How is retro game pricing as of Feb 2018?

General and Gaming > Classic Video Games

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turf:
Here's what I'm noticing. Not just around these forums, but on other retro groups, conventions that I've been too, and my own personal feelings.

Prices are starting to trickle down. Here's my theory on why. Folks that started this way back in the day got spoiled by low prices and being able to buy stuff constantly. We amassed huge collections for pennies on the dollar. Now, that stuff isn't out there anymore. It's not fun for a lot of us to spend real dollar amounts on games. That thrill of the hunt isn't there. It's not worth it. When the fun was gone, we were left with piles of totes that are worth money now.
A lot of folks have started families, or bought houses, or other grown up things. The collections get sold and put towards family stuff. I've seen a few serious collectors on different groups do this. They just got tired of it and got out of the game.

To bring it back to actual rational thought instead of my gut feelings. The above causes 2 things for supply and demand. It adds more copies of rare/uncommon/hard to find to the pool, and it takes one more buyer out of the community. If you look strictly at those factors, the prices will come down.

Then, there's the thing that a lot of us are getting older and just losing interest. For the last few years, I've seen a lot of the same faces at conventions. It seems like every year, there will be one or two guys that are missing. It won't be long and the original group won't be there anymore.

Whew! That was a lot of rambling.
TL;DR Folks are growing up and losing interest.

ignition365:
I've speculated for years that this was going to happen and that this is similar to the Atari bust years ago.

emporerdragon:
Another big thing I'd say is affecting prices is the changing focus of active collectors. A large amount people get into retro game collecting because they want to be nostalgic and get the games of their childhoods. However, with the core demographic (17-35 years old), we're reaching the point where the 4th generation is mostly becoming "before their time", so there's not as much desire to collect those older games. A 20-some year old is now more likely to have grown up with a N64 or PS1 than to have with a SNES or Genesis.

ignition365:
Not to mention the limited game boom where tons of "limited" games are coming out that folks just don't have the money to dedicate to retro anymore.

matimo:
Psp is Spiking quite a bit, same with ps2 and n64 stuff from what i've noticed. Nes and snes stuff is starting to drop a bit tho (not that i care about those systems). :P

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