Over the past week, Limited Run Games has sent out a mass email to its customers announcing delays for many of its upcoming titles, which it blames on "overly optimistic" and "aggressive" delivery dates set under its former leadership.
Following the news earlier this year that the company's co-founder, Josh Fairhurst, would be stepping down as president in March, the boutique physical-game publisher has been on a mission to try to restore public trust in itself, following several controversies around its ability to ship products on time and at an acceptable quality level.
In the past, for instance, the company has been caught shipping 3DO games on CD-Rs rather than on pressed discs, selling NES carts with an improper voltage output that could potentially damage the consoles, and using recycled chips in Shantae Advance, and also notably angered many within the Sonic community, thanks to its rather "disastrous" rollout of its Sonic X Shadow Generations Collector's Edition.
In an effort to win back some goodwill, it announced back in March that it would be pursuing a "renewed fan-first focus" in the future, aiming to ensure improved "product quality, reliable fulfillment, and a commitment to regular, timely, and informative communication." This latest set of delays, however, has already thrown a rather large spanner into those plans, with customers taking to online platforms to express their dissatisfaction with the company in the aftermath of these most recent delays.
Judging by some of the comments we've seen, not all of the emails (if any) had order numbers attached; instead, Limited Run Games encouraged its customers to sign in and check their accounts for themselves, to find out which of their orders had been pushed back. This has led to some confusion about which specific Limited Run Games releases have been affected, with some speculating it may apply to everything currently in production.
In the initial email, the company said it was aware that it had previously "disappointed" customers with "delays and uncertainty" and once again promised to do better going forward.
It claims this will be its final set of delays, suggesting that from now on, "the date is the date" and "it's a date you should be able to believe when placing an order with us."