Deep-Pocketed Collectors Are Fueling A Retro Game Gold Rush

Video Games
21

PC Engine has been affected by this as well - it’s crazy to me the sheer amount of sealed PCE Works copies on ebay that people are asking a ton of money for. I’m wondering if that’s the result of speculators buying in hoping to make money, only to find out they got burned buying what amounts to fancy repros.

22

This. These days I tend to be content only keeping games that I’m proud to own or actually want to play. It doesn’t stop me from ultimately buying too many games than I have time for, which is fine since it’s still good to try these games, but I am very much content with a curated selection of games I’ll always return to, or had a great time playing.

2 Likes
23

There was a panel at PAX East 2014 about video game collecting where the host asked folk to raise their hands if they collected video games and then asked people to keep their hands up if they collected sealed games and then proceeded to tell the folk who still had their hands up that they are idiots for doing so as sealed video games aren’t a good investment and - let’s be real - if you aren’t going to open them and play then you’re collecting them as an investment.

24

You show Stadium Events to someone on the street, they’re not going to know what the hell you’re talking about. But you show anyone Mario and immediately they can sing you the jingle from the first level,” says Deniz Kahn, the president of Wata Games, a company that authenticates and assesses collectible video games.

  1. Grading company. Yuck.
  2. “the jingle from the first level” - you mean, the main and only theme for all regular levels in the entire game? I mean he’s technically not wrong but the way the sentence is stated makes it sound ignorant, yet this is the guy who ‘grades’ games?
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25

So I don’t consider myself a collector. I buy old kids toys that I like playing with as an adult, and have a “curated library” of those.

But I also like setting them up to look good on a shelf and have somehow amassed 601 physical games and a bunch of consoles, handhelds, and accessories to go along with them.

Regarding the article itself, I cannot understand fussing over “first print” games unless your goal is to just have the most expensive artifact possible.

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26

Glad I got into this stuff early. I have almost everything I want at this point.