Box fresh

Inside the company bringing a new breed of physical game to Japanese store shelves

The videogame industry’s shift to digital distribution has been swift, expedited by quickening domestic Internet speeds, and the convenience and immediacy of on-demand shopping. Still, some prefer to own a physical artefact that embodies their digital media, an object to remind them of – and maybe signal to others – their fine taste. Lavish packaging further increases the appeal of what are typically viewed as investment pieces.

Westerners are served by a multitude of companies built to meet this demand; Strictly Limited, First Press Games, Limited Run and others provide physical editions for games that might otherwise have only existed as digital ephemera. Now, Limited Run is collaborating with Shibuya-based localisation company 8-4, and Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s right-hand man, Enhance Games SVP Mark MacDonald, to release physical copies of mainly western, mainly digital-only games onto the Japanese market via Super Deluxe Games.