The retro video game market has crashed? 2 2

[SpineTic]

 

Edited November 9, 2023 by SpineTic

[FormerReader]

I’m surprised there isn’t more discussion on this. Very interesting, but also very predictable state of the market. 

[SpineTic]

On 11/21/2023 at 3:30 PM, FormerReader said:

I’m surprised there isn’t more discussion on this. Very interesting, but also very predictable state of the market. 

Crickets i think a lot of people got burned.

[FormerReader]

On 11/22/2023 at 12:21 PM, szav said:

 

All the NFT/collectibles/stimulus related insanity going on in the covid era aside, it still blows my mind how much money people spent on these not really knowing how many copies of pristine unsold/unopened of all these games are out there.  Early 90s a friend of mine's family owned a computer store that sold a lot of PC and console games and they always had crates of unsold games sitting in the back of the store.  I think we are still a long long way away from knowing where prices will really settle.  I grew up during the golden age of gaming but I won't touch these as collectibles for another 10 or 20 years if ever.

I agree on several of your points. I think it will be many years before that market settles after the alleged manipulation.  I’m shocked people couldn’t see what was happening, but I suppose money makes people lose their sense.

[godzilla43]

Retro game market is doing just fine. People are buying retro games and playing them

[Transplant]

On 11/22/2023 at 11:21 AM, szav said:

All the NFT/collectibles/stimulus related insanity going on in the covid era aside, it still blows my mind how much money people spent on these not really knowing how many copies of pristine unsold/unopened of all these games are out there.  Early 90s a friend of mine's family owned a computer store that sold a lot of PC and console games and they always had crates of unsold games sitting in the back of the store.  I think we are still a long long way away from knowing where prices will really settle.  I grew up during the golden age of gaming but I won't touch these as collectibles for another 10 or 20 years if ever.

I'd add to that: distrust of whether some of the "record sales" were real to begin with.  

[JerryHansen]

On 11/8/2023 at 8:12 PM, SpineTic said:

And the situation is understandable. There are so many new games, which are better - with better quality, plot, and just the variety is much bigger so everyone can choose something they like. I also liked retro games, but now I'm more into new ones, and I also like casino games. If someone here is into gambling too, here is one amazing page https://gamblizard.ca/best-canadian-online-casinos/casino-payment-options/paysafecard-casinos/ which provides detailed and accurate info on casinos that accept PaySafeCard. I've been playing with a few with such payment methods for a while, and I really like it. Everything is easy, and the games are great too.

This is a very interesting video, thanks for posting.

I'm not that interested in retro games, but still it was interesting to watch

Edited December 1, 2023 by JerryHansen

[Chip Cataldo]

Glad I sold my Atari 2600 collection when I did. I made out VERY well. This is an older pic that doesn't show the boxed systems or loose games. 

Edited December 2, 2023 by Chip Cataldo

[Buzzetta]

I am “awww shucking” at picking up my ASM 10 upgrade last year from a 5.0 to a 7.5 for $1250 only for another copy to sell this week on Comiclink in the same grade for $850.  I would kill myself if I spent $22,000 on a copy of Pikachu’s Adventure on Wii only to see it sell in the same condition for $600.

[godzilla43]

On 12/3/2023 at 7:03 PM, Buzzetta said:

I am “awww shucking” at picking up my ASM 10 upgrade last year from a 5.0 to a 7.5 for $1250 only for another copy to sell this week on Comiclink in the same grade for $850.  I would kill myself if I spent $22,000 on a copy of Pikachu’s Adventure on Wii only to see it sell in the same condition for $600.

and in normal retro game collecting loosing 400$ value in something would be "catastrophic" so these graded games really are something

[Buzzetta]

On 12/4/2023 at 2:03 AM, godzilla43 said:

and in normal retro game collecting loosing 400$ value in something would be "catastrophic" so these graded games really are something

If anything, doesn't such a disparity between the numbers on most of those WATA games lend more support toward some sort of shenanigans occurring when they were reaching those prices to begin with or were those games pumped up from just a few major highly motivated and competitive and possibly legitimate bidders with deep pockets?

[darkstar]

On 12/4/2023 at 3:29 AM, Buzzetta said:

If anything, doesn't such a disparity between the numbers on most of those WATA games lend more support toward some sort of shenanigans occurring when they were reaching those prices to begin with or were those games pumped up from just a few major highly motivated and competitive and possibly legitimate bidders with deep pockets?

The collectors that were around before the WATA and Heritage handshake knew the market Heritage created was nonsense. The prices realized at the auction houses never translated to eBay or conventions. Collectors were never paying those prices. 

[Bronty]

Prices have come back down to pre covid levels for the most part which.. makes sense?     There are certainly sales that didn't make sense, like the Mario 64 in games or the Secret Wars 8 page in comics.    Well, guess what, the buyer of those two items, to the best of my knowledge, was the same person.    The prices being paid in 2021 were real, there's no question of that because the buyers have been identified.    Were they great purchases, of course not, but everyone was caught up in it, just like with trading cards.     How or why people can think that its specific to games is odd to me.   There are examples literally everywhere.    Look at the Jordan RC psa 10 market.    It hit 700,000 at one point.    Last old sold for 186,000.    186k is still good money, but its a 70% decline on what was touted as, and probably is, the most blue chip basketball card there is.

Well, I don't know cards all that well, but if the blue chips are down 70% from peak is it any surprise that some of the insane overpays in games are down huge as well?    The better items are down substantially, but not down the comical 70, 80, 90% that we see with garbage that was vastly overpaid at the time.

I also collect alpha MTG cards, which is the most desirable set.     Those are easily down 50-70% from peak as well.   

Why are we surprised about any of this.    Comics and especially comic art have been sheltered a little better because they didn't go up as much in the first place.   The fall back down to pre covid levels was a softer landing because they never went up as much in the first place.    But even with comics there are substantial reductions on some blue chip items, and the junk $10 books that shot to $100 are back down to $10.

This is/was a broad based phenomena across many multiple collecting categories.

How are NFT values holding up?    They shot from zero to $$$$ and are back to zero.   

Etc etc etc all over the place.

Edited December 29, 2023 by Bronty

[Jimmy Linguini]

Remember, most of the companies grading these games would charge people submitting those same game "fair market value" grading fees. Reminds me of the stories I heard a few years ago where people were being told they couldn't grade Walking Dead #1s with CGC through the modern grading tier because the value was too high. Not sure how that ended up working out but I am interested in what is going on with the WATA price manipulation lawsuits.

[Chip Cataldo]

Loose game market is pretty strong right now. I just sold an Atari 2600 Quadrun with a not-NM label for $500.