Let's take Earthbound for example, oh it is so rare and expensive. But remember, there was a time where you could go into almost any store that sold video games across the entire USA and buy Earthbound. This is true with a lot of rare and/or expensive retro games. There was enough copies of the games to go around when the NES,SNES,Genesis etc.. were current systems owned by millions. The truth is there are more copies of most retro games then there are people who want to own them. It is all artificial bullshit inflation.
All these retro collectors claim that the prices will never crash but I disagree. As time goes on less and less people care about owning the original hardware. Kids that discover retro games and enjoy them are perfectly fine with emulating them. There is no nostalgia of playing the original system on a CRT for them. The current group of retro collectors that have rooms filled with consoles,cartridges and CDs are going to sell them all off as they get older. Not all of them but I see a large majority of them dumping their collections eventually. There are probably a lot of kids nowadays that are gamers that don't even own any physical copies of games. They just buy them digitally. I don't see the generation who has only known digital games caring about owning old hardware. If they want to play the games they will emulate them digitally. One day all the retro consoles are going to be next to worthless.
Earthbound sold 140,000 in the US. There would be less than that out there now due to them being damaged, thrown away, eaten by a dog etc. It wasn't released in PAL territories. More than 140k people in the US and around the world want to own the English language version.
Kids also like collecting things like adults. My 11yo niece has started collecting records and CDs. Mainly Taylor Swift stuff but still. Those kids will want to collect things when they hit middle age. Maybe it will be games, records, movies, toys etc. from the 70, 80s and 90s, because a lot of the things that are still popular today (Star Wars, Transfomers etc) started back then.
People collect vintage things and antiques from before they were born. Collecting from the beginning of gaming might become a big things 50 years from now.
I’ve begun the process of dumping my video game collection. I’ve already made about $1000 from the sale of about 25 games, and I still have somewhere around another 300 to sell.
My biggest worry isn’t a crash (though that is a worry), it’s that these games are going to degrade eventually. Carts games will lose their battery life, discs will eventually rot (which already happened with my MGS Twin Snakes). I don’t want to hold onto a collection I never play just for it to eventually become worthless.
Another reason I’m selling is because of the tornado scare in the spring. You may remember in the weather thread that our house almost was hit by a tornado. Thinking about all I could have lost, it just worries me now to hold onto a valuable video game collection when a natural disaster could sweep through and take it all away.
I find it funny when people talk about them like a FINANCIAL investment.
The silent generation thought their furniture and homewares would increase in value forever. And they didn't.
The boomers thought their Elvis merch and Beatles records would increase in value forever. And they didn't.
Gen X thought their beanie babies and super soakers would increase in value forever, and they didn't.
And it's the same now.
Everything has a limit on its worth. But videogames have a much lower limit on that worth because of the one fact that collectors for any sort of financial gain dread.
Games are all just copies of digital data.
They aren't a one of a kind Picasso painting, they aren't a live show you'll never be able to experience again, and the precious copies of "RARE" games were still just mass produced copies of 1 set of data.
Recently I sold off most of my Saturn games because some discs had started to rot. I've since burned copies of every game, and my $4 CD-R copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga plays exactly the same as the nearly $400 copy I sold. The guy who bought a lot of my Saturn games was a bit funny, he was bidding on a lot of them because he didn't want anyone else to get them for too cheap lol.
That Story of Thor 2 copy he bought for nearly $100 was starting to rot around the outside edge and even though the game was still fully playable, in another 25 years I doubt it will be. So because he didn't want his own collection to be devalued by cheaper games, he bumped up the price, which is fine by me because I got $1600 for games that without this collector would have only gone for $1200 odd. And that means more games for me.
A lot of my Dreamcast games will be next. Soul Calibur won't load past the title screen anymore, I took care of it since brand new, and it simply won't load anymore possibly from over use.
Of course you'll always have random people who have enough money for quarter of a million dollar Sony PlayStation Super Nintendo's and it's very possible that they are also under the impression that it's only going to be worth more and more with each day, but it's most likely they bought it because they wanted it, thier children or their childrens children probably won't give a shit, but it'll buy them a house or funds to use on whatever their hobbies are.
The limited value also comes into play where people have a choice, you can get this old thing for $1000, or a brand new better version of a thing $1000... Well, no one will take the old thing, and I quite like old things.
Just about the only bigger financially stupid "INVESTMENT" than old games is old cars...
If I used cars as an example. Yes, a lot of old cars are still going up in price, and by huge sums, but when the people aged 50-80 with all the billions in the world to buy that 5 of a kind Ferrari or Aston Martin that they couldn't afford when they were younger either die off or lose interest, the value won't go up, especially if the things aren't cared for.
If I have to choose between a clapped out thrashed 1960's mustang that needs a total overhaul and they're asking $80,000 or I can get a brand new one for $85,000... Well of course I'm not paying that much for a shit condition old one. My late father or grandfather on the other hand, would have absolutely taken the old mustang.
I used the car example because I like driving as much as I like video games.
I've lost countless money to both hobbies, but you know it doesn't really matter, because I enjoyed them.
If you enjoy collecting games, go for it, and don't be sad if your collection is one day worthless to everyone but yourself.
I never have enjoyed collecting games, I enjoy playing them, and the collections over the years stemmed from said liking of something.
My CRT's are worth a fair bit more than the prices ranging from E-waste up to $200 I paid for them, but that doesn't matter, I like them and if they're worthless and broken one day, meh, I got to use them.
And a lot I can't be assed selling because they're heavy and I don't wanna move them again.
ian wrote: Fri Aug 23, 2024 11:44 am
I find it funny when people talk about them like a FINANCIAL investment.
The silent generation thought their furniture and homewares would increase in value forever. And they didn't.
The boomers thought their Elvis merch and Beatles records would increase in value forever. And they didn't.
Gen X thought their beanie babies and super soakers would increase in value forever, and they didn't.
Exactly. There are lots of antique malls and storage lockers that are filled with "financial investments." The bubble will (or already has) on the speculative graded collector's market.
But those high prices will only stick around for as long as there's interest. By the time we're geriatric, all but the ultra-rare or unique video game items will be irrelevant and/or non-working. Like ian said, there's every indication that any video game will be readily accessible via digital means for as long as possible.
My one hope is that there's some way to create an at-home, DIY solution for building/repairing CRT monitors. High-end OLEDs can get you awfully close to a CRT experience, but it will be a loss if we can't replicate a cathode ray tube in the future. And it won't matter what console/box/computer is connected to that display if the software accuracy keeps increasing.
If FPGAs are so accurate now, imagine what the software could do next year or a decade from now. The discerning Mega Drive/Genesis nerd today futzes about how the audio sounds on each of the 20-30 different hardware models. That whole agonizing experience can be recreated with a MiSTER, speakers and a monitor in perpetuity without any scarcity.
