Update May 3rd 4:31AM: Limited Run Games has responded to the controversy surrounding its 3DO releases, promising to "do better".
The company responded to our request for comment yesterday, confirming that its release of D: The Collector's Edition was produced on CD-R format due to "quality and reliability issues" discovered when pressing discs "in the traditional manner".
Limited Run says the partner with whom it produces these releases was "able to manufacture the discs using a CD-R format" in order to offer "full compatibility with original hardware". According to Limited Run, it tested its D: The Collector's Edition discs on 3DO hardware and "all five discs from the game worked as expected".
However, when the discs were released, compatibility issues were discovered, and so Limited Run says it's currently "working with new partners" in order to produce traditionally pressed discs for the game. Replacement discs will also be sent to customers, and a full refund can be requested here.
Limited Run also says that this problem doesn't affect its release of Plumbers Don't Wear Ties; it's just D: The Collector's Edition that's affected, according to the company. Further 3DO production won't happen until this issue is resolved, Limited Run says. Original story follows below.
Original story: Limited Run Games has come under fire from disgruntled customers over two recent re-releases for the 3DO, with customers alleging that the company is using cheap CDs for its pressings and that the discs don't work on 3DO hardware.
Two LRG re-releases, Plumbers Don't Wear Ties and D, are finding their way into the hands of players, but these re-releases appear to be contained on cheaper rewriteable CDs rather than genuine pressed discs.
Posting on X (formerly Twitter), retro gaming enthusiast Todd Gill accused Limited Run of shipping its 3DO games on CD-R media, something with which a Reddit poster agrees, stating that LRG "decided to distribute burned copies instead of having a real game pressed".
As some players have pointed out, if Limited Run is indeed issuing CD-R discs in its 3DO boxes, this isn't really that different from players simply burning their own copies of the games, which would likely be considerably cheaper as well.
However, there's another dimension to this problem. 3DO hardware is apparently notoriously fiddly when it comes to what kind of CDs it will recognize, which means that some 3DO models may struggle to read Plumbers Don't Wear Ties or D if they're on CD-R media.
This kind of discussion can get quite technical quite quickly, but suffice it to say that if these users' claims are true, then Limited Run Games' claims that these re-releases will work on 3DO (which can be seen on the games' product listings) are arguably spurious at best.
As you can probably expect, Limited Run fans aren't particularly happy with the company over these allegations. Many are suggesting they may cancel their pre-orders of these games or seek refunds as a result.
We've reached out to Limited Run Games for further information and comment on this story and will update as soon as we hear anything back.
