Box fresh

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

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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.