Bronkie The Bronchiasaurus worth buying as an investment?

[artist23122]

Hi,

So I came across this game called Bronkie The Bronchiasaurus and it seems to be kinda rare. The loose cartridge seems to be going up in value each year. Right now I think its at 140ish it could be lower though. Everyone is asking 299.99 for sealed copies and I know if it got a sealed copy and it got a decent grading from vgc it could be worth a lot more. I just don't know if the demand is there and what also worries me is that a seller on ebay keeps asking me if I want to buy his sealed copy of the game. Just so he can make his money back on the game. lol He says it should get at least 90 + gold. Which is awesome but I doubt anyone would pay 1,500 for a game unless it was a really sweet title.

[artist23122]

He just lowered the price because he wants me too buy it. It worries me though because if he has to lower it that means it isn't selling at all.

[entity]

I highly doubt it is a "really sweet title".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orf5oifG0gA

[turf]

Buying games as an investment is a bad idea. In the early 90's folks did that with baseball cards. Then the market died.
If you want to invest, invest in something that people need. Stay away from stuff that they have a fleeting interest in.

The number of people that want Brockie is pretty small to start with. Then, people that want sealed games, makes it smaller. Then, you're going to slab it. That makes the market even smaller.

TL;DR. Video games are a poor investment

[ignition365]

Invest in renewable energy.

[asmodean]

Buying games as an investment is a bad idea. In the early 90's folks did that with baseball cards. Then the market died.
If you want to invest, invest in something that people need. Stay away from stuff that they have a fleeting interest in.

I don't fully agree with this. Art, like paintings is something that people don't really need but you still need to pay quite a hefty price for a Rembrandt these days Whether this is comparable to video games is another matter. While we are seeing high prices at the moment (at least here in Europe, but from what I understand, North America aswell) I fail to see how they can plunge and be worth nothing. As time goes, there will be less people connected to the older games through nostalgia, but there will also be less games in circulation since they degrade/people throw them away/they stop working etc. So, while prices might be going down slightly, they are bound to rise again in the future

[turf]

Buying games as an investment is a bad idea. In the early 90's folks did that with baseball cards. Then the market died.
If you want to invest, invest in something that people need. Stay away from stuff that they have a fleeting interest in.

I don't fully agree with this. Art, like paintings is something that people don't really need but you still need to pay quite a hefty price for a Rembrandt these days Whether this is comparable to video games is another matter. While we are seeing high prices at the moment (at least here in Europe, but from what I understand, North America aswell) I fail to see how they can plunge and be worth nothing. As time goes, there will be less people connected to the older games through nostalgia, but there will also be less games in circulation since they degrade/people throw them away/they stop working etc. So, while prices might be going down slightly, they are bound to rise again in the future

Folks can do whatever they want.  I just don't think it's a great idea.  Even if it does appreciate, it's not going to supplement your income.  What kind of return are you expecting?  Even at 25% a $300 + $90 or whatever to get it graded, you'd have to sell it for $500.  You only made $110.  It may be enough for some people, but my time and effort is worth way more than that.

[asmodean]

Buying games as an investment is a bad idea. In the early 90's folks did that with baseball cards. Then the market died.
If you want to invest, invest in something that people need. Stay away from stuff that they have a fleeting interest in.

I don't fully agree with this. Art, like paintings is something that people don't really need but you still need to pay quite a hefty price for a Rembrandt these days Whether this is comparable to video games is another matter. While we are seeing high prices at the moment (at least here in Europe, but from what I understand, North America aswell) I fail to see how they can plunge and be worth nothing. As time goes, there will be less people connected to the older games through nostalgia, but there will also be less games in circulation since they degrade/people throw them away/they stop working etc. So, while prices might be going down slightly, they are bound to rise again in the future

Folks can do whatever they want.  I just don't think it's a great idea.  Even if it does appreciate, it's not going to supplement your income.  What kind of return are you expecting?  Even at 25% a $300 + $90 or whatever to get it graded, you'd have to sell it for $500.  You only made $110.  It may be enough for some people, but my time and effort is worth way more than that.

Ahh, yes, this I can agree with. It's not a good idea if you do it in order to earn money since the return on investment is very low, even when you manage to sell high. I was more thinking along the line that buying games should not be treated as a "sunk cost", like food is for example There is still a value

[ignition365]

I can't recall for sure, but I wanna say when Atari was big like 10 years back, everybody was buying it as an investment because the people who grew up with it were in that nostalgic period where they had the disposable income and wanted to relive their youth and the Atari market was blowing up, but look at the Atari market now.  I know there are quite a few resellers in my area trying to sell those atari games at the prices they paid for them... they want $150 for a loose 2600 and like $20 a game, it's just funny.

[redblaze57]

If you want another example of media being a bad investment, just look up the comic book industry crash.

[shfan]

I'd agree with Turf and everyone else that the buy and hold strategy won't work for video games in general, these aren't fine wines after all and retro-gaming has a considerable 'fad' taint at the minute. That's not to say that retrogaming is going to go away, or that those who collect or play for the love of it are going to disappear, but for obscure, niche titles like this, there's going to be a very limited number of people interested in owning a copy, the value's probably not going to keep spiking.

[artist23122]

@entity I wasn't saying this game was a "really sweet title" I was say unless its a really sweet title. In reference to a different game...

[rayne315]

This is how I look at it. NEVER buy anything off ebay as an investment. everyone on their is trying to get the most money they can for everything they sell, so just the for the fact that the guy is dropping his price for you tips you off that it is not selling at current inflated prices. plus just knowing that he can drop the price for you tells me its a BIN and that it is not worth that much to anyone. If you find it on auction I can almost guarantee it will go for 20-40% less than what the guy is trying to sell it to you for.

[artist23122]

I passed on the game. It is such an obscure game as it is. If I buy a game it will just be for my enjoyment. I do want to rebuild my nes and snes collection.