Retro collecting is dying!

[ffxik]

The day it dies will become a holiday on here. 

Bubbly on stand-by. 

[thegamecollector1]

Here's my story as a collector who collected (via presents), stopped collecting, started again (not picky, collecting everything in sight), stopped again, started again (CIB only), stopped again and is now planning to start yet again (only certain titles that I've really really enjoyed and liked my experience so much that I either know I want to play them all the way through again, or have already done so many times):

I am the type of person who loves to collect video games because when I was a kid I was always allowed to keep all my games and systems to replay later. My grandparents were smart and knew if I did that it would save them tons of money on games. Instead of buying me a new game every week or month and trading in old games for pennies, they would only give them to me on birthdays, Christmas or occasional yard sale finds and make sure they chose well. Because of this method I almost never got any bad or boring games in my youth and had plenty of time to become fully interested in each.

In my mid teenage years my grandma went into the hospital and my grandpa was always going there too busy for me, so I started to buy my own games from used game stores and still seemed to have good luck. Then I found out about emulators and sold everything I had that could be emulated well. Basically everything pre-Saturn.

When I got my Safeway job I started buying physical games again, this time having an interest in collecting consoles and getting as many games as I could play on them. I started with Atari 2600 and worked my way to expensive items like Neo Geo AES which I only ever had 3 games for - the ones that came in my system lot. The worst was when Game Crazy started liquidating all their "classic plastic" and I bought every single game I didn't already have since they were so cheap at $1 or less each. I tried every game for about 5 minutes to see which ones were good, mediocre or bad.

Losing my Safeway job and regretting filling up my shelving with junk I decided to get rid of the whole cart/disc only collection and any CIB games I didn't like. I eventually got my first caregiving job and started to collect CIB only, using funds from the carts to get me started. I mainly went after games I had in my original childhood collection and it was great to look at boxes and manuals for games I had cart only as a kid. The problem was that I bought these games too fast. Thinking I'd keep my job forever I started to use credit card funds to get everything "now" while I can still find it and pay it back later. Well that put me in debt, my hours were cut, I lost my job to another employee she liked better and had to look for a new one. I started selling games I had spent all that money on just to support myself and never did pay off those credit cards all the way.

Before I had my apartment I was cooped up in this little room at my current job. I didn't have room in here to collect so I continued my sales even though my cashflow was much higher. Unable to stand working 7 days a week and wanting my own space I had my days cut and got my current apartment. It was just great for a while but then my hours got cut and I started getting low on money. In this time I've sold off almost my entire CIB game collection for everything before this new generation and the one before it + Gamecube (not so easy to run burn discs or run ISOs for that system), turning to modded systems, flashcarts and burned games to keep gaming on through hard times.

With a new job starting and the knowledge that I will have greater income again I will start again, but this time the collection will be much more refined, protected and better displayed. I would like these complete in box top titles to have video game box protectors, guides when available, cart & disc only copies & loose manuals for regular use and maybe even complete in box import versions and re-releases (example - both gold & gray Legend of Zelda & Zelda II + japanese FDS packaging whether the floppies still work or not). And most important of all: decrease the frequency at which I buy games so I can take the time to play or re-play every single game I get. I'd like to record my footage and edit it for some type of series. Having physical differing packaging to show in these videos plus manuals and guides would make it so much more interesting as it would be a bit different from some emulation gamer just doing another boring Let's Play. My girlfriend doesn't have much experience with console games so it is also interesting to her if I would let her play these games as I get them too.

So yeah it would be great if prices were lower when I start up again, but since I will be focusing less on quantity and more on quality experiences (so I don't have another sell-back nightmare of hard work) I will spend less on games each month, making prices for each not matter as much and allowing me to build up some financial cushion reducing the probability that I will have to sell anything again at all. Another good thing about this is that my collection will take up less space, being a bit smaller. If someone could stay dedicated to just one retro game a month and really go all-out collecting items related to just that one game, all of a sudden that one set becomes more attractive and impressive than a giant horde of games that are in random condition and not taken care of. The games become more taken care of and treasured rather than unappreciated junk someone got just to say they have a lot. If someone was to sell a game complete in box with guide and any other related goodies, they can usually get a premium for it rather than just a regular price. People will pay more to get those extra maps and guides that not every CIB copy comes with.

[sens]

I don't see why this is surprising. It's disappointing, yes, but every market does this. Even after markets reach a maturity, then become over saturated, then die down, and repeat.

If you just like collecting games, go to flea markets and thrift stores (sometimes craigslist). Those people don't know or care really what the current market value for games are (with exception of select titles), so you can get them for dirt cheap.

I got mega man X2, TMNT IV, Yoshi's Island, and Captain Commando for a grand total of $18. Someone even gave me a free copy of Intelligent Qube. Granted that's mostly luck, but pricing hikes only exist in Markets that are saturated with products like Ebay where the buyer is the one that created the price and demand for those "Rare games" in the first place. It only takes one person to pay a high price for a game on auctions sites like that to set a precedent for sellers and buyers that whatever game they are looking for is worth that high price.

If you're a re-seller. Do the same thing. As far as online/collecting markets go it's the perfect time to sell. Most games can be found for dirt cheap and turned around and sold on ebay for pure profit. The games don't even have to be in great condition to get someone to pay market price for it. It's a sellers market right now if you can find products cheap. Depending on the game a good collector can take 3-4 games out of their collection and make $200.

If anything would have effected the market right now it would be virtual consoles and roms of any game known to man. That hasn't hurt the market hardly at all. I can download every Snes game ever made for free but people are still dropping $200 on Wild Guns, Earthbound,  and Megaman x3.

Nostalgia isn't going anywhere until our generation dies. Older games are most likely going to hold some intrinsic value based on that. It's not like games now where you can find a box full of Sealed GOW 3 for $50. Retro games weren't as mass produced then so their numbers are always going to be increasingly limited. Add that with Nostalgia and theres always going to be a market for it. Same goes with collecting.

Try not to take it so seriously. They're just games afterall.

[disgaeniac]

I don't see why this is surprising. It's disappointing, yes, but every market does this. Even after markets reach a maturity, then become over saturated, then die down, and repeat.

If you just like collecting games, go to flea markets and thrift stores (sometimes craigslist). Those people don't know or care really what the current market value for games are (with exception of select titles), so you can get them for dirt cheap.

I got mega man X2, TMNT IV, Yoshi's Island, and Captain Commando for a grand total of $18. Someone even gave me a free copy of Intelligent Qube. Granted that's mostly luck, but pricing hikes only exist in Markets that are saturated with products like Ebay where the buyer is the one that created the price and demand for those "Rare games" in the first place. It only takes one person to pay a high price for a game on auctions sites like that to set a precedent for sellers and buyers that whatever game they are looking for is worth that high price.

If you're a re-seller. Do the same thing. As far as online/collecting markets go it's the perfect time to sell. Most games can be found for dirt cheap and turned around and sold on ebay for pure profit. The games don't even have to be in great condition to get someone to pay market price for it. It's a sellers market right now if you can find products cheap. Depending on the game a good collector can take 3-4 games out of their collection and make $200.

If anything would have effected the market right now it would be virtual consoles and roms of any game known to man. That hasn't hurt the market hardly at all. I can download every Snes game ever made for free but people are still dropping $200 on Wild Guns, Earthbound,  and Megaman x3.

Nostalgia isn't going anywhere until our generation dies. Older games are most likely going to hold some intrinsic value based on that. It's not like games now where you can find a box full of Sealed GOW 3 for $50. Retro games weren't as mass produced then so their numbers are always going to be increasingly limited. Add that with Nostalgia and theres always going to be a market for it. Same goes with collecting.

Try not to take it so seriously. They're just games afterall.

QFT!

Nice post

I found myself liking & agreeing with just about all of it!

Btw - Welcome to the site, Sens! 

[bikingjahuty]

I started collecting in 2008 (not really hardcore until 2010, but whatever) and when I started retro games were abundant all over the place. I remember walking into goodwill stores and seeing people's entire NES and SNES collections, sometimes hundreds of games just sitting on the shelf out in the open. At the time I didn't collect for either, but I remember seeing games like Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy III, TMNT4, and even Chrono Trigger on several separate occasions. That is because few people were collecting and even fewer were reselling old games. Gradually since around 2010 it has gotten harder to find games cheap and certain games have become insanely overpriced, many of them common. The worst part is that people are actually paying these insane prices, encouraging more and more sellers to price their games even higher! There is a local second hand store sort of like Entertainmart or Go Hastings that gets a healthy amount of retro games in, however they price almost all of them 30% to 200% higher than some of the highest BIN on ebay. And still, these games rarely last for more than a week on the shelf. What this tells me is that retro collecting has become so popular and in demand that people are no longer caring that they are dropping $100 on a fairly common game because they want it that bad. Sadly I don't think the boom in retro game collecting has even hit its peak. Now will it die down eventually, yes. But when is totally unclear, and what I am seeing right now is the exact opposite of a hobby that is losing steam.

[90snostalga]

First off, I did not know about this post until Bikingjahuty commented to re populate it.  Thanks Bikingjahuty    I have sat and read this entire forum and now (20 minutes later), and found this forum probably the most interesting, exciting, depressing and mysterious forum yet on this site.  It has me thinking about a lot of different things like:  maybe I should stop buying games and save that money for a house, or for retirement or something, but my other voice lets me remember I love games regardless.  Physical games that is.

Oh, the war between Darko and Soera had me cracking up so bad that I woke up my wife and got cursed out for being on this stupid game site again lol 

We never know what the future holds and time changes every day, but I know I read an article literally 2 weeks ago about a guy who has been collecting games since the 80s, and holds over 300,000 games and consoles in his collection.  He was pricing his collection to current markets, and his collection is valued at 700 to 800 thousand dollars.  Basically, it's a retirement investment at this point.  He said he is still collecting but is in his late 30s and is considering selling half of his collection to have investment or savings money because who knows if health care, 401k, and all that stuff will even exist when we are old (matter fact, even if the earth will exist).  But the universe is so huge and massive that humans are just a small part of it anyways.

But this has me thinking...I know last year I was at a good will looking at a 64 in the store, and this kid probably about 12 came up to me and asked if I play old games.  I told him I love them and he was asking me questions about them.  He said he has a 64 and plays games for it all the time and does not play new stuff.  I had to educated him that there were systems before the 64 and ps1 because he had no idea.  He was so amazed that there were systems before the 64 era that he wanted to play them.  I had a regular NES controller in my hand I found and I gave it to him and told him what it was for and he was so excited.  I think as long as there is always younger kids that were born in the year 1998 and beyond playing video games, there will always be a market.

I do personally feel like the 360, ps3 and Wii era is the last successful era of video games.  I think that if the ps4 and xbox one are not the last physical game consoles, that what ever comes out after those will be the last physical consoles and it will all be pc gaming or digital some how and that it will kill the then-current market but even at that time, I feel there will still be a market for retro collecting and playing even at the time of no new physical gaming. 

Anyone born after 2010 will entire a brand new world that they will eventually build a new world of digital.  Probably by the 2030s, most things we seen on sci fy movies may start to happen.  Maybe then when the generation from kids born between 2020-2025 are grown, there will be no retro collecting...

Just as a side note if anyone is interested, I think that even tho' it used to sound crazy, the thought of robots or Cylons becoming into existence as a regular massive population just does not seem crazy to me anymore.  Every day, they try to find some type of technology that is so far from humans.  Google glass, Smart Cars , netflix, smart phone apps that can lock and unlock your house door, some people have digital chips installed into them already, its getting crazy.  I get so tired of going places, and everyone expects me to have a facebook, tablet, a smart phone, etc. and laugh at me when they find out I don't have either one and that I still own a vcr/dvd recorder combo and I still actually watch VHS tapes sometimes.  My own kids asked me how did I survive as a kid since there was no internet back then?  They were under the impression that the internet controls electricity and everything in the world. 


How much can video games really improve from the ps4 and xbox one? 

[Jakandsig]

You do have a very interesting point, but it only applies to certain companies, every saturation point Atari consoles seem to never go through and that may be fans are usually buyng and reselling more than resellers, this also applies to the 3DO, TG16(although a few of the cd games are hmm.) and the Genesis, although the Genesis is seeming to get closer having had price raises the last two years.

[theflea]

I remember a time when people thought it was stupid to collect old video games, But I still did because it's what I loved.
Now its one of the biggest collecting craze on the planet, I personally love to talk to people who share my passion.
And if the classic Game collecting bubble bursts and prices drop and less people collect, It won't change me.
I'll be still hunting down those games missing from my collection and still enjoy playing new and old games.
I collected video games before it was popular and I'll continue even if everyone stops and no one cares about them.

I collect these classic (and modern) games and consoles because I love them, even the bad ones. I love to play them, the art, the designs and the history. A collector should be collecting these games because they love them not because its the latest "fad".

If retro collecting died tomorrow and prices plummeted how would this effect me?
Not in the slightest bit. I would end up buying many games that escaped me because the prices where to high.
I would keep on collecting because it was what I loved to do.   

[90snostalga]

I remember a time when people thought it was stupid to collect old video games, But I still did because it's what I loved.
Now its one of the biggest collecting craze on the planet, I personally love to talk to people who share my passion.
And if the classic Game collecting bubble bursts and prices drop and less people collect, It won't change me.
I'll be still hunting down those games missing from my collection and still enjoy playing new and old games.
I collected video games before it was popular and I'll continue even if everyone stops and no one cares about them.

I collect these classic (and modern) games and consoles because I love them, even the bad ones. I love to play them, the art, the designs and the history. A collector should be collecting these games because they love them not because its the latest "fad".

If retro collecting died tomorrow and prices plummeted how would this effect me?
Not in the slightest bit. I would end up buying many games that escaped me because the prices where to high.
I would keep on collecting because it was what I loved to do. 

  

Got a question to you Flea.  I know you have a huge collection.  What was the first type of games that you started collecting if you remember?   Like what system, series, type, etc.?   I thing thats a cool question to ask some one with a massive collection

[stethebubble]

I remember a time when people thought it was stupid to collect old video games, But I still did because it's what I loved.
Now its one of the biggest collecting craze on the planet, I personally love to talk to people who share my passion.
And if the classic Game collecting bubble bursts and prices drop and less people collect, It won't change me.
I'll be still hunting down those games missing from my collection and still enjoy playing new and old games.
I collected video games before it was popular and I'll continue even if everyone stops and no one cares about them.

I collect these classic (and modern) games and consoles because I love them, even the bad ones. I love to play them, the art, the designs and the history. A collector should be collecting these games because they love them not because its the latest "fad".

If retro collecting died tomorrow and prices plummeted how would this effect me?
Not in the slightest bit. I would end up buying many games that escaped me because the prices where to high.
I would keep on collecting because it was what I loved to do. 

you're pretty much my gaming hero

[ffmaniac2050]

This thread is definitely awesome.  I've been telling a buddy of mine that prices are so inflated we will begin to see people start selling everything off.  I actually manage a retro game shop and I am starting to see customers who purchased retro consoles and games return them because they grew bored.  It is only a matter of time before disc based games are the new fad.

[sin2beta]

Now its one of the biggest collecting craze on the planet, I personally love to talk to people who share my passion.

If retro collecting died tomorrow and prices plummeted how would this effect me?

These two sentences stood out to me. I would be a little sad if retro collecting died tomorrow. I currently live in Dallas which surprisingly has a lot of culture for retro game collecting. If it did die, I would miss this.

I have to admit to missing some things about comic collecting. Back when Wizard and Toy Fair were big magazines. Malls had comic shops. There was always someone to talk to and share your hobby with. Now there are the same 5 people who go to my local comic shop every wednesday...

Thanks Flea. I kind of neglected the good things that being in a craze brings.

[slothingXPIG]

You know I hate to say it but I'm one of those guys who don't get on much but I still collect and would never stop but I'm not sure what made me slow down on being on this site.. It is awesome and I would like to start posting more on here but some things pulling me away... Honestly I hope it does die down.. So I can get better deals and make hunting for them more fun... I hope this site never dies down tho..

[karyann]

These two sentences stood out to me. I would be a little sad if retro collecting died tomorrow. I currently live in Dallas which surprisingly has a lot of culture for retro game collecting. If it did die, I would miss this.

I have to admit to missing some things about comic collecting. Back when Wizard and Toy Fair were big magazines. Malls had comic shops. There was always someone to talk to and share your hobby with. Now there are the same 5 people who go to my local comic shop every wednesday...

Thanks Flea. I kind of neglected the good things that being in a craze brings.

Don't worry, even if the big fad dies, there will always be people who like to collect. Those following the fad will stop, those who love collecting because they love collecting will stay! And I believe when the fad dies, Vgcollect will still be there. So we'll still have each other 

[turf]

And I believe when the fad dies, Vgcollect will still be there. So we'll still have each other 

This makes me feel all warm and fuzzy