"Your Old Video Game Could Be Worth $12,000"--You suck CNN

[+GoldenWheels]

Your Old Video Game Could Be Worth $12,000 Furtive deals that go down in parking lots. Crazy price spikes that happen without warning.

Giulio Graziani says it makes him feel a bit like a drug dealer, even though he's not buying anything illegal. It's part of his job digging up a steady supply of video games from the 1980s and 1990s for his store, VideoGamesNewYork, which specializes in everything from Atari and Gameboy to rare prototype NES cartridges.

 

Old video games, once relegated to dusty bargain bins, have been cashing in on the nostalgia machine and gaining value just like baseball cards or stamp collections.

Graziani, 50, has been in business since 2003, but says the market only recently began to spike. "Five years ago, I could drive through Texas and stop in little towns and buy everything," he says. "Now they're selling games out there for more than I do!"

 

Even simple pieces, like The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, which cost $12 in 2010, now go for $25. More coveted games, like Nintendo's Earthbound, can fetch hundreds of dollars, even thousands if they're in the original box.

 

Prices skyrocketed almost overnight, says JJ Hendricks, whose site Video Games Price Charting tracks the going rate for vintage games. He estimates the market for retro games is now worth about $200 million annually. Hendricks once spent months negotiating with a mysterious source in Canada to buy one of only two Powerfest 94 prototypes known to exist. He ultimately made the deal -- for $12,000 in cash.

It's the perfect storm. Just as kids who grew up in the '80s and '90s are reaching their thirties, the supply of vintage games is shrinking.

 

"I think it's just a nostalgia for when they were younger," says David Kaelin, who runs the Classic Game Fest in Austin, Texas, and owns a chain of shops, Game Over Videogames. "It was a more innocent time in gaming. They were easier to pick up and play, less violent, more universally accessible than they are now."

 

Nostalgia isn't the only thing driving prices higher.

 

eBay auctions and dedicated YouTube channels have also fed the frenzy.

 

"I'm kind of creating the problem as well," says Aaron Stapish. His YouYube channel, RetroLiberty, focuses almost exclusively on the retro video game hunt. It has 30,000 subscribers and regularly gets 15,000 to 20,000 views per episode, each one documenting Stapish and his crew meeting sellers in parking lots or digging through swap meets for cheap finds.

 

But it's harder and harder to strike gold. If Stapish mentions he's looking for a game on his show, he notices a chain reaction: other people start hunting and owners quickly start charging more.

Bryan Harwell, who owns Replay'd in Allston, Massachusetts, has had to evolve in order to survive. Instead of continually searching for cheap deals, his store mostly relies on customers to sell him their old stuff. (He also sells current games.) But his profit margins have shrunk. Three years ago, he says he made 50% to 60% profit on any retro games he sold. Now, it's as low as 5% to 10%.

 

Luckily, for a casual retro gamer, there are some cheap solutions to get a quick dose of nostalgia. Nintendo's Virtual Console allows you to download classic titles to play on the Wii U or Nintendo 3DS. The Retron 5 console by Hyperkin sells for $159.99 and supports games for 10 systems, including NES, SNES, Famicom, SENES, Genesis and Game Boy.

 

But, for some people, nothing beats the real thing.

 

"For retro gamers, one of the most important things is reliving that experience you had when you were a kid," says Stapish, who plays retro games about 30 hours a week. "So you want to have the actual game, you want to actually put the game in the system and hold it with the original controller."

 

http://money.cnn.com/2015/08/11/technology/retro-video-games/index.html?iid=ob_homepage_deskrecommended_pool&iid=obnetwork

 

 

 

 

crash crash crash crash crash crash crash......

 

[Giltygear]

crash crash crash crash crash crash crash......

 

 

Will never happen. Shelfqueens, collectards, hoarders, and flippers have destroyed this hobby well beyond the point of saving.

 

As far as YouTube "celebrities" are concerned, they are some of the most vain, narsissistic people that I have ever seen, and they all seem to follow the same formula, with some variations here and there.

 

-Elaborate opening made in Final Cut Pro and/or some attempt at "humor", accompanied by awful chiptune "music"

-Someone (more often than not, a male) stands in front of a wall of games, a green screen, their game room, or some combination thereof

-They review some old game (most likely a Nintendo game) and call it "retro" (grating my fucking nerves)

-Footage is shown of the game being played by them with NO proficiency shown whatsoever

-A plea for likes, comments, descriptions, tweets, FB posts, smoke signals, or (my new favorite) kickstarter or paetron donations. Because i want to pay YOU to do this

-Overly-elaborate ending with a credit roll (this isnt a movie, just stop)

 

Sometimes, replace the game with a movie.

 

Oh, and don't forget to be "angry" and swear a lot. No one does that. Ever.

[+GoldenWheels]

 

Will never happen. Shelfqueens, collectards, hoarders, and flippers have destroyed this hobby well beyond the point of saving.

 

As far as YouTube "celebrities" are concerned, they are some of the most vain, narsissistic people that I have ever seen, and they all seem to follow the same formula, with some variations here and there.

 

-Elaborate opening made in Final Cut Pro and/or some attempt at "humor", accompanied by awful chiptune "music"

-Someone (more often than not, a male) stands in front of a wall of games, a green screen, their game room, or some combination thereof

-They review some old game (most likely a Nintendo game) and call it "retro" (grating my fucking nerves)

-Footage is shown of the game being played by them with NO proficiency shown whatsoever

-A plea for likes, comments, descriptions, tweets, FB posts, smoke signals, or (my new favorite) kickstarter or paetron donations. Because i want to pay YOU to do this

-Overly-elaborate ending with a credit roll (this isnt a movie, just stop)

 

Sometimes, replace the game with a movie.

 

Oh, and don't forget to be "angry" and swear a lot. No one does that. Ever.

 

Eh...I guess I hold out hope that the a majority of the first three lose interest at some point, rendering the fourth less of an issue. That they'll dump the shelf and move onto something else eventually. But maybe demand will always be > supply at this point, sure, I can see that.

 

Frankly I don't agree the hobby is destroyed. It's just not the bargain paradise any more that any collector's market is before it gets mainstream. That's what I hate about articles like THIS. It puts unrealistic expectations in the heads of people who probably know the LEAST about the hobby and it's market.

Edited August 14, 2015 by GoldenWheels

[frank_c]

"Could be" but "probably isn't."

[Nutsy Doodleheimer]

 

[Andromeda Stardust]

Yup. Pretty much sums it up. Another issue fueling the rising prices of unicorns and rare games is these collector asshats who insist on attaining a complete set of NES or some other console. They even have badges on Nintendoage for this. Yeah I get the idea that you have some lofty goal to achieve, but does anybody really freakking need all 768 NES games? 50-70% of nearly every library is filler, sports, or just crap. I try to collect stuff that's actually fun or unique.

[darthkur]

I loathe reports like that because it makes every dumb ass think anything they have, no mater how dirt common or beat to ell it is, must be worth a boat load of rubies.

[Algus]

I dont get people who collect just to have them. I'd rather buy games that are fun to play but I have to admit a few of the richer guys that are into the hobby have turned me onto some obscure stuff I probably wouldnt have known about if they hadnt done videos of the off the wall stuff they've collected over the years

[BassGuitari]

I dont get people who collect just to have them.

I used to do that. In retrospect, I wonder why I ever did. I have a lot of stuff that, if I'm really being honest with myself, I don't have much interest in. Now, it's to expensive to do that for most systems anyway. I should probably have a sell-off one of these days.

 

However, there are a few systems where I'll collect anything for it I don't have, regardless of whether I intent to actually play/use it. Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, and Intellivision, namely. XEGS, Colecovision, NES, TRS-80 Color Computer...forget it.

[Mitkraft]

Must be what the local guy with the light sixer asking $300 on CL just read before he posted his ad. I've seen a spike in the 3 figure Atari ads on CL locally. None of them had anything generally considered valuable or came with the volume of pieces to justify that. Matter of fact the ads with the valuable Atari stuff are generally the ones that dont know what they have.

[Reaperman]

I'm not greedy. If somebody offered me just a quarter of that amount per game, I'd sell him the whole collection.

Surely there must be some idiot "investor" who can see the value of my offer.

 

"...and would good sir care to have a peek at my garbage bag full of combat carts? No, I'm pretty sure they were originally sold that way--all together in the Hefty sack, there."

Edited August 15, 2015 by Reaperman

[+madman]

I think it's worse with games, but I've seen this to some degree with record collecting as well. Someone reads a story about a Beatles LP selling for 5 figures and then assumes all their records are worth a fortune. The "retro" game market has gotten insane in the last decade, I remember buying lots of 30 NES games for a buck a piece, good luck with that now. Craigslist is now basically useless too. The hobby has been ruined by greed.

[+madman]

As far as YouTube "celebrities" are concerned, they are some of the most vain, narsissistic people that I have ever seen, and they all seem to follow the same formula, with some variations here and there.

Truth with all your points. Add in the fact that a lot of these YouTube people don't participate in the forums other than to post links to the video and await comments. They're not at all members of the community, they just need their egos fed. That all said, I really enjoy Classic Game Room videos (no idea if he's on any forums) as he seems like a true fan of gaming.

[Keatah]

Well you gotta have some sensationalism from time to time. It's the way of modern media. It's all about making money and getting attention.

Edited August 16, 2015 by Keatah

[Mitkraft]

Well you gotta have some sensationalism from time to time all day every day. It's the way of modern media. It's all about making money and getting attention.

 

FYP for you

[Austin]

 

As far as YouTube "celebrities" are concerned, they are some of the most vain, narsissistic people that I have ever seen, and they all seem to follow the same formula, with some variations here and there.

 

-Elaborate opening made in Final Cut Pro and/or some attempt at "humor", accompanied by awful chiptune "music"

-Someone (more often than not, a male) stands in front of a wall of games, a green screen, their game room, or some combination thereof

-They review some old game (most likely a Nintendo game) and call it "retro" (grating my fucking nerves)

-Footage is shown of the game being played by them with NO proficiency shown whatsoever

-A plea for likes, comments, descriptions, tweets, FB posts, smoke signals, or (my new favorite) kickstarter or paetron donations. Because i want to pay YOU to do this

-Overly-elaborate ending with a credit roll (this isnt a movie, just stop)

 

[atarilovesyou]

The collector market for old games will simply continue to get higher and higher in price. While I never collected for that, some pieces have a big resale value. It really has nothing to do with gameplay, of course. It's just this stuff is old, and in great shape it commands a high price...many hobbies are like this.

 

But what we fail to realize in some cases, especially the old Ocarina of Time example above: how much was the game brand NEW? If you bought all these games yourself back in the day, you'd have nothing but a huge cash sink in terms of overall value. There's just no way that your collection would have the pieces in it (on average) to make up for the games that way back when went for no less than 50 bucks new. Sure, you go to a thrift store or find a guy on CL who has no clue of the value of these things, but very often you're just trying to fight to get the price back to what it went for retail.

 

IMO, I'm having a lot of fun on the pure collecting side with old music cassette tapes. Here's stuff you can find in any Value Village, costs like a buck a piece, full of nostalgia and fun as hell to collect. If I wanted to put some of my tapes on ebay, I'd probably get 8 or 10 bucks for some of it, mainly due to the condition. But let's be honest, the likelihood of them getting up there in price is slim to none...which is why it's just so much fun hunting down the tapes you had when you were a kid/teen.

 

Anyways...back to your regularly scheduled programming.

[Giltygear]

???

[karokoenig]

It is amazing how different prices sometimes are between European Mega Drive and US Genesis versions. There's no way I would pay > 50 bucks for a loose Splatterhouse 2, for example. I paid about 18 Euro shipping included (~ $20) on German ebay, and that was cart and manual.

[4Ks]

 

 

Care to elaborate? Agree or disagree? Maybe add your own two cents?

 

I see the current resurgence in interest for retro video games as a type of hipsterism. People who grew up too late to experience these games in their prime have formed a fascination with it, and they've adopted the culture/fandom of the real retro gamers (i.e. people who actually played these games back in the 80s) as a way to gain cred. Many of the people who profess such a deep love and appreciation for these games are really only interested in the scene surrounding them, not to mention the attention they can get for creating content based around them, hence the prevalence of fake retro kids who own tons of merch and have Super Mario posters all over their bedrooms but don't seem to have any in-depth knowledge of the games they claim to love (spoilers: they probably don't even play them). They're like those college kids who only listen to vinyl records and claim they can tell the difference between 320kbps MP3 and WAV; exaggerated versions of the fans they're imitating.

 

The uptick in prices on vintage games in, of course, because said hipsters are buying it all so they can have an impressive game shelf to take pictures of.

[Atari_Bill]

The uptick in prices on vintage games in, of course, because said hipsters are buying it all so they can have an impressive game shelf to take pictures of.

Doesn't that pretty much define the millennial generation? It seems like their creed is "look at me! Look at me!"

[bubufubu]

 

I see the current resurgence in interest for retro video games as a type of hipsterism. People who grew up too late to experience these games in their prime have formed a fascination with it, and they've adopted the culture/fandom of the real retro gamers (i.e. people who actually played these games back in the 80s) as a way to gain cred. Many of the people who profess such a deep love and appreciation for these games are really only interested in the scene surrounding them, not to mention the attention they can get for creating content based around them, hence the prevalence of fake retro kids who own tons of merch and have Super Mario posters all over their bedrooms but don't seem to have any in-depth knowledge of the games they claim to love (spoilers: they probably don't even play them). They're like those college kids who only listen to vinyl records and claim they can tell the difference between 320kbps MP3 and WAV; exaggerated versions of the fans they're imitating.

 

 

I mostly agree with this.

[Keatah]

I see the current resurgence in interest for retro video games as a type of hipsterism. People who grew up too late to experience these games in their prime have formed a fascination with it, and they've adopted the culture/fandom of the real retro gamers (i.e. people who actually played these games back in the 80s) as a way to gain cred. Many of the people who profess such a deep love and appreciation for these games are really only interested in the scene surrounding them, not to mention the attention they can get for creating content based around them, hence the prevalence of fake retro kids who own tons of merch and have Super Mario posters all over their bedrooms but don't seem to have any in-depth knowledge of the games they claim to love (spoilers: they probably don't even play them). They're like those college kids who only listen to vinyl records and claim they can tell the difference between 320kbps MP3 and WAV; exaggerated versions of the fans they're imitating.

 

The uptick in prices on vintage games in, of course, because said hipsters are buying it all so they can have an impressive game shelf to take pictures of.

 

You got that straight, Slim..

 

The only people whom have a chance of appreciating the games and the culture surrounding those games are the people from the early era when Atari was brand new. Not able to meet that requirement? Don't despair, participating in and appreciating the hobby for 10-15 years will get you most of the way there. You cannot buy your way into this hobby and get the same enjoyment from it. Like other hobbies it will take time. In the mean

 

The only possible exception, and it's a remote one at best, is to never have been poisoned by the nintendo and playstation generation. You're first experience would have to have been the 1970's arcades and home consoles. And then progress through the all the developments and watched the evolution of the games over the years.

 

To call yourself a retro-ist or retrogame enthusiast after buying $1,500 worth of crap from eBay is akin to a poser. You know it. I know it. Don't bother faking it. Do the time and research. Do it right.

 

And please don't bother blogging for CNN. It's only good for a laugh.

[Andromeda Stardust]

 

You got that straight, Slim..

 

The only people whom have a chance of appreciating the games and the culture surrounding those games are the people from the early era when Atari was brand new. Not able to meet that requirement? Don't despair, participating in and appreciating the hobby for 10-15 years will get you most of the way there. You cannot buy your way into this hobby and get the same enjoyment from it. Like other hobbies it will take time. In the mean

 

The only possible exception, and it's a remote one at best, is to never have been poisoned by the nintendo and playstation generation. You're first experience would have to have been the 1970's arcades and home consoles. And then progress through the all the developments and watched the evolution of the games over the years.

 

To call yourself a retro-ist or retrogame enthusiast after buying $1,500 worth of crap from eBay is akin to a poser. You know it. I know it. Don't bother faking it. Do the time and research. Do it right.

 

And please don't bother blogging for CNN. It's only good for a laugh.

Nostalgia doesn't require you to have been there when it was a thing. I was never exposed to Atari growing up. I was the only kid I knew without a Nintendo growing up, and didn't get one until I was an adult. I went through 20 years of gaming history condensed into 4 years prior to the Wii. Didn't jump on the Atari bandwagon until i was in my 30s. So I experienced Atari for the first time in 2012. And whether or not it was 1980 or 2012, the Atari hadn't changed, perhaps with the notable exception of the homebrew scene.

 

I was a late bloomer but it didn't deter my enjoyment of gaming. Young whipper snappers don't need to have been around when it was cool to get involved into retro gaming. Many were introduced by their parents, many through youtube and emulation. Some people collect to only stuff their shelves; some people collect only to game. Most in the hobby do a bit of both. Young or old, people game on new and outdated hardware. People listen to oldies and millennial pop. To deny them the right to join the club because "you must be born before MM/DD/YYYY" is selfish IMO.

[Keatah]

In time they may experience nostalgia. Not right away. It is impossible to buy into it.