Over the last few years, both retro gamers and collectors have seen their favourite past time go through both ups and downs. As the very games we know and love have begun bordering a fine line between titles to enjoy and fragile investments, it's no surprise to see a Sega Game Gear release fetching a massive near four figure sum on eBay.
While the argument of where our hobby belongs will never be settled between those who play and those who collect, we can all agree on the fact that those hoping to secure full libraries individual consoles have to offer are in for a tough ride.
Although many are familiar with the Sega 32X's 'big three' - a trio of elusive PAL titles worth considerable amounts - few of us have expected similar pricing to be applied to other video games.
Sure, we have the likes of the incredibly valuable Nintendo World Championships (a strictly limited cartridge used officially by Nintendo to host competitions) and a market testing fitness game Stadium Events commanding huge price tags in America, but did we ever expect such prices to be applied to standard retail releases, and on European soil for that matter, so soon?
Then again as Super Nintendo collectors will no doubt tell you, this is nothing new. Regardless, this is unfortunately the reality we may all be having to face as of now. Old video games are worth money and unsurprisingly people are making a living by exchanging them online.
Power Drive for the Game Gear may be an extreme exception at this point in time, but it leaves us with an unanswered question...
Is this the beginning of an inevitable pricey future for our hobby, or is the classic video game market due to crash any time soon? What do you think?
Link: Power Drive (Sega Game Gear) Complete on eBay
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Comments
If a worldwide recession didn't put a curb on prices, I'm not sure what will. They're only getting scarcer and with each ebay sale, one more box gets pancaked in a Jiffy bag and games in decent condition get scarcer.
Retro prices will continue to get high until they reach a magical choke point they can only ever go so high until they become absurd and everyone falls away, for me its all about moving from format to format, i remember like Gunstarhero does megadrive and snes games being a fiver in games shops and there were tons of them, eventually dreamcast and gamecube and ps1 will take over, its a natural movement of new retro people......
This is exactly where I'm at.
I'm 30odd short of a full SMS set, I know there are some high priced games in there but there are others that have really shot up in price over the past 6-12 months.
I'm taking a break from SMS for the moment, having a look at the Dreamcast and a few others, I'll go back to SMS when its calmed down a bit. I just have to keep telling myself theres no rush :-D
Retro prices will remain high from now on because as chocklo rightly says if a world recession did nothing to stop it, nothing will, its just going to move on to include all those formats so many people laugh at right now, pick up as much as you can when you can is my motto, not because of future value but because i dont want to walk into a shop and not be able to get it at a later date.
Look back to the previous generation of Atari et al and that is still continuing to rise. It is simple supply and demand, they will only go up.
I'm not convinced though that the Atari can be used as a baseline for this comparison. I would say the NES onwards. Also, I kinda disagree that NES games have cooled (though I wish they would!). Again, I'm not talking about the more common stuff, I'm talking about those titles that fit into the rare/desirable bracket.
Years ago I built up a collection off around 100 NES games. My Nes collection sat idle in terms of growth right up until the start of this year, when I decided to start building on it again. I was shocked by how much the price of games actually went for.
One more example. Again, circa 2 years ago, there was a Donkey Kong Jr in Retrogames for £35. It had sat there for ages and I thought it was too expensive??!! Eventually it was purchased and I'm still sobbing to this day that I didn't bag it. Next time it shows, it will probably go for North of £100 if it's in good condition....
Are the prices you quote for cartridge only or CIB?
It's been more noticeable in the computing area, with hardware that you couldn't give away 5 years ago fetching upwards of (AUD)$100 these days. I'm kicking myself for not making the effort to complete my collection back when it would have cost me chump-change; now I can't afford to complete it!
The console area has been more stable, though I've just dipped my toes into the Neo Geo scene and I'm depressed at the prices of AES carts. But NES, SNES, N64 seem to have settled in recent years and whilst they're not getting any cheaper - and I don't think they will - they at least appear to not be getting any dearer either!
The Megadrive is my favorite console and i've had a great time, the last few years, picking up games for fair (if not cheap) amounts. Same goes for ps2 .
All in all i would say that the rise in value is inevitable. Video games have been around for a while now and are no longer a niche hobby. They have a history and have been imbedded in the culture of society. So there is bound to be an increasing following in the collecting and trading markets. What is a shame is that ebay is pretty much the only place to find the games/consoles we like.
People will stop paying silly prices and value will slide. I daresay a fair few people will suddenly flush their collections to get some money back, fearing they will end up with a room of worthless junk which will drive prices down.
Of course we can then get lovely items added to collections cheaper then they were and wait for the price to rise again.
I couldn't agree more. For me games aren't an investment at all. I only buy games I want to play or that have sentimental value. If I want a good cash investment I'll get an isa.
I haven't bought anything by internet for almost a year due to the high prices. I think the market is going to crash soon I hope.
This vintage trend is harming our hobby. Turn it into a business or an investment means its death.