You’d be forgiven for not having heard of Poop Slinger, however this little recognized indie title has a singular and distinct honor.
Released for the PlayStation Four and Steam in August 2018 by little recognized developer ‘Diggidy.net’, the ‘casual poop launcher game’ didn’t handle to trigger a lot of a stink (pun supposed). In reality, at time of writing, it lacks any consumer evaluations in any respect on Steam. It is, all issues thought of, a reasonably unremarkable game.
Despite this, Poop Slinger has grow to be outstanding in no less than one surprising and fascinating means: it has just lately grow to be the rarest bodily PlayStation Four launch ever, with simply 84 copies reported to be out within the wild. Amazingly, the story behind its launch – which apparently bankrupted bodily writer Limited Rare Games – is much more outstanding.
Months earlier than its launch, developer Diggidy.web was contacted by an organization going by the identify ‘Limited Rare Games’ to publish a restricted print run bodily launch of their game Poop Slinger for the PS4. This was the primary time they ever had dealings with a bodily launch of any of their titles, however they accepted the provide. Similarly, this was to be Limited Rare’s first – and solely – bodily launch.
Limited Rare Games, a supposedly South Carolina-based firm run by a single Russian particular person, claims to have taken out a mortgage from their financial institution to fund the discharge. As Sony’s coverage dictates a minimal amount order of 1,000 copies, we all know that no less than this many have been manufactured.
When Poop Slinger went on sale on April 1st, 2019 for $33.99, issues instantly began wanting dangerous for Limited Rare Games.
Limited run collectors, who snap up the majority of those types of purchases, have been immediately suspicious. The web site to buy copies from was laughably barebones, with little greater than an image of Poop Slinger’s game case, a purchase now button, and a copyright signature – half of which was written in Russian. All of this was displayed on a plain white website, alongside a notice that solely 820 copies have been out there worldwide. (Despite the minimal order quantity from Sony being 1,000 items, it’s widespread for restricted run corporations to order a lot of copies for replacements, giveaways, and particular occasions.)
Throughout the day, it turned obvious that only a few gross sales have been being made. Limited Rare Games elevated the value to $50, tweeting “we are not selling enough and are scared we may go out of business”, and later “if we do not sell out all copies in two hours we will have to close down. Too many people think we are a joke or scam and the game is not selling.”
According to the corporate, it wanted the gross sales to repay their financial institution mortgage, which was nowhere near being settled. As restricted run publishers usually promote their games for at some point solely, it’s unclear whether or not this enterprise mannequin was one thing organized as a part of the cope with the financial institution beforehand, however for no matter motive, all 820 copies of the game needed to be offered on April 1st.
At the tip of the day, Limited Rare Games declared that it had solely managed to shift 84 items, and that it’d must shut the enterprise. The firm promised to ship out the offered copies, however remarked that collectors have been to take the remaining unsold copies to repay the mortgage, and that gross sales of the game couldn’t proceed. The enterprise had, after simply at some point, gone bankrupt. All indicators pointed to this being both a joke or a rip-off.
But it wasn’t. Developer Diggity.net weighed in with an official statement confirming the bodily copies have been “indeed legit”, and that orders could be fulfilled. Then just some brief weeks later, patrons began to report that Poop Slinger had plopped into their mailbox – now holding the doubtful honour of the rarest bodily PS4 game in existence.
In addition to the entire peculiarities is the corporate’s identify itself. If Limited Rare Games sounds acquainted to you, that’s as a result of it’s stunningly near the profitable Limited Run Games, who repeatedly launch restricted print run titles for the PS4, Vita, and Nintendo Switch.
The similarities don’t finish there. When Limited Rare began promoting the game, the emblem of their Twitter profile picture used the identical font as Limited Run’s, changing the ‘Run’ with ‘Rare’. Limited Run Games says that it was made conscious of this, and requested for the emblem to be modified. Later within the day, the emblem then modified to be much like that of one other competitor, Super Rare Games, after which Strictly Limited Games, earlier than lastly altering to a picture of the Poop Slinger’s game case as a substitute.
Speaking with Limited Rare Games on why the corporate Twitter account and web site used these logos, a consultant responded (in Russian), “we thought the logo would help people immediately understand what we were doing. We did not understand that it would be wrong. Other publishers have adopted the Limited Run Games logo. I don’t understand why people thought we were a joke!”
Over the following two weeks, Limited Rare Games was bombarded with accusations of being a rip-off, with the few who did buy copies questioning after they would present up.
Much to everyone’s shock, copies did begin arriving from April 18th. Several clients confirmed to me that their copies arrived in working situation, and that they solely trusted the web site initially in any respect as they might buy by way of the safety of PayPal. One of these clients is Twitter consumer @MaddasaHater, who kindly despatched photos of her copy. Interestingly, the Limited Run-style emblem nonetheless stays on the again of its case. The again additionally has a line studying ‘LRG02Cover’ – implying this was maybe initially supposed as their second launch.
MaddasaHater was so curious in regards to the origins of this game that she reverse-searched the postal handle famous on her parcel, which directed to a Goodwill retailer in South Carolina. She additionally says that an eBay itemizing of Poop Slinger for $600 makes use of the pictures she uploaded to her personal Twitter account.
Now that copies of the game are confirmed to have arrived, the widespread principle amongst restricted run collectors is that Limited Rare Games is an elaborate joke, run by one of many larger, extra established restricted print run corporations. After all, Poop Slinger is a peculiar title, it was out there solely on April Fools’ Day, and the corporate’s identify is comically much like preexisting rivals.
I requested Limited Run Games if it’d had any involvement. “We’re aware of them to the extent that we sent a message asking the logo to be changed. They obliged and that was the end of our interactions. They are a different company than us. We are aware of the confusion and hope that people stop associating it with us.”
Super Rare Games and Strictly Limited Games had related responses when requested. So simply what’s going on? If it’s a joke, Poop Slinger’s developer doesn’t seem like in on it.
“There was a contract, QA with Sony, and payment. What happened after that, I do not know”, Diggidy.web instructed me. “They have fulfilled their contractual obligation in terms of money and shipment of the product. With that said, there was very little communication with them, even throughout the whole process, and as a result of that, I do not know what has happened to the company and if they still exist.”
Diggidy says that so far as they recalled Limited Rare Games had particularly talked about that the corporate’s intent was to launch the game on April Fools’ Day of their first correspondence, however they’re as bewildered by the scenario as everybody else. “Why would somebody go through this tedious process and then not sell the game?”
I requested Limited Rare why April Fools’ Day was chosen as Poop Slinger’s launch date. “I come from Russia, but moved to South Carolina to be with a distant relative. In Russia, April Fools’ holidays are not celebrated either in the office or at school. I did not know that enterprises were playing practical jokes.”
At time of writing, the reality behind the scenario continues to be unclear. Limited Rare Games’ Twitter account and web site have been each wiped shortly after I spoke with them, whereas privately the homeowners of the account spent hours insisting that this was very actual and induced them severe monetary burden, whereas additionally expressing frustration with the fixed tweets accusing them of being a rip-off or a joke.
If it’s some intricate advertising and marketing ploy, it’s an ill-advised one, as some collectors at the moment are distraught at the concept that they’ve missed out on a legitimately uncommon bodily launch from a website that so clearly gave the impression to be a rip-off. The price-hiking and poor communication would even be an odd determination from an organization hoping to profit from this fiasco long-term. After all, it’s not a really humorous joke to make your viewers really feel shafted, and the developer you’re working with to be left in the dead of night.
For now, all we all know is that Poop Slinger is actual, and that with 84 copies offered to the general public, it’s at present the rarest PlayStation 4 game in existence. Who is aware of – perhaps we’ll see these copies the collectors took pop up someplace at some point quickly!
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