Are we a dying breed/future collection value shrinking?

[Max P.]

Sorry chaps to kick off such a negative topic but where once I felt my collection would always be worth a tidy sum in the future I get the feeling lately that it isn't going to be so...

I guess most of us grew up with good old cartridges etc and have that nostalgic love for the asthetic beauty of the silicone/packing/artwork as well as the wonderful software within. Yes, we can sit here in front of our PC's with instant emulated access to any game we could want but as so many of us know it just ain't the same thing...

I for one have zero interest in the world of emulation - the joy comes from a beautiful complete boxed copy of Secret of Mana or unwrapping a Japanese Saturn to set up a session of Souky...

But where are the future collectors - will they really keep this hobby/obsession/love of ours alive?

[cutmymilk]

It seems to be dying at the moment. That may be because of the instant retro action available on this gen consoles. Space is also more expensive than ever.

When the Wii library grows and I can replace all of my SNES stuff, I probably won't be plugging it in again. Can't say its disappointing - having all those cables and boxes around the TV can be a right pain!

[the klaxon]

I dunno mate, it's hard to call, being the eldest of three brothers by a good 10 years, I doubt whether my younger siblings, both in their early 20's, would treasure and adore an actual copy of say, Halo 3 in 15 years, in quite the same way that I do treasure and adore my boxed and complete mint copy of Final Fantasy III for my US SNES.

A similar thread was written a while back about the impact of the VC & Xbox Live Arcade services and that retro games may lose their charm and exclusivity because anyone with a next gen console and broadband can instantly enjoy old classics without hunting down actual copies on eBay and owning that particular console to play it on.

It's also worth pointing out that NOT every retro game is gonna be available on VC or XBL, we are only drip fed what Nitendo and Microsoft are willing to upload, there are always gonna be more games only available on native consoles than VC XBL services.

Collecting games is exactly like collecting anything else, things are only worth what someone is willing to pay. An example, the imergence of the internet hasn't affected sales of old stamps and vintage postcards from yesteryear and the hardcore collectors of such things will always be out there no matter what.

Some people like the easy route to pretty much anything in life, fair play I suppose but there will always be those of us out there who would actually be prepared to buy a console to natively play only one game!

I have a few times!

[BaudAttitude]

Short answer: yes.

Long answer:

Reason 1: People who grew up with SNES / Super Famicom games, in particular, are well out of their college years and in to the "building a life" part of the equation, where suddenly you have a lot less time and a lot less space to do anything with. People whose first console was the Playstation are now hitting the age where they miss the old games and have the money to go back and buy them... And in a few years, they'll have less space and time then THEY used to.

Reason 2: Suddenly the avenues to emulation are widely available and legal - sure, the catalogs are smaller, but if you just want a quick nostalgia hit, the Virtual Console can hook you up, or Gametap, or any of the console-based collections.

Reason 3: One of the "hooks" to classic game collecting has always been this: "New games are expensive. I can buy a bunch of these old games for really cheap, and they're fun, too! Hey, I have a whole lot of these games I got for cheap, I wonder how many they made? I wonder if I could get one of everything?"
Nowadays, new games are pretty cheap. I see lots of Xbox and PS2 games for under $5. When I can get a quick gaming fix for 5 bucks without finding an old console, there's nothing to drive me backwards.

Reason 4: Even if you sucker them in to the thought of cheap older games, shipping is godawful expensive. I see lots of games go through eBay that I wouldn't mind playing again... and are even fairly cheap!

...and then the seller wants to add on 7 bucks for shipping...

Reason 5: GBA Final Fantasy reissues.

"But it's only a couple of games!"

Yes, but they're "gateway" games. They're games that were popular enough that someone might go to the trouble of hunting down a SNES and then paying collector's prices for the carts... and then, damn, I've got this console and I paid a lot of money for it, I should get a FEW more games for it... (see #3 above)

Reason 6: Backlogs. I've seen an awful lot of threads in the last few months with people bemoaning how many games they have queued up. Kind of takes the urgency off adding to the collection.


How many of these are real reasons? Who knows. I've no data to back any of them up, they're just my thoughts on the matter.


I did just buy a SFC game off eBay last week, though... I have no resistance when it comes to mahjong games, especially ones I didn't know existed for the platform and that have that ever so handy Buy It Now button I clicked before I even stopped to think the "do I need this? I have the Saturn games in the same series..." thoughts.

[kernow]

You should collect for the love of it, not value

who cares how much its worth?

[Shou]

In a sense, the value of collections are definitely in a downward spiral when it comes to the mainstream in general as there are less people around who can appreciate such a thing and even less people who are willing to pay for this kind of stuff but within collector circles, I've seen certain items increasing in value but I am certain it has to do with the passage of time leading to more demand and less supply for some of these things.

When I sold my massive collection a few years ago, it was definitely worth more than the general amount I received but I also think that I could not get that amount today.

[Max P.]

You should collect for the love of it, not value


Too true and I could not agree more. But most of us have invested a lot of money in our love of retro (or in my case half of it owned new since early 90's) and one day the time will come to sell - I'm 40 next year... Be nice to know we would get something back to add to the kids inheritance!

[Duddyroar]

I've noticed prices coming down quite a bit recently on a wide range of retro stuff - which is ace, cos it means you can build an amazingly diverse selection of software for not much cash!

People who collect for the sake of value alone I've never understood. As soon as I stop playing a game or feel that I won't play it again, I get rid of it.

[MarioMark]

I'm not really one for emulating, I get bored after 5 minutes because it's not the same playing it on the PC with a Xbox 360 pad. But playing a VC game on my Wii doesn't feel like using an emulator because it's being played on a Nintendo console, and I paid for it. I think the VC is going to put a hit on rare retro games every day.

[Fastware]

Values are lower now becuase it's the summer, let's see what it's worth in December. Its an annual cycle on Ebay now is the time to buy, not many buyers.

[mezzanine]

I can't say I'm losing any sleep wondering if the game playing kids of today will appreciate the likes of Battle Garegga and Mario 3 in fifteen years time.

You should collect for the love of it, not value

who cares how much its worth?

Yep.

[danholo]

Who cares what the value of you collection is? Frankly, it's 'important' to you so why do you care what other people think? Since it's your fixation, keep it to yourself. Nobody else cares, at least I don't.

[Duddyroar]

Some of the most prized games in my collection aren't worth more than a few quid!

[MonkeyJuggleDX]

I love what I collect and most of it, while worthless to others, isn't to me.

As long as there are people that collect because it's a passion, not because of monetary value, we will never be a dying breed.

[chaoticjelly]

If your collecting and worried about the cash, only collect the near mint and pristine examples of the games you want, its getting harder and harder to find this kind of stuff and the few collectors left out there will pay more for that if you do decide to get shut.. if you buy cheap enough then you dont really need to worry I cant see anyone throwing all their carts and old games away soon..