Will Retro Games Ever Disappear from the Market?

[shawndude82]

I'm just thinking, do you guys ever think old Atari, NES, Sega, etc. games will stop being sold in game stores or online shops like eBay?  Like, will there come a time when we can't get them anymore unless it's from a friend of a friend?

Is there a situation where this could happen?

I always assume I can just buy the pricier titles later when I'm more financially secure.  But... what if everyone just stops selling one day?  I can't get my hands on  - let's say- The Legend of Zelda for the NES because all the remaining copies have been bought up by collectors who want to keep them.

[sworddude]

I'm just thinking, do you guys ever think old Atari, NES, Sega, etc. games will stop being sold in game stores or online shops like eBay?  Like, will there come a time when we can't get them anymore unless it's from a friend of a friend?

Is there a situation where this could happen?

I always assume I can just buy the pricier titles later when I'm more financially secure.  But... what if everyone just stops selling one day?  I can't get my hands on  - let's say- The Legend of Zelda for the NES because all the remaining copies have been bought up by collectors who want to keep them.

Money talks so there will always be some copies of zelda on the market but at a higher price than nowadays since few people want to get rid of it.

There will always be forced situations in wich people need to sell, let alone that if prices go up when the supply drops, people might change their mind and decide to get rid of their copy.

[wolff242]

Absolutely not.

They may be more difficult to find in physical shops....very few sports cards stores sell cards from the 1800's, very few comic book stores sell comics from the 1930's, you probably can find pogs or 70's80's action figures outside of specialty stores....but all can be had with the click of a button online. As long as there is someone looking to buy, someone will be around to sell, even after you and I are long gone. 

[shawndude82]

Absolutely not.

They may be more difficult to find in physical shops....very few sports cards stores sell cards from the 1900's, very few comic book stores sell comics from the 1930's, you probably can find pogs or 70's80's action figures outside of specialty stores....but all can be had with the click of a button online. As long as there is someone looking to buy, someone will be around to sell, even after you and I are long gone. 

Oh man, pogs...

Okay, I guess that makes sense.  I'm thinking more like how pricier games are more limited because no one buys a $900 Stadium Events cartridge just to sell it the next day.  That's a keeper price. 

[pzeke]

There's always a sucker that's willing to pay that price; it may take a while, but someone's gonna bite. I personally have sold comicbooks for prices that go well beyond their estimated value, and have also seen auctions and BIN listings for video games that also sell for more than they should. So in short, as long as there's someone willing to spend the money (demand), there's going to be a market for anything (supply).

[hoshichiri]

Not a chance- there's just way, way too many copies of most of these floating around for them to just vanish. Even assuming that more & more end up in the hands of permanent collectors, other factors will see them back on the market, including: financial hardship, downsizing, lifestyle changes, spousal pressure, theft, and death of owner. Yes, that did get morbid- but it's true. I even have a friend who laments having both Felix the Cat & Flinstones Dinosaur Peak as a kid, but lost them as her grandmother had the games. She was out of state when she passed, & her mom had no idea her greedy cousins had run off with the valuables from Grandma's until she called asking why half her games weren't in the box sent to her. I guarantee those people didn't keep them!

So yeah- prices are hardly set in stone, but availability isn't likely to change anytime soon.

[sworddude]

There are obviously exceptions

If a game is so rare, or very rare and especially less known and not that valuable it will vanish from the markets for a long time.

Rare atari 2600 games for example. Or certain trash super rare ps1 or ps2 games. They won't show up for  5 10 + years if not longer

to Few around, not many know about them. no super crazy prices except for the atari examples wich literally have less than 5 copies in existence.

So if you want that example look for the really rare trash games on some systems, or theme single digit atari releases.

This situation will never happen with common games as zelda, maybe for some of the factory sealed stuff at best. and probably if it was graded 9.5 or higher.

The fewer copies of a game exists, the less of shot for forced situations are to happen with permanent collectors with the exception of death meaning 10 30 + years before it ever enters the market again. 

Not a chance- there's just way, way too many copies of most of these floating around for them to just vanish. Even assuming that more & more end up in the hands of permanent collectors, other factors will see them back on the market, including: financial hardship, downsizing, lifestyle changes, spousal pressure, theft, and death of owner. Yes, that did get morbid- but it's true.

Death happens allot for interesting deals, it's cool and shitty at the same time 

[oldgamerz]

Lot's of people just keep the games in their possession till they die, I predict their might be a ton of games just left in some storage container from some of the people that might have died recently.

Will they disappear? yes will a lot of retro games get forgotten yes, lets not forget some people also abuse this stuff and throw it away.

Will they all disappear, maybe not for a long time, but there is always mods and games people make on the side that are good and get forgotten over time

[sworddude]

Lot's of people just keep the games in their possession till they die, I predict their might be a ton of games just left in some storage container from some of the people that might have died recently.

Will they disappear? yes will a lot of retro games get forgotten yes, lets not forget some people also abuse this stuff and throw it away.

Will they all disappear, maybe not for a long time, but there is always mods and games people make on the side that are good and get forgotten over time

You can't compare these to antiques

of allot of sought after games Millions are made, let alone that a ton of collectors preserve them

and even with just 20 to 100K there will always be enough for stuff to appear on the market again

so for common games as zelda to less common ones such as say skyblazer there will always be some copies on the market there are to many out there.

Panzer dragoon saga is a prime example. just 10K copies always on the market.

Unless it's superbly rare with less than 50 copies around it's not going to vanish from the market ever. max 1000 pieces if a game that is not sought after and not super valuable but otherwise it will never happen.

[oldgamerz]

Lot's of people just keep the games in their possession till they die, I predict their might be a ton of games just left in some storage container from some of the people that might have died recently.

Will they disappear? yes will a lot of retro games get forgotten yes, lets not forget some people also abuse this stuff and throw it away.

Will they all disappear, maybe not for a long time, but there is always mods and games people make on the side that are good and get forgotten over time

You can't compare these to antiques

Millions are made, let alone that a ton of collectors preserve them

Unless it's superbly rare with less than 50 copies around it's not going to vanish from the market ever.

true and there is always remakes, I should know I collect music some of what I have is 1940's remasters

[sworddude]

Lot's of people just keep the games in their possession till they die, I predict their might be a ton of games just left in some storage container from some of the people that might have died recently.

Will they disappear? yes will a lot of retro games get forgotten yes, lets not forget some people also abuse this stuff and throw it away.

Will they all disappear, maybe not for a long time, but there is always mods and games people make on the side that are good and get forgotten over time

You can't compare these to antiques

Millions are made, let alone that a ton of collectors preserve them

Unless it's superbly rare with less than 50 copies around it's not going to vanish from the market ever.

true and there is always remakes, I should know I collect music some of what I have is 1940's remasters

Forget about remakes those Original releases will always be on the market unless it was extremely rare or very rare and not sought after popular.