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Out of all of the companies working in the so-called 'boutique' publishing space, Limited Run Games has perhaps made the biggest impact.
While it's fair to say that the publisher isn't universally loved, it has been responsible for giving gamers physical editions they might otherwise have missed out on, and has worked with the likes of Capcom, Sega, Atari, Arc System Works, Konami and many more.
The company was formed over a decade ago by Josh Fairhurst and Douglas Bogart, after Fairhurst decided to give the games from his Mighty Rabbit Studios a physical release.
Fairhurst presided over Limited Run's rapid expansion and its 2022 acquisition by Embracer Group, and recently announced that he was stepping away from the firm. This has prompted Limited Run's new leadership team to shake things up a little.
Fairhurst has hinted that he is "working on several projects that will fully embrace physicality" but that it will be "a while before anything is announced." Even so, he has been showing off photos of his new office lobby, and it's packed with cool career-related stuff.
As you can imagine, it didn't take long for somebody to ask if his future plans involve launching a rival to Limited Run which operates in the same space.
Fairhurst's reply instantly put that speculation to bed:
"No. I'm working on other things and honestly, I'm happy to be away from the drama. It's an oversaturated market and trying to enter now as a new company would be a deathwish. It's been that way since 2020 - just no room for more."
He certainly has a point; there are now several companies operating in this market segment, including Strictly Limited, Retro-Bit, iam8bit, Super Deluxe (with which Limited Run is involved), and, most recently, 33 Games, which has announced unique editions of Zool and Utopia so far.
There's certainly a case to be made that the market is flooded with boutique publishers at present, but, with the recent announcement that Sony is ditching physical media in 2028, that situation could change very quickly over the next few years.
Still, given Fairhurst's experience in this part of the industry – and the fact he helped create the concept of a 'boutique' publisher – I certainly wouldn't begrudge him trying something new.