Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Can the retro market sustain it's high prices?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Can the retro market sustain it's high prices?

    Over the last couple of years, the retro gaming market has seen a massive rise in interest and prices. Gamers that would normally sell their old consoles in order to buy the next generation, are now reinvesting in all their old games.
    The question is, how long will they do this for, and will prices keep going up or are we likely to see a crash?

    Discuss.

    #2
    Hmmm....a tricky one to answer. Normally in this situation, the prices drop after the 'fad' as it were dissipates.

    However, like latterday (20th century-onwards) memorabilia such as Disney gear and rare comics, so few numbers of certain games and hardware were ever distributed that the price seldom drops below a certain level. There is a demand, and the demand outstrips the supply in most cases.

    So yeah, I do think interest wil dissipate and prices wil drop, but I don't envisage a full-on crash, in any way.

    Comment


      #3
      As long as there are idiots willing to spend $400+ for Neo Geo games or $100+ for Battle Garegga, the prices will sustain themselves. Ignorance breeds ignorance.

      Comment


        #4
        Yeah Stu, but you are only really discussing the rarer titles like RSG and PDS. I dont see these prices crashing, or even dropping. But what about the retro market as a whole? There are loads of games at the moment that are not remotely rare, yet are commanding over inflated prices. For example, the original Panzer Dragoon has been known to sell for over ?20 a couple of times now on ebay. The game is very common, and the price is probably over inflated due to it's relationship with PDS. So can these games also maintain their price?

        Comment


          #5
          As long as there are idiots willing to spend $400+ for Neo Geo games or $100+ for Battle Garegga, the prices will sustain themselves. Ignorance breeds ignorance.


          Cookie: Yeah, but I still don't believe the market will crash. It'll level-out a bit, but won't crash - general interest in gaming is high. If you think any differently please, let me know.

          Comment


            #6
            Well maybe the word 'crash' was a little severe. I dont know what will happen though. There seems to be a lot of casual gamers that are inflating the prices and often pushing out the more devoted gamer. I don't see these type of gamers sticking around retro games for too much longer, and when they go I can't see the remaining people being willing to pay the current prices. It could mean the prices come down by 20% quite easily.

            Comment


              #7
              Personally I feel that the growth in the Retro market has been perpetuated by the increasing prominence and popularity of ebay.

              This allows people and potential buyers access to a global market - one where it is fairly easy to stumble across even the rarest of games.

              This is certainly how I got into Retro games, a few summers back jus browsing at the immense amount of stuff on offer (whilst it was still reasonably cheap )

              Whilst increasing amounts of people gain access to the internet and ebay becomes more popular I cannot see the Retro market collapsing.

              Just my two penneth worth

              Comment


                #8
                The market has cooled down a lot over the last few years and some games don't go for stupid money any more, however...

                Price guides do nothing to help, they are generally out of date before they come out and just make people buy games cause they are expensive and *rare*(!)

                Radiant Silvergun on Saturn, Alien Soldier and Devil Castle Dracula on Japanese Megadrive, Shaphire on PC Engine Arcade CD-ROM and Metal Slug on US Neo Geo are good examples of games that aren't rare but are desirable and hence the price goes through the roof. Examples of really rare games that don't sell for stupid money, but rarely show up include games like Aryton Senna Personal Talk on Saturn, True Lies and WWF Raw on Japanese Megadrive, Cal III on PC Engine Super CD-ROM, King of Fighters 95 on US Neo Geo.

                Games are also priced due to popularity at the time, for example Ristar on Japanese Megadrive has gone up in price in most Japanese second hand shops just because it's a hidden game in the Sonic collection on the Game Cube...

                When a 'Rare' game comes along sells for silly money between two to four bidders, the chances are that more 'rare' games will come out of the woodwork and the price comes tumbling down.

                I collect a huge ammount of games for Japanese retro consoles but there is a difference between collecting games cause they are worth money and getting games to play.

                Comment

                Working...
                X