Well, it's hard to justify to anybody the cost of manufacturing these premiums because we know the unit numbers on PC collectible will be very low, like literally sub-1,000. aren't trying to buy the game on disc from you in the PC collectible world they want the tchotchkes and premiums on the PC. 'You'd have to beg to sell 500 units of a physical PC collectible,' Smith says. Smith says the game eventually turned a profit, but comparing the sales for the PC version of Shadow Warrior 2 with Special Reserve's later PS4 physical version of the game made it clear they should focus on the console market. 'I know these guys are going to make money, and then I do my damnedest to not risk much of the money at all on the physical and make sure it's a pure profit deal for the developers' The Special Reserve edition of Shadow Warrior 2 on PC was limited to 1,000 units, and remains available on the company's website. That test showed that Smith was capable of delivering on some collectible prerequisites with the game's packaging, soundtrack, art book and stickers, but it didn't exactly prove the market they wanted was there. 'We just tested the waters to see if I could produce something that was cool enough to call a physical collectible, and if there was a market there,' Smith says.

Smith holds up a copy of the Ammonomicon, a Special Reserve book based on the game Enter the Gungeon The two have deep roots in the Dallas-area gaming scene, and their working ties were formalized when Wilson co-founded the Gathering of Developers in the late '90s and Smith made the jump from Gathering member company Terminal Reality to be the upstart publisher's director of global PR. Smith's pitch was no doubt aided by his personal history with Wilson. So he pitched the idea of a PC physical run of Devolver Digital's Shadow Warrior 2 to Devolver co-founder Mike Wilson. Special Reserve was founded in 2016 after Smith had noticed a collectors' market spring up for physical versions of PlayStation 4 games. 'That's really all I'm trying to do, is bring back what I enjoyed as a kid with video games and the tangible, tactile connection I used to have and all of us used to have with some of our games that has just been lost a little in this age of digital downloadable everything.' 'I believe I am preserving digital art in a physical form,' Smith tells. As the CEO and creative director of Special Reserve Games, Jeff Smith has built his business creating limited edition physical copies of indie games that have already proven themselves successful as digital offerings.

Downwell physical