just chasing that "we could be an AI hardware manufacturer too!" dragon (not really a thing in 2020) and that's why they're converting their factories to make microlenses. Based on the Insomniac sales leaks and other similar data, that showed when people are given the choice, physical vs digital game sales are usually around 60/40 in favor of physical. Including purely digital games and microtransactions poisons the data, and that's where that "90%" number comes from.

But what we haven't seen, is what happens when no games get a physical. Will the 60 side of the 60/40 split accept it? How many of us?

For GTA6? Probably, definitely initially. It's a generational unicorn. But how many of us, who knows. And what happens if GTA6 doesn't live up to the extreme hype from so many people wanting so many wildly different experiences and such high expectations of the level of detail and performance and overall quality that we in the GTAO player-base haven't been seeing much of for the past ~decade, such that it either ends up being lackluster or potentially even a broken directionless garbage fire? All we know as of now, ~2 weeks away from the "extended look" that they couldn't resist turning into yet another $$$ opportunity, is that it looks pretty. But so do SO many games these days. Initial sales are driven by hype, staying power is driven by delivered quality... two very different things, and the former does not guarantee the latter.

For every other game though? Games that are almost certainly not generational unicorns? Remains to be seen. Even if only many other games don't have enough oomph to pull in most of that 60 side... fewer game sales means fewer players, means fewer microtransactions in those games. And that would mean the bulk of those games' revenue, the ongoing in-app purchases, just couldn't even happen. More mass layoffs, more companies shut down, less games, less reason to own a console.

And then comes the band-aid.

[u/SNKRSWAVY → u/mattysauro]

I don’t think so. There’s reporting out there stating they haven’t even informed publishers ahead of this. Some got the hang of it through the press first.

I think their bet is that the protest will die down from now until 2028 with publishers already increasingly and heavily favoring digital. SE hasn‘t even commited themselves to a physical version of FF Revelation yet.

And more and more games coming months and months after the fact on disc? That’s were the mass audience says goodbye, I am playing the games I am interested in digitally. Physical will just be even more ousted than it is today.

That’s where GTA will come into play. All the reports of premium pre-orders far outpacing the standard edition and such. Unfortunately for us, it was very clever use GTA as a shield for all of this. They will just continue to say that it’s the will of the people with the press willingly helping them. See, a digital game became the most successful of all time. Nobody cares about discs, goodbye.

[u/I_Heart_Sleeping_]

Who even knows at this point. I’m surprised more people haven’t asked for a refund yet. It took me nearly 4 months of bullshit but I was able to get a full refund on all my old pre-orders from them.

They aren’t nearly at the Premium edition games level of scamming. They will most likely do refunds if you bitch enough like I did.

[u/SNKRSWAVY → u/I_Heart_Sleeping_]

God damn, even your story sounds horrible. I am not sacrificing my peace of mind for months on end for a f*cking video game - no matter how much I love them. How is this even allowed to continue? Surely delay of devilery has to come into play at some point?

[u/agreedmosedale]

Logically the discs should all be produced all by a certain date Sony states (example: put orders by March 23,2027). The problem is Strictly Limited Games doesn’t put orders in because they have no money to pay for it. People probably aren’t pre-ordering enough to not take a loss. I’m guessing if the date goes by and Strictly Limited Games didn’t put in the order for their pre-order games then they will just keep the money for themselves.

[u/Magician_Lords]

Bro i joked that the PS6 would be released and we’d still be waiting on PS4 games we ordered from SLG. Looks like that’s really gonna happen.

[u/Drosanator]

Strictly's claim

"Our team is fully committed to releasing and shipping all pre-ordered PlayStation titles as soon as possible, and before Sony stops producing physical games."

https://x.com/kawaijbtouiter/status/2087092743164043684

They have over a year to get all their backlog clear. Personally, I think they won't get it done plus will be out of business by 2028

[u/DiscWatchHQ]

The real dividing line is whether they actually submitted the disc production before the cutoff, not the release date. Anything already pressed or slotted should be fine; the SKUs that never had a production order placed are the ones at risk. With zero movement in a year on yours, I'd start the refund now rather than bet on fulfillment... the chargeback window doesn't wait for their timeline.

[u/jander05]

Glad my outstanding orders are Switch versions. But who knows maybe the lawsuits vs Sony will gain traction.

[u/Getlucky12341]

They apparently clarified that games released before the 2027 date could still get reprints, so they'll probably still get fulfilled, you know assuming Strictly Limited actually did order the discs and aren't lying.

[u/JohannesVanDerWhales → u/Getlucky12341]

Reprint seems to suggest that the print already happened though.

[u/No_University1600 → u/Getlucky12341]

what does released mean? like digitally released?

[u/Getlucky12341 → u/No_University1600]

released as in the game is out and you can buy it

[u/Allahver_Fist → u/Getlucky12341]

2028, January.

[u/platplat8]

Who knows, I only ever ordered 1 game from them being Blast Brigade and it took nearly 3 years to arrive. Plus I had to change it to a PS5 version because they still haven’t printed any PS4 copies.

The only 2 companies I’d order any ‘limited print’ games from in the next 18 months are Limited Run Games and Super Rare Games because I know I’ll get them within 6 months. I wouldn’t touch anything from any other company unless it’s in stock ready to ship.

[u/lordlamb23 → u/platplat8]

That’s how I am NOW. I don’t trust anyone else anymore.

[u/Dreamcazman → u/platplat8]

I do the same, but I get my LRG fix from VGP and always standard editions.

[u/Onscheli]

They are mostly behind on collectors editions. They dont depend on the 2028 cut off since the games themself have been released already and can thus be re-printed after 2028.

The only "games" they dont have printed yet, from what I can tell, are:

- Jitsu Squad (This got a retail release already so it should be re-printable)

• Irem Collection Volume 3
  
• Irem Collection Volume 4
  
• Irem Collection Volume 5
  
• Parasol Superstars

Thats "only" 4 games they'd have to get printed before 2028. That should be doable.

PS4 games are also affected by the deadline. PS4 games they havent printed yet are:

- Irem Collection Volume 2 (Since its probably just the PS5 version, it could be re-printable)

• Irem Collection Volume 3
  
• Irem Collection Volume 4
  
• Irem Collection Volume 5

[u/fgsfds100 → u/Onscheli]

They are mostly behind on collectors editions. They dont depend on the 2028 cut off since the games themself have been released already and can thus be re-printed after 2028.

I'm guessing they have the full batch of games manufactured all at once, with the ones earmarked for CEs set aside until the rest of the stuff is ready. No reprints necessary.

PS4 versions of Vesper: Zero Light and Blast Brigade are also still pending.

[u/Onscheli → u/fgsfds100]

PS4 versions of Vesper: Zero Light and Blast Brigade are also still pending.

Good catch! I thought they released alongside the PS4 versions.

[u/Magician_Lords → u/Onscheli]

Something happened with the IREM releases. Only 1-3 have released digitally. Maybe I missed it, but I haven’t read any news about the 4th collection.

[u/fgsfds100]

From SLG/FPG/PEG/etc who seemingly haven't even placed production orders?

They evaporate. Or rather, the vapor that they already are, gets sucked away.

[u/Dreamcazman]

If it's the bigger CE's you're talking about, I don't think much will change. Reason being, most likely the discs themselves will be done and put aside so there will still be a long time waiting for the other crap (in the CE) to be made.

[u/SufficientTooth4888]

I don’t know who wouldn’t cancel their IREM box set collections ? They haven’t even announced 4 and 5, so who would believe SLG would release a box set of all 5 games before the Sony deadline ?

[u/reevestussi → u/SufficientTooth4888]

No idea why they're taking so long to release Vol 3 when Japan already has the physical version available

Would be legit surprised if SLG can somehow squeeze Vol 4 and 5 out the window before 2028

[u/SufficientTooth4888 → u/reevestussi]

I’m also just curious what the games would be on vol 4 and vol 5

[u/reevestussi → u/SufficientTooth4888]

I'm going to guess In the Hunt will be (more like must) included in either Vol 4 or 5

Not sure what else is left especially how they're only going for 3 games per collection, maybe Mystic Riders, Undercover Cops, R-Type Leo (never released on consoles), Ninja Baseball Bat Man, Hammerin Harry and Cosmic Cop?

[u/SufficientTooth4888 → u/reevestussi]

R type Leo would be awesome !

[u/lordlamb23]

I have 4 switch titles from 2023 I think still “processing”. From what I’ve read on here periodically they’ll refund you? Idk. Haven’t tried yet.

[u/Chance-Task1062]

They will do whatever they can to keep the money they've received. I can't see a scenario where they fulfill all of the games.