2020 retro bubble finally popped?

[scraph4ppy]

So I've been on an e-bay spree over the past month and a half, and part of that has been a lot of price charting checks. I think its been enough time to finally make this statement definitively- 2020 bubble prices for most retro/last gen games peaked in August and have been declining since then. They are still well above Feb. prices but the first gen of new "buy at any price" owners have gone through their want list and might even start or have started reselling stuff or trading in to stores.

Caveat, I've mostly been looking at Nintendo stuff, did a little checking for PS2 but most of those games didn't have a bump (Vice City, which already had been trending upward for a year or so did get a bump but is still holding steady at around ten dollars complete with no downturn in sight) so no usable data there.

Here's hoping that this all leads to a whole new wave of garage sale finds in three to five years!

[oldgamerz]

I still see escalated prices on sites such as Lukie games website, I don't think it will come back down, as far as  that online stores goes, in my own experience earlier this year prices were a lot lower on lukie games then right now, I'm not sure about eBay, I don't trust eBay, never did. My heart tells me never to shop for used video games there, lots of cyber gangsters out there, of course I did order 2 defective PS3 from amazon before so.

In the last 3 months my local video game store had a bunch of deals like 2 PS1 games for $1 USD

[dagazconcept]

My "Tales of Destiny II" (ps1) did not cost $1, lol.   That about sums up my PS1 purchases from last year 

I seem to be on a retro PC game kick for all of 2020. There's a wide range ...from very-cheap to high-price goods on eBay (i.e. used single cd jewel case -or- sealed big-box releases). If it was 93' released or later, I'd be lookin' for those first physical CD-ROM media distributed games.  These days with Virtual Machines being pretty stable imo, I'm having a lot of fun diving back into old software I played in my youth, like Wing Commander 4, Museum Madness, and Outlaws.

It's been about a 60/40 split between eBay(60) and Mercari(40) these days for my retro pc game shopping....kinda surprised personally how many pc games are being sold on Mercari. If you haven't had a chance to look, I'd strongly recommend checking Mercari out

[fazerco]

If you use the search you can find a topic about this every 6 months or so.

[ignition365]

If you use the search you can find a topic about this every 6 months or so.

Yeah, and right now, even if prices decline, with the pandemic you can't truly claim the bubble has popped.  Even then, if the prices go back to pre-pandemic, that's still not the bubble popping either.

Everything had an upward trend due to people being at home during lockdowns plus the single stimulus check   As time progresses and folks start leaving their homes or running out of money, demand will drop and supply will grow on most things.

[scraph4ppy]

I started the thread specifically about the pandemic. I just didn't want to say Covid in the title in case this place had some weird rule about it. Thats what I meant by 2020 bubble.

[Warmsignal]

The NES bubble has sprung a minor leak, but the PS1 bubble is eclipsed all other bubbles. PS1 has like 50+ games over $100 now. The hallmarks of gotta catch em' all collecting mass hysteria. GameCube is not far behind that. When those two bibles burst, there's little chance for the Earth's survival, another great flood, etc.

[tripredacus]

Yeah, and right now, even if prices decline, with the pandemic you can't truly claim the bubble has popped.  Even then, if the prices go back to pre-pandemic, that's still not the bubble popping either.

Everything had an upward trend due to people being at home during lockdowns plus the single stimulus check   As time progresses and folks start leaving their homes or running out of money, demand will drop and supply will grow on most things.

A lot of product is tied up in inventories that can't be moved, either because storefronts are not open or overall traffic is down. And while flea markets are still operating, the vendors and buyers are way down.

Another aspect to be aware of regarding "wild" secondary market, is that since the usual selling opportunities are not present, these vendors are blowing out bulk lot because they don't have the income to pay for their storage. So if anyone knows anyone who has sold games in their area, you may be able to get some bulk deals. One vendor I know has a retail space that is closed by government order and four storage units, the cost effectiveness is way down so they are blowing out product wherever possible.

[sworddude]

Yeah, and right now, even if prices decline, with the pandemic you can't truly claim the bubble has popped.  Even then, if the prices go back to pre-pandemic, that's still not the bubble popping either.

Everything had an upward trend due to people being at home during lockdowns plus the single stimulus check   As time progresses and folks start leaving their homes or running out of money, demand will drop and supply will grow on most things.

A lot of product is tied up in inventories that can't be moved, either because storefronts are not open or overall traffic is down. And while flea markets are still operating, the vendors and buyers are way down.

Another aspect to be aware of regarding "wild" secondary market, is that since the usual selling opportunities are not present, these vendors are blowing out bulk lot because they don't have the income to pay for their storage. So if anyone knows anyone who has sold games in their area, you may be able to get some bulk deals. One vendor I know has a retail space that is closed by government order and four storage units, the cost effectiveness is way down so they are blowing out product wherever possible.

Do a ton of people have retro game storage that they need to move though. I kinda feel that there are way less sellers out there during these times and thus way less deals. and if it is usually the stuff that less people want.

I have seen such deals way more during non covid times If I'm being honest here, it's not even a contest. not saying it doesn't happen but the clearances compared to non covid times are pretty low. it makes sense for store owners to close down and move their product during these dark times but in practice there is not much out there during these times for retro games at least.

I did see plenty of that with more modern tcg card stores, and in terms of games in wich store owners usually cared pretty much only modern games anyway. retro stock in general is however way less. and sales have actually been allot easier during these times. so i don't see how store owners would sell stuff in bulk unless it's filler titles while they cherry picked the good stuff to easily sell that for good money online.

[tripredacus]

Do a ton of people have retro game storage that they need to move though. I kinda feel that there are way less sellers out there during these times and thus way less deals. and if it is usually the stuff that less people want

There is always stock stuck in storage someplace. Even moreso now. The lack of sellers is the reason. If people don't have a place to sell their stuff, they can't get rid of it. You never see vendor stock sales show up in classifieds. It is either just sitting there someplace or is transferred with side deals. I can't speak for Europe, but here there is some secondary market community, when you take away the common folk.

And of course, if you happen upon on of these things, it won't be like GameChasers where you get to dig through and pick out just what you want. I am talking about bulk deals, getting the good with the bad. And even so, it can be a gamble if there is nothing you really want. It is part of the risk. When markets fall, these are the things you need to be looking for. But if you don't like to take on extra inventory, then this might not be for you.

[lordsofskulls]

i never bought in bulk, only took what i needed for my collection, even though their was some titles out their i could get and probelly flip, i just thought someone like me will come along and get a themselves a copy of Rule of Rose/Hunting Grounds/.hack.... etc etc...

XD silly me. But i am still okay with that decision. I just get what i want and than get out ;p