Limited Run Games apologizes for shipping 3DO games on CD-R

to update [Thu 2nd May, 2024 21:45 BST]: Limited Run Games issued us the following statement:

We’ve learned that some of our customers have encountered issues when trying to run our version D: Collector’s Edition On original 3DO hardware. First, we would like to unreservedly apologize to everyone who purchased the game and encountered an issue. At Limited Run Games, the quality of our products is paramount to us, we care deeply about our loyal community, and on this occasion we clearly fell short of the high standards we set for ourselves.

Making games for hardware that’s over 30 years old presents a variety of challenges. We partner with one of the largest disc replication providers in North America to compress our physical discs, and despite extensive research into the original 3DO hardware and software, we have found quality and reliability issues when trying to compress 3DO discs the traditional way. In an effort to provide full compatibility with the original hardware, our disc replication partner was able to successfully manufacture discs using the CD-R format, which we believed would work across all commercially available 3DO systems. This process has been professionally implemented and is used to ensure maximum compatibility rather than as a cost-cutting exercise.

We tested the discs on 3DO consoles in our office and all five discs of the game worked as expected. It was only when shipping to our customers that we realized that some users were having difficulty. We will not be selling or shipping further copies of this game, or any future 3DO titles, until the situation is resolved.

We are currently working with new partners to find a solution for traditional CDs and will offer replacement discs to all customers. We will keep customers updated as this progresses, but in the meantime, any customer who wishes can request a full refund at www.limitedrungames.com/support.

Please rest assured of that D: Collector’s Edition It is the only game affected by this issue. No more 3DO titles will be produced until this issue is fully resolved and we are confident of full compatibility.

We apologize once again to our 3DO players, and we will strive to do better.

Original story [Thu 2nd May, 2024 09:30 BST]: Boutique publisher RUNNING GAMES LIMITED He was accused of sending CD-R discs in his premium 3DO releases.

Customers who have recently received 3DO games from the company have claimed that the discs are not professionally pressed as one would expect from a premium publisher, but are actually CDs recorded on a computer – a worrying situation, given that CD-Rs generally have a lifetime. Default is much shorter than properly compressed CDs.

While the 3DO comes from a time when domestic CD burners were rare and, therefore, lacked any sort of protection against pirated discs, the console is notoriously picky when it comes to playing burned CDs.

Also, as many people have noted online, the advanced age of the optical drives inside these 30-year-old consoles means that reading a CD-R disc may be beyond them.

As you can imagine, the online reaction to this news was scathing.

“It doesn’t even work on my original JP FZ-1,” says a Twitter user. @theZackcat. “The quality of CD-Rs is so bad you can see through them.”

“I realize this is a huge pain, but, like…I can just rip the damn CD-R myself,” he adds. @LotusPrince. “If it’s all about keeping the game, maybe they should…try?”

Others pointed out that the $70 cost is not just for the disc, but for the other elements of the physical package that Limited Run puts together. “It’s not just burning a $60 CD to be fair, they make the booklets and the cases and the art prints and everything,” he points out. @shibibefore adding that “if it actually doesn’t work because of poor CD quality, that’s a problem.”

Limited Run Games has become one of the most prolific publishers of limited physical editions of modern and classic games over the past few years, releasing titles for a wide range of systems, including Switch, PS4, PS5, PC and Xbox.

So far the company has released limited edition versions of Dr ($64.99), Plumbers don’t wear ties ($69.99) and Eye of the hurricane ($114.99) on 3DO. All three were sold.

In the case of D – a cult horror adventure by the late Kenji Inoue – the collector’s edition comes with a properly pressed audio CD, but the game itself is on a CD-R disc.

We’ve reached out to Limited Run Games for comment and will update this piece when we have something official to share.