I can't help but wonder if this sudden boom in retro game demand and prices will result in an actual crash on the other side of this?
Probably not to a degree as high as you'd hope but I wouldn't be surprised to see them go down a little bit compared to before covid.
For example, the Pokemon Go craze of 2016 made old Pokemon games shoot up in price for a while, but afterwards they went down to even lower than they were before. I remember generally seeing Pokemon Red for $20-30 before 2016, then it shot up to $50 when Pokemon Go mania increased demand, and afterwards I frequently saw the game for $10-20. Not all of them had a noticeable decrease after the craze died down (like Heartgold), but they at least went back to what they were beforehand. And with video game sales in general being at a record high (and not just for old games), this would seem to be on a larger scale.
are you serious?
Most cib gba gameboy games before pokemon go where 30 - 40$ max in excellent condition, way less if the condition was just mediocre. Heartgold soulsilver was just 30$ 40 with the cardboard box and pokewalker Even years after pokemon go hype the prices are above or close to 100$ Pokemon prices have stayed inflated after pokemon go really big time. cart only maybe havent checked that but cib it stayed inflated, and that was withouth covid.
Pokemon yellow red & blue where 40$ max before pokemon go, not to uncommon close to 100$ for a cib these days before covid.
I wish prices where the same as before pokemon go hype I absolutely regret not buying a pokemon yellow cib in excellent shape for 30$ wich frequently happened and was easy but I was a cheap guy and I literally got all pokemon games for cheap in deals pretty easily except yellow so yea kinda amusing how that did not work out. Either you don't remember the prices prior to pokemon go correctly or you must be confusing it with some other prices because prices have stayed inflated after pokemon go by allot, maybe just a tad bit lower but it's not much
I literally sold a soulsilver for 30$ a few weeks before pokemon go craze the normal price very easy to find game at the time. you can almost not find it for that price anymore people are literally buying it up for double that amount to resell it for a profit these days since yes it's easy money.
Base pokemon ruby sapphire cib, some of the cheaper advance games for just 30$ in nice shape your literally getting close to 100$ now let alone stuff like emerald or crystal.
Also this isnt even the mainline games exclusive, the pokemon cube games are inflated aswell.
XD gale of darkness was just 35$ before pokemon go, like legit it's almost path of radiance price lvl withouth covid close or sometimes surpassing 100$, Prices would be a hell of a lot lower if it was even lower than before the pokemon go craze.
USA could be different I guess, but if where talking europe pokemon ds and pre era prices have stayed extremely inflated after the pokemon go hype, the only games that have dropped in value are diamond & pearl because platinum is so much better than those 2.