Sir Randall of Ye Old Press builds physical big box editions for games that only ever shipped digital. Hollow Knight: Silksong. Ocarina of Time on PC. Warframe. Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters. He designs the box, prints the art, burns the game to an archive-grade disc, and puts it on the shelf. This week he joined The Game Show to talk about how he does it and why it matters, and Jack Burton made it in from a very late flight for the back half.
Who Is Sir Randall of Ye Old Press?
Randall got into this the way a lot of us get into things. He got fed up. Limited Run canceled his orders twice with no explanation. Strictly Limited never shipped his copy of Chained Echoes. So he downloaded the game from GOG, burned it to a disc, slapped a label on it, and built his own box. He still has that first one and refuses to remake it.
Three years later it is a business. He now makes the official PC collector’s editions for Ken and Roberta Williams’ Colossal Cave through Guillotine Games, including the Pirate’s Booty edition with a real wood chest and leather strap that takes him two weeks to build. Josh Mandel from the Space Quest team got Randall the gig after seeing his Space Quest collector’s box. The name Ye Old Press came from his friends calling him old. The missing E in the domain was a typo he decided to keep.
By day he works in cybersecurity, which explains the coding projects and the copy-protection wheel he is rebuilding in the browser for his new site.
How He Builds a Big Box PC Game
Randall walked through the whole process. He looks for the game on GOG or itch.io first because the installers are DRM free. He hunts down art from press kits or the developer, then builds his own cover rather than reusing the store art. He has templates now for the box, the manual, the disc tray, and the soundtrack case, so a build can go from start to finish in two or three days.
The gear that changed everything was an Epson ET-8550 wide format tank printer paired with Red River paper. He prints directly on glossy waterproof discs so they look pressed. Manuals and inserts come off a Brother laser printer that runs six to seven thousand pages a month. He also learned to bind books, starting with the Stellaris novel, and is now teaching himself sewn hardbacks. He is saving for a UV printer next.
Big files get the old school treatment. For Indiana Jones and the Great Circle he used Inno Setup to split the installer across multiple discs, so the game actually asks you to insert disc two.
Sony, Physical Media, and the 2028 Cutoff
The news block was heavy on ownership. Four California PlayStation buyers filed a class action over the store’s “Buy Now” language, and in its August filing Sony argued it is not plausible that consumers think they own a game. Sony also claimed reasonable buyers already understand they are only licensing. I teach digital media and almost none of my students understand that.
Randall’s take at 17:31 says it all. When you give someone your money, you keep the thing unless they clearly say it is a rental. He is not paying sixty dollars for a rental. We also asked him to steelman the Ubisoft executive who said players should get comfortable not owning games. He could not do it, and neither could I.
Also in the news: Xbox picked up Kojima’s PHYSINT after PlayStation walked, scalpers are asking $900 for the Zelda 40th Anniversary Switch 2, Hyper Light Drifter’s studio laid off nearly everyone, and Nightdive’s Stephen Kick teased an Eternal Darkness remaster on GameCube’s 25th anniversary. Plus Zaxor’s Palette Cleanser for the PC Engine drops Friday.
Colossal Cave Collector’s Editions
Guillotine Games gave Randall full creative control. The chest edition is capped at five because of the build time. Developers keep sending him their full art files now. Wadjet Eye gave him everything for Old Skies and Nighthawks. The Rosewater developer designed the box himself and asked Randall to build it. Every dev he has boxed has asked for a copy, and he sends them for free.
Is it preservation or collecting? Randall says both. His discs are rated for a hundred years. His argument for physical media that has nothing to do with nostalgia: you get to keep it. His original Myst disc still boots.
Find Randall’s work at yeold.press and on YouTube at Sir Randall Does Stuff.
