Increasing retro game prices, how and why?

[Radirgy]

I've been talking to a few people about this recently so I thought I'd bring the subject up here.

Retro Game prices, if there is one thing I have noticed it is that prices have gone up over the last few years and that Nintendo games in particular are starting to become much more expensive to the point where the games are starting to look like investments and collectors items.

One question we need to ask before we can do anything about this problem is why is it happening? There must be a good reason why N64 consoles with a few games can sell in an ebay auction for around ?50, I don't know about you but that seems like way too much, speaking of Nintendo games I find the prices for the zelda games to border a bit on the stupid side, they're not exactly rare and yet many of them can easily sell for ?20 or more for just the game alone, I think it says a lot when Ocarina of Time is the cheapest Zelda game at around ?10+.

Maybe these prices seem high because I've gotten lucky in the past and bagged games for what are essentially bargains, for example when I got Skies of Arcadia Legends on Gamecube it was ?12 in gamestation, now the game is pushing closer and closer to the ?50 tag on ebay, when did this happen? Why did this happen?

Are people so desperate to own a good game that they're willing to turn it into a premium item? I saw a copy of Skies go for ?55 on ebay, I sold mine for half that, for what is suppose to be a rough economic climate people seem to be able to spend more recklessly on games than ever. The only way I can justify such prices is if you buy a mega expensive game and then sell it back when you finish it but then you are effectively turning places like ebay into an expensive renting system, a renting system where depending on your luck could lead to you making a small profit, breaking even or losing a lot of money.

I think part of the problem is the idea put into everyone's heads now that playing the game isn't enough anymore you have to OWN IT. People are not content owning a game in digital form on something like Virtual Console or Steam, they have to have the really thing so that they can touch it and look at it and "play it properly" (wonder how many people go on VC and download games they already own just for the sake of having another console to play it on?). If my past experiences owning an NES taught me anything it is that sometimes the right way is not as good as the wrong way.

I say tell those high prices to go do one because if you pay those prices then you are only condoning it and giving people an excuse to push those prices even higher.

[neoboy259]

Don't see what the problem is regarding high retro games prices. If you don't like the prices, then emulate if all you want to do is play.

And a N64 console with a few games for ?50? Doesnt sound excessive to me...............

[Brad]

As time passes the number of old games in decent condition decreases and pushes up the price of those that are still around. I believe the same rules apply to pretty much everything!

[Colin]

As the years go on, all this stuff becomes thinner on the ground, especially in nice condition. Nintendo stuff in my eyes will rocket more than most systems due to the packaging used for the games. A mint cardboard box game holds much more value to a collector (and is harder to find) than a dog rough one. As Neoboy says though, if you don't want to pay it you don't need to, there's lots of other options to play all this stuff on.

EDIT: Beaten to it by FSW!

[nakamura]

Supply and demand also. People want a slice of the retro pie nowadays. Be it new games that want to sample real back catalogues or miserable old gits like me who think current gen gaming is something of a bore.

[acidbearboy]

The same thing happens with old records. People pay top dollar for old Beatles albums, despite millions of them having been sold and the fact that they can now be bought on cd or downloaded. At the same time, an underground classic that was released in smaller numbers will also have higher worth as the chances of obtaining a copy are slimmer.

You picked a bad example with Skies of Arcadia. It's a game which is held in high regard and one that was not released in huge numbers (I assume, given the host consoles). There's no digital option either, so if you want to play it legally then you need to buy a physical copy on either the DC or GC.

Nintendo's first party classics are popular with a huge number of gamers, making the market wider and therefore richer. At the same time, more niche titles that had a limited release or a small print run will also fetch higher prices due to their rarity. You'll find thousands of games on ebay for pennies, but that's because nobody wants bad games. There are also still plenty of good (but not classic) and interesting games being sold at sensible prices. But desirable titles will always rise in price, as more and more copies become part of somebody's collection, leaving fewer and fewer for sale.

[Soundwave]

Supply and demand also. People want a slice of the retro pie nowadays. Be it new games that want to sample real back catalogues or miserable old gits like me who think current gen gaming is something of a bore.

I'm in this old git bracket now.

With the dwindling spare time I have now thanks to the little miss I find myself drawn back to retro gaming where it was simpler & easier to pick up & play so buying up old classics has become the order of the day for me.

But it's not all sky high prices if you look hard enough there are bargains to be had...obviously the better the condition you want the more expensive it becomes but if it's just to play then cart only can be had for peanuts.

Although there are the exceptions to that rule with titles like Turtles in Time, Contra 3 & Castlevania IV who seem to command ridiculous costs even in Cart only form.

I feel the biggest issue is the Ebayers who just sick BIN on everything & not even realistic ones.
I still don't think that any SNES game is worth more than the ?40-?50 it cost me back in the day & even then I think that's pushing it.

I have a few sellers saved on Ebay that do have top quality titles for reasonable prices & I only look at them now when I want something & steer clear from the BIN brigrade.

Neil

[Asura]

As time passes the number of old games in decent condition decreases and pushes up the price of those that are still around. I believe the same rules apply to pretty much everything!

This, really. Whilst not as big an issue with more robust consoles like the SNES, stuff like the second hand Dreamcast consoles will go up and up, because the machines were so prone to breaking. This also applies to handhelds with non-scratched screens, as the laws of entropy effectively make it certain that there'll be fewer and fewer available as time marches on.

Recently I've been getting a small Neo Geo Pocket Color collection together, and I've been stunned at how much UK boxed NGPC games go for - though in their case, that's a peculiarity of the NGPC as a platform because the UK games are more desirable than the US ones due to having AES-style plastic boxes (whereas American and Japanese ones were card, like GBC/A games packaging <spit>).

I'd say that if you have a boxed UK Neo Geo Pocket Color game, you'll almost certainly be able to sell it for its original value (especially the SNK titles). Some of them like Match of the Millennium seem to easily fetch ?50-60.

[Mayhem]

Although it was worse in the past Asura, some of the games were a lot more expensive say 5 years ago. Unless prices have started to creep back up again... I finished my UK set in the mid 2000s.

[speedlolita]

You just have to be smart with what you're buying. eBay lets you buy stuff easily but you can get it around 30% cheaper from "scene" sellers.

I'm against the rise in prices obviously but it's to be expected with "retro" games becoming cool now.

I dislike game resellers quite a lot, for hiking prices.

[Zaki]

US SNES and US N64 prices have skyrocketed recently!

Especially N64 - many people are going for the full set, because it is relatively achievable (only 296 titles).

[tokyochojin]

stuff like the second hand Dreamcast consoles will go up and up, because the machines were so prone to breaking.

Really? I still have my launch console which has never been an issue. Are Dreamcast any worse than say a Playstation or any other CD based unit?

[speedlolita]

Not really.

[Asura]

Not really.

It's semi-anecdotal, but during the Dreamcast's lifespan and soon after, I had 3 machines due to faults. The first had faulty graphics hardware, the second suffered from the "reset problem" and the third's controller board eventually blew - all relatively common faults.

Additionally, I worked for a games retailer at the time and we had no end of faulty Dreamcast consoles returned, far more than any other contemporary machine - definitely more than the PS2, Xbox or Gamecube by some margin.

By comparison, I still have a fully operational year-of-launch Xbox 360 which sees heavy use.

I can't exactly present detailed figures but as a result of all this, I've always seen it as a fragile machine.

[nakamura]

Personally I find the DC to be the most fragile of the big CD based machines.