Author Topic: How is retro game pricing as of Feb 2018?  (Read 5299 times)

dreama1

How is retro game pricing as of Feb 2018?
« on: February 18, 2018, 01:12:44 pm »
How is retro game pricing as of Feb 2018?


sworddude

Re: How is retro game pricing as of Feb 2018?
« Reply #1 on: February 18, 2018, 02:24:11 pm »
In pal regions it really depends what your looking for

Lose carts of most good titles pretty much the same except for the hyped games wich didn't increase to much with the exception of n64 pretty hyped atm.

Common stuff as in bad games just for full sets even back in the day they were hard to sell so naturally they are cheaper since nobody wants them except for the small market back in the day were apprantly people did buy lose nes carts of for example pinball for 5 - 7$.

Obviously not really known good games or more obsecure titles will usually stay the same value wise.

Certain really rare hyped games that were expensive some years back have retained their value not really increased much in some cases a bit of a decrease. some fluctutaion it goes up and down but never cheap SOTN ps1 LE for example or megaman x3 megaman x2 vampire kiss etc But than were talking about pretty high prices. in those cases allot people cannot afford it or have to save money for quite a long time or ofcourse a wealthy man who has not yet gotten that game for the collection. That being said most rich collectors want the best of the best so they usually wait for excellent pristine condition items to pop up. This is the reason why minty prices can be allot higher than even excellent copies.

In general if your looking for complete in box stuff in very nice shape prices have increased over the years and supply is not really friendly to many wich is the reason why apparently people will buy them at the higher prices, There are not many nice condition complete in box examples for especially many cardboard released games, Allot of games especially if your looking for nice condition examples cannot be bought instantly on ebay anymore one has to wait for a nice copy to pop out.

Lose carts are usually plentyfull except for some very rare non hyped titles so prices are pretty much the same or a decrease for bad stuff. Price gap between complete in box and lose has increased allot over the years.

Sega especially megadrive genesis has increased double maybe tripled in a few years especially for certain sought after games wich are 100+ titles while they were only 40 - 50 at best just some years back. That being said for allot of snes nes especially cib games the same can be said.

In europe for the stuff that most want even the more obsecure stuff in general has increased sometimes by allot. if you less picky and accept lose or missing things, filler materials plenty of non sport stuff that fits that category than prices have been the same as years back or a decrease in price since their is no reason to own games that you do not want to play. More people have seen the light on the other side apparently  ::)

While the market of cib expensive stuff is allot smaller than for the affordable stuff, the supply of the excellent condition cib games is even smaller unless everyone decides to sell their stuff than things can chance.
« Last Edit: February 18, 2018, 02:31:50 pm by sworddude »
Your Stylish Sword Master!



Re: How is retro game pricing as of Feb 2018?
« Reply #2 on: February 18, 2018, 02:31:00 pm »
I never pay retail so I can only go by what I sell.  That being said i have noticed N64 and PS2 going up and NES tailing off or going down a little

Re: How is retro game pricing as of Feb 2018?
« Reply #3 on: February 18, 2018, 02:49:35 pm »
I never pay retail so I can only go by what I sell.  That being said i have noticed N64 and PS2 going up and NES tailing off or going down a little

That's to be expected- the people who grew up on NES and were nostalgic for it a few years back have now 'had their fill', so to speak, and would either be selling things off or just dropping out of the buying market.

Meanwhile, kids who grew up on PS2 are now grown up & starting to become wistful for their childhood games, so prices are going up as they come into the retro market looking for those titles. I suspect we're due for a PS2 boom within the next 5 years or so, especially if disc based clone systems start coming onto the market.

dreama1

Re: How is retro game pricing as of Feb 2018?
« Reply #4 on: February 18, 2018, 02:59:17 pm »
You're suggesting NES prices will go down soon? I'm still finding this hard to believe.


sworddude

Re: How is retro game pricing as of Feb 2018?
« Reply #5 on: February 18, 2018, 03:02:23 pm »
You're suggesting NES prices will go down soon? I'm still finding this hard to believe.

Really depends.

In Europe the nes didn't do to well, allot of especially boxed nes games not to many around.

The US on the other hand had great sales with nes maybe prices could drop over there especially for the full set materials don't expect anything to major though.

And if you really want nice price drops I mean it could take a while and if people who are waiting are really unlucky allot of us could be pretty old  before those days ever come nobody knows when prices will drop or if they just retain their value or sky rocket in the future. Filler titles even many non sports games for sure but for the titles that matter that's the issue here. There is a reason why people buy games at higher prices not everyone wants to wait for 5 10 or maybe many more years before that day comes.

Thankfully there are very nice flash carts these days so gameplay wise there should not be an issue for anyone. If you don't like the prices buy a flash carts and be done with it. Were even in that era that saturn can be emulated. If there were no great deals around I would personally for sure just get a flash cart and get an og xbox for emulation for cd systems and be done with it, only a handfull of nostalgic titles for me really.

If a price drop ever comes in my theory it means that the majority is not interested in this hobby anymore including pretty much all people here on the forums. Still though when that time comes It's pretty pointless since a long time has passed and allot of people do not want to play them games anymore.
« Last Edit: February 18, 2018, 04:29:23 pm by sworddude »
Your Stylish Sword Master!



Re: How is retro game pricing as of Feb 2018?
« Reply #6 on: February 18, 2018, 09:01:56 pm »
You're suggesting NES prices will go down soon? I'm still finding this hard to believe.
The common stuff is

Re: How is retro game pricing as of Feb 2018?
« Reply #7 on: February 19, 2018, 02:02:53 am »
The writing is on the wall everywhere; retro collecting is starting to lose steam as indicated by the increased availability of retro titles at local stores, many collectors getting out of the hobby, and most of all historic pricing trend data showing that prices on nearly every retro system are either plateauing or falling. The NES and SNES are particularly plateauing for the past half year while most of the retro Sega consoles, especially Saturn is crashing hard right now. Likewise PS1 prices are coming down hard right now too.

Sure, there are games here in there in each respective console library that are contradicting these overall trends, but overall reto gaming is finally hitting that same place that comics, toys, sports cards, and even Atari games hot before it. I knew it would happen, it was just a matter of time.

Re: How is retro game pricing as of Feb 2018?
« Reply #8 on: February 19, 2018, 05:50:22 am »
NES and SNES hit their peak in the lead off to Christmas 2016 and then retrenched a little only recently have I noticed another downward trend with them.

N64 is still going up, but that will plateau and then fall back too in the next 1 to 3 years.

Oddly, Atari seems to have gone up a little bit. Thats got to be people who don't know what they are doing though, right? And yet I always have old ladies coming up to me and saying they brought an Atari recently to play childhood games again so ehh, what do I know.

I don't think prices will ever collapse though (or, at least, not for decades) they will just find a non-bubbled price to sit at for a stable -not burgeoning- collector's market. Think of it in the way you would action figures or pre-1980s sports cards, some will be worth a lot, some will be worth a bit and some will be worthless.
« Last Edit: February 19, 2018, 05:57:48 am by scraph4ppy »

Re: How is retro game pricing as of Feb 2018?
« Reply #9 on: February 19, 2018, 11:04:14 am »
You're suggesting NES prices will go down soon? I'm still finding this hard to believe.

It already is, dude. It's not gonna be quick, it's not gonna crash out- I think the public concept of "games are collectable & therefore valuable" has taken root too firmly for that- but we're definitely in the downturn now.

I have seen the uptick in Atari as well, and in Fairchild Channel F of all things too. I think what we're seeing is a market stabilization. Basically, people jumped at the NES stuff they grew up on & ballooned the prices up. Now the nostalgia buyers are moving away entirely, while the diehards are/have branched out to systems that cost less to buy for. So we're seeing big systems start to come down & traditionally cheap systems start to go up.

Do I expect to see huge trends in either? No- I don't think people will start paying top dollar for systems they picked up as a budget option. Plus, even if you're not actively buying for a favorite system, you tend to check on prices from time to time anyway- meaning once the big games start coming down, people will start jumping to buy them. Which, of course, means the prices don't drop any lower.

Basically, the rush is over, and we're starting to see what the market will truly bear now.

turf

PRO Supporter

Re: How is retro game pricing as of Feb 2018?
« Reply #10 on: February 20, 2018, 11:16:31 am »
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.


Re: How is retro game pricing as of Feb 2018?
« Reply #11 on: February 20, 2018, 11:53:52 am »
I've speculated for years that this was going to happen and that this is similar to the Atari bust years ago.


Re: How is retro game pricing as of Feb 2018?
« Reply #12 on: February 20, 2018, 01:46:09 pm »
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.

Re: How is retro game pricing as of Feb 2018?
« Reply #13 on: February 20, 2018, 02:19:29 pm »
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.


Re: How is retro game pricing as of Feb 2018?
« Reply #14 on: February 20, 2018, 06:47:14 pm »
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