Limited Run Games
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | October 2015 |
| Founder | Josh Fairhurst, Douglas Bogart |
| Headquarters | Apex , United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Josh Fairhurst (CEO) |
| Products | Physical editions of video games, publishing, retro gaming |
Number of employees | 50+ (2021) |
| Parent | Embracer Group (since September 2022) |
| Website | limitedrungames |
Limited Run Games, Inc. is a United States-based distributor of video games headquartered in Apex, North Carolina. Established in October 2015 by Josh Fairhurst and Douglas Bogart, the company focuses on manufacturing limited edition physical copies of video games, which are sold through its online platform and select retail outlets. Fairhurst founded the enterprise to preserve titles originally released digitally from his own studio, Mighty Rabbit Studios, by offering them on physical formats. Their debut release, Breach & Clear for the PlayStation Vita, quickly sold out, followed by the release of Saturday Morning RPG. The company expanded its catalog by publishing third-party games such as Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty!, which led to wider collaborations with other developers. From 2018 through 2022, Limited Run Games experienced substantial growth, venturing into publishing and retro gaming markets before being acquired by Embracer Group under its Embracer Freemode division in September 2022.
History
Limited Run Games was founded in October 2015 by CEO Josh Fairhurst and COO Douglas Bogart, longtime collaborators who had previously worked together at Mighty Rabbit Studios. Motivated by the success of physical releases like Retro City Rampage, Fairhurst sought to preserve digitally distributed games on tangible media. After encountering financial difficulties at Mighty Rabbit Studios, Fairhurst obtained an $85,000 line of credit and devoted eight months to establishing Limited Run Games. Sony agreed to reduce the minimum order quantity for their initial title, Breach & Clear on PlayStation Vita, to 1,500 units, enabling a feasible launch. Bogart joined the venture to oversee marketing strategies.
Initially operating as a division within Mighty Rabbit Studios based in Cary, North Carolina, Limited Run Games launched its website alongside its first release on October 29, 2015; Breach & Clear sold out within 108 minutes. The subsequent release was Saturday Morning RPG, another title developed by Mighty Rabbit Studios. The company operated with a lean team and managed distribution from Mighty Rabbit’s facilities while circumventing ESRB rating fees by focusing on direct-to-consumer sales.
Their first third-party offering came with Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty!, after Oddworld Inhabitants approached them about producing a physical edition. Limited Run Games financed production upfront and retained 30% of gross revenue to fund ongoing operations. By 2016, the company had released 46 titles and transitioned to using a dedicated distribution center for order fulfillment. They moved away from fixed production quantities toward pre-order windows to better align supply with demand and introduced collector’s editions. By late 2017, Limited Run Games formally separated from Mighty Rabbit Studios and relocated its headquarters to Apex, North Carolina.
In September 2017, new ESRB rating policies increased both expenses and complexity for physical releases on major consoles, directly affecting Limited Run Games since it assumed full production costs. In October 2018, the company partnered with Best Buy to offer limited stock of select games such as Yooka-Laylee and Golf Story at retail locations.
Also in October 2018, Limited Run Games initiated legal action against Spanish publisher BadLand Games over failure to deliver pre-paid copies of Axiom Verge for Wii U after paying $78,000 upfront. Following BadLand’s liquidation, publishing rights reverted to developer Thomas Happ who collaborated with Limited Run Games for a March 2019 re-release. This required reinvesting $120,000 despite anticipated reduced profit margins.
At E3 2018, Limited Run Games revealed plans to support porting and digital distribution on Nintendo Switch in addition to physical releases. Early digital ports included titles like Cosmic Star Heroine and Night Trap. In 2019, they partnered with Disney to produce collector’s editions of classic Star Wars video games, marking their entry into retro game publishing.
Demand increased sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2021), but manufacturing delays in China limited supply capacity. By September 2020, the company had issued over 500 game releases; staffing expanded from around 20 employees in early 2020 to more than 50 by late 2021.
In April 2022, Limited Run Games opened a retail location at MacGregor Village mall in Cary under its subsidiary Limited Run Retail, LLC. The store primarily features company-produced releases alongside select merchandise. In July 2022, they launched SuperDeluxe Games—a joint venture with Japanese localization firm 8-4—to distribute games within Japan; Limited Run holds a 40% stake. In August of that year, Embracer Group announced acquisition plans for Limited Run Games; the transaction closed in September with Fairhurst and Bogart continuing leadership roles under Embracer Freemode. This acquisition broadened access to Embracer’s extensive intellectual property assets. Later that month saw the launch of Press Run, a book publishing imprint headed by former editors Jeremy Parish and Jared Petty.
Bogart exited the company in May 2023. Early in 2024, Limited Run faced criticism over distributing the 3DO version of D on CD-R discs rather than pressed discs—resulting in playback problems—citing quality concerns despite internal documents suggesting cost-cutting decisions by Fairhurst amid broader critiques from former employees regarding management practices.
Carbon Engine
Limited Run Games created the Carbon Engine to facilitate the transition of titles from legacy systems to modern platforms such as personal computers, recent Xbox iterations, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch. This engine operates by employing emulators tailored for each supported system, some developed in-house and others obtained through licensing agreements. By 2021, its compatibility encompassed the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and Sega Genesis. Subsequent updates extended support to include games from the PlayStation and Sega CD libraries. The initial releases utilizing the Carbon Engine were Shantae and River City Girls Zero. The project was spearheaded by Joe Modzeleski and Dimitris Giannakis, both of whom departed the company in 2025 to join Digital Eclipse.