Super Rare Games releases controversial premium membership program

[Merlin]

Earlier this month Super Rare games who release physical copies of popular indie titles announced a polarizing new feature for their business. Super Rare Club Membership is a feature that will allow those paying a yearly fee of 30 GBP/32.50 USD/33.75 EUR to gain early access to purchase their limited quantity titles as well as insider access to upcoming information about the company, better shipping and more.

Acknowledging push back from their community, though, in an email sent out in a newsletter, they reaffirm their faith in this choice and will continue forward.

The email read as follows:

2019 - a big year for SRG!

Happy new year from us all at Super Rare Games! You might have seen, but yesterday we announced our membership system for 2019. It was met with a very mixed reception and I want to deeply apologise for those who were upset by the offering we have created for our club. Lots of people described this as something they weren't happy with and I also saw some comments that people wanted to stop collecting our games. I wanted to address these concerns and also hopefully explain things a bit better. Please read on to see the Club in a bit more detail... To first address the cost of the membership. Its £24.99 for a year and that works out at just over £2 a month. We did feel this was fair and with the priority shipping, premium packaging, early access to products, a discount code on merchandise and exclusive announcements, we hope that people will see the value in the service. Another comment was that this would effect the way we conduct ourselves as a business, this is not the case. Our company ethos and way we operate will not change. We pride ourselves on the speed of our deliveries, the quality of our service and our commitment to providing the best customer service possible. To finally add, I want to make it very clear that our membership is something we have been very passionate on creating from the start of our business. Its core idea was simply to make it easier and smoother for fans to purchase games from us and also to help curate a passionate community. This will in no way impact the experience if you choose not to sign up. If demand for the club is large, we will simply print more units of games to accommodate. To our most loyal fans and also any one that has supported us in this first 11 months as a business, we are forever thankful. Upsetting our customers is never something that we want to do and I hope we can make it up to you. It is time! Are you ready to join the ultimate group for our most passionate collectors? The Super Rare Club is a membership system designed to help support our most loyal and passionate fans. Its aim is to remove any potential stress associated with purchasing items from our shop as well as rewarding those who love collecting as much as we do. By being part of the Club, you will receive exclusive information, early access to products and be part of an elite group of our most passionate collectors. This covers you as a member from the 1st of February 2019 until the 31st of January 2020. Signups will run for the duration of January 2019 and all purchases are considered final and cannot be refunded. Members will be contacted on the 1st of February with further details and relevant links. As a member of the Super Rare Club, you will receive the following benefits: - Access to all products 48 hours before their general release dates. - Priority shipping: we will send your games out before anyone else - Be part of a secret mailing list and receive inside information and exclusive game announcements - Added to a secret Discord server containing other members and also the Super Rare Team - Entered into monthly competitions to win special items and signed copies of games - 25% discount on any purchased merchandise (one use only) - Premium packaging on all orders We look forward to joining you in the Club. All the best, George

What do you think about this choice? Does it seem fair, or do you think it is a bad idea?

[Merlin]

Interesting... I wonder how reliably they can print extra copies to meet sales if their stock for a certain game is bought up by the members first. Do they have supply shortages currently with popular games?

It reminds me of RightStufAnime because it also has a premium membership option that offers discounts. Dunno if they have a first dibs feature, but they're always running out of stock for new popular mangas.

To be clear for this service you only get a %25 discount on one single order. So if you make 5 orders throughout the year you may only use the %25 off on one of those orders. So there is that. The way that switch carts work is you have to order in batches of 5000 carts at a time from Nintendo last I heard.

[PriestTroit]

Interesting... I wonder how reliably they can print extra copies to meet sales if their stock for a certain game is bought up by the members first. Do they have supply shortages currently with popular games?

It reminds me of RightStufAnime because it also has a premium membership option that offers discounts. Dunno if they have a first dibs feature, but they're always running out of stock for new popular mangas.

[PriestTroit]

The shipping would be the deal maker or breaker for me. Is it like Amazon Prime where you get free shipping?

[Dub-Z]

I remember LimitedRunGames floated that idea in their first year, and their customer base overwhelmingly rejected it, but the state of these boutique products is different now and the customer base has really grown. Lots of open pre-orders for games on platforms that don't have a high manufacturing cost/risk (PS4 blu-rays vs Vita carts) and Switch collecting where necessarily low prints vs niche demand isn't even a part of the business model anymore. If a game sells through it's whole print run to only members, that would be a problem.

[Merlin]

If nothing is changing with their regular service i'm not really seeing the problem here. Wouldn't this be comparable to Amazon regular and Amazon prime?

Not entirely. It does offer improved shipping like amazon prime for the up front cost. However it also grants those people in the system first dibs on buying their limited stock of games, between 2000-5000. This seems to be the main concern for people.

[Chairman Meow]

If nothing is changing with their regular service i'm not really seeing the problem here. Wouldn't this be comparable to Amazon regular and Amazon prime?

[Animusisters]

Good thinking by them. If they actually create an artificial shortage, then they are some of the very few that understand something.

[ryvrdrgn14]

If it won't affect normal service then I guess it's fine.If they downgrade normal service to make the premium more appealing then I'd have a problem with it if I were doing business with them.

[Saskia]

This is standard business practise, I really don't see what the fuss is about. Many businesses these days offer some type of premium service or perks for a small subscription fee or membership fee. Nobody's forcing you to pay for it, it's optional.

[fenrif]

Any company that want's me to pay money to them so I can pay them money for their product is basically just telling me to fuck off.

I do like the whole "but it's only 2 bucks a month!" thing. Hey guys I know we're being greedy, but it's only nickel and diminig you! There's no negative connotations to that, right? Listen this is OK because we want your money! Don't be unreasonable... I mean we'll let you into our discord channel!

[Imnotanybody]

I personally don't mind the idea, if you really love the platform and want the extra stuff then it's up to the consumer. As long as people don't lose any current features then I find it okay.

[aileron]

Sorry I thought my opinion was clear from my post. Yes, it's fair. Yes, it's a good idea, if they make more money out of it in the end, i.e., some people cancel, but more than those people upgrade from standard to premium (or whatever the two tiers are called).

[Merlin]

I'm not making commentary in the OP, just reporting the facts. Thought it would be an interesting topic for some people.

[aileron]

Why can't a service provider have multiple tiers of service?