Classic games are getting expensive

[mbd30]

A loose Contra cart goes for $30 and it's hardly rare. http://www.amazon.com/Contra-Nes/dp/B0009VRFFS

 

"Super Castlevania IV", also $30, just for the cartridge.

 

 

Maybe it's a good time to buy all these games before the price shoots up even more.

[+Gemintronic]

Maybe you're looking in the wrong places. Flea markets are where it's at.

[Rex Dart]

I'll pick them up later when people get bored of them again. Besides, I still own all the carts that have any special importance to me. The rest get emulated until I find a good price.

[+GoldenWheels]

Maybe you're looking in the wrong places. Flea markets are where it's at.

 

Flea markets, at least where I am, have rapidly became equivalent to ebay since that is what most of the vendors seem to use to set their prices. Hell I've asked on prices and had some guys look it right up on ebay in front of me to determine it.

 

i still find the occasional guy who has something undervalued but that is becoming rarer and rarer.

[+Gemintronic]

 

Flea markets, at least where I am, have rapidly became equivalent to ebay since that is what most of the vendors seem to use to set their prices. Hell I've asked on prices and had some guys look it right up on ebay in front of me to determine it.

 

i still find the occasional guy who has something undervalued but that is becoming rarer and rarer.

 

This is definitely a big problem. I no longer shop at Salvation Army type p[laces for video games because of this. Also, new local video game stores ruin their sales by doing this.

[108 Stars]

You're lucky you live in the US. In Germany retro gaming prices have exploded in the last 3 years. 30$ for a loose Super Castlevania is a pretty good deal here now.

 

There are common games like Castlevania or Contro or Metroid that are just fetching high prices because the IP is still popular, or popular again. Ninja Gaiden on the SMS was only 5 Euros CIB, now it's more like 40.

 

Then there is other games that went for little money but became more valuable through some media attention. Hagane was a 5 Euro flea market game, now the loose copy fetches 50 plus Euro.

 

Common Mega Drive games like Revenge of shinobi sold for 5 Euro CIB, now it starts at 15.

 

The list goes on and on. In general you can say prices have risen 50-100% in recent years, with some specific games having had much greater raises in value.

 

Hardware became more expensive too. I want to have a 32X, but below 70 or 80 Euros for a loose system on a lucky day there is no way.

 

However, like most trends I hope that this bubble will eventually burst, flooding the market with lots of copies for sale again.

[Reaperman]

Just wait until we get older. Prices will drop.

 

Lots of us will be dumping our larger spaces for smaller 'retirement' residences. Some of us will even be dying off (as horrible a thought as that is).

The short of it is that there will probably be fewer collectors, and a lot of people dumping collections.

 

We may not see as many new retro game collectors going forward, as todays games are increasingly becoming something that's best served fresh.

Edited December 16, 2013 by Reaperman

[Algus]

Amazon's used exchange has always been a bit pricey compared to other places, even eBay. Though I have found good deals there before and sometimes it can be the best place to hunt down something really rare (mostly because no one is taking whatever high price the game is listed at lol!)

 

I've stuck with mostly private forum trading for a couple years now though. It's been the easiest way to find what I want at the most reasonable prices. AtariAge and NintendoAge both have pretty good setups for building buyer/seller confidence as well.

[Andre81]

We may not see as many new retro game collectors going forward, as todays games are increasingly becoming something that's best served fresh.

New games are no longer distributed on a media. They are download only. Many games will even stop working within the next 5 years.

 

You cannot collect iOS games. You cannot collect browser games. Games on a media for Xbox one and PS4 will also die out.

 

Collecting games will be a closed chapter. 1976 till 2016. That's it. So new collectors can only opt for the old consoles.

 

[108 Stars]

No.

Physical releases do get fewer, but they won' vanish for quite a few years still. Certainly not during the PS4's/XBO's lifespan.

And even once downloads have overtaken physical sales there will still be releases for colloctors. Look at the flood of special editions in recent years, demand for collector's items is high. The transition won't be quick.

Edited December 17, 2013 by 108 Stars

[desiv]

Just wait a few months too..

Frequently, you see a spike in prices (at least e-bay auction) around Christmas.

Sellers looking to gouge someone looking for a present...

 

There are still reasonable deals, but there seem to be more of the "what are they thinking" auctions this time of year.

 

desiv

(And in answer to the question, IF someone bites, that's what they were thinking...)

[Andre81]

No.

Physical releases do get fewer, but they won' vanish for quite a few years still. Certainly not during the PS4's/XBO's lifespan.

And even once downloads have overtaken physical sales there will still be releases for colloctors. Look at the flood of special editions in recent years, demand for collector's items is high. The transition won't be quick.

 

I said by 2016 physical releases will mostly vanish. Even today most games are sold as a download and no longer on a media. iOS, Android, Steam, many PS3/360 games are already download only. The games departments in electronics stores here are already becoming smaller and smaller. Of course there will be collectors items, but less than 25% of the PS4 titles will see a physical release. Only major games will be released on a dics.

[ColecoGemini]

People have been saying physical media will be gone "in a few years" since DVD premiered in 1997. Calm down. Physical media isn't going anywhere. There are too many manufacturers and CE corporations invested in physical media for it to disappear. The world is much bigger than a handful if DLC packs and crappy iPhone games.

[Rhomaios]

People have been saying physical media will be gone "in a few years" since DVD premiered in 1997. Calm down. Physical media isn't going anywhere. There are too many manufacturers and CE corporations invested in physical media for it to disappear. The world is much bigger than a handful if DLC packs and crappy iPhone games.

 

Digital games sales have already surpassed physical media sales by hundreds of millions of dollars, and there is no sign of that trend reversing. "DLC packs and crappy iPhone games"...sounds like someone's head is in the sand. The writing is on the wall. Yeah, 2016 may be a little early for total obliteration, but I'd wager that by then digital sales will outnumber physical sales 2-to-1 easily.

 

Edit: http://www.gamepolitics.com/2013/11/22/npd-report-digital-game-sales-surpass-physical-q3

Edited December 17, 2013 by o.pwuaioc

[Andre81]

Thanks for the link. What some people don't seem to understand is that we already have several download only systems. I doesn't matter if those are crappy iPhone games. N-Gage was crappy too, but you can collect the games. And the crappy and obscure games of the past are the rare collectibles today.

 

Today only major games by large distributors are available as physical software. Call of Duty, EA games, all available on disc. But those are less than 100 titles. The vast majority of games are download only already. It also doesn't matter if those games are crappy, there are just not many games you can collect. A complete PS4 collection will consist of less than 100 discs. And those games come in a clamshell packaging, so there is no such thing as a mint copy. That means you'll be able to buy a complete collection for $500 sooner or later.

 

Collecting for the new and current systems will vanish.

 

[108 Stars]

Imo you can't count it that way. Sure digital sales outperform physical ones already; but that takes into account every silly 50-cent-game that would never have seen release in physical form even if there was no internet. The huge digital sales stem from an endless stream of cheap throw-away-games. That does make a difference. That is an expansion of total sales, nothing that cuts into sales of traditional big games much.

 

It's as if the comic book was invented now, and saying because comics sell well real books will be gone soon.

 

Look at classic big games and physical copies still easily outperform downloads of the same game, especially on consoles. People still prefer that for games that cost more than a happy meal.

 

Counting games that probably wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for download services gives a twisted picture when you're talking about whether or not physical games will disappear.

 

Physical copies vanishing is bs. When the PS4 is done for we'll probably be at 1000+ retail games again. It's sad so many people always bite the bait when drama is predicted.

Edited December 17, 2013 by 108 Stars

[Andre81]

Here is a list of the PS4 launch titles and the media type:

 

http://ign.com/wikis/playstation-4/PlayStation_4_Launch_Titles

 

As you can see only 50% of the games are available retail. The other 50% are download only. At the end of the PS4 life span you can be sure that less than 25% of all games were available retail.

 

And the games available retail will never be rare. Only the major games are available retail and sell a few million times. And now have a look which Atari games are rare today, the crappy ones, the ones that sold in low quantities. And those games are available as download only today.

 

So there will never be a large PS4 collection with rare games. Only 100 commons. So collecting video games is vanishing right now.

 

[Manoau2002]

Downloading games is one problem. I think the biggest threat is cloud gaming. Sony bought a cloud gaming a year or so ago so its only a matter of time before they move to it. I know about onlive and the struggles thats faced but the problems are mostly due to a lack of money. If someone like Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, or even Netflix enters cloud gaming it will really take off.

[The Usotsuki]

For better or worse...mostly worse, anyway...I can see the "no media" being the norm.

 

I've predicted worse and I hope it doesn't come to pass: companies bricking all their units at the end of the generation to force people to move up.

[Andre81]

The PS2 had 3870 retail games released worldwide. The PS3 has only 795 retail games worldwide as of now.

 

Anyone wants to guess how many retail games will be released for the PS4? 100? 200?

 

 

[Rhomaios]

The PS2 had 3870 retail games released worldwide. The PS3 has only 795 retail games worldwide as of now.

 

Anyone wants to guess how many retail games will be released for the PS4? 100? 200?

 

Let's be fair, though. The PS2 was in the right spot for that number of games, being born at a time when mass gaming appeal hit critical levels and had over a decade long lifespan, so that well after the PS3 the PS2 was still getting games. Also, the PS3 had a slow start, but that it still got over 150 less titles than the first Xbox while being on the market for longer is more telling.

[Andre81]

Let's be fair, though. The PS2 was in the right spot for that number of games, being born at a time when mass gaming appeal hit critical levels and had over a decade long lifespan, so that well after the PS3 the PS2 was still getting games. Also, the PS3 had a slow start, but that it still got over 150 less titles than the first Xbox while being on the market for longer is more telling.

Did you see this link? Have a look at the media type of the list of launch window titles (Q1 2014):

 

http://ign.com/wikis/playstation-4/PlayStation_4_Launch_Titles

 

Retail games are rapidly declining. All PS2 games were retail games, thus the high number of collectable games.

 

PS3 already saw a huge number of PSN only games, thus the lower number of retail games (and the reasons you mention).

 

The number of retail games for the PS4 will be way lower than for the PS3.

 

So video game collecting started with the Atari 2600, saw it's peak with the PS2 and is now rapidly declining. PS4 will be a small collection of common/major games. I don't think artifical "collectors editions" of the same games again and again will change that. I just don't think 10 different copies of the same 100 games will make a nice collection. 90% of the games will the download only (PSN).

 

 

[Rhomaios]

I'd rather not look! I'm not buying any console just to play some digital only games at full retail price. I don't even buy Steam games for anything more than 75% off, and even then, I don't buy games from Steam unless I know that I can't get a physical copy. The new generation's trend for digital download of old games isn't for me. I'll never buy a single game from the Virtual Console, PSN, or XBL(A), although I may be a hypocrite for supporting Ouya, but at least the open nature of APKs makes it worth it to me.

[108 Stars]

Well, it is all just speculation. I still think you're on the wrong track and that we can expect hundreds of physical games as usual, but we will only know that when the new systems are dead.

 

For now I uld suggest not to derail the thread any further: It is about the pricing of retro games right now, not about what will happen to physical media.

[Cobra Kai]

I honestly don't think there will be any major movement in retro prices in a downward trend. There may be times during any given year where it seems like prices are more fair, or it's a 'good time to buy', but I have not seen any trending except up, up and up for years now.

 

The retro market is set, all the games are made, all the hardware is out there and available that will ever be. The supply never increases, it only suffers attrition due to breakage, and storage, or just thrown away. It seems like heaven right now, as there is seemingly an endless supply of Atari 2600 cartridges, or NES cartridges out there, but this will not always be the case.

 

I'm not predicting that prices will skyrocket for every classic system, but I don't see the bottom falling out either. It has all been rather stable for years, with a steady upward trend in pricing. There are exceptions, I think the SNES has been quite shocking to me in it's price spike for generally every game other than throw away sports titles. The Atari Jaguar and games has been kind of hovering into uncollectable territory for casual collectors/gamers recently, with it's steady increase in price for stuff. I mean when you are speaking about volume and available stock, the Jaguar truly is a collectable video game console that is in no danger of a decline in prices. There truly isn't that much Jaguar stuff out there, certainly not the millions upon millions of everything from other consoles.