The Rising Cost of Retro Collecting

[nusilver]

Hey guys, so a couple of years ago, I was working on a piece for a large online gaming publication, and I even interviewed a couple folks here about it. Well, for whatever reason, I got paid for the piece but it was never published, and shortly after that, the features editor who bought it from me left game journalism for a PR career (as they so often do.)

All that is to say, I'm posting it here for everyone since it was partly inspired by my friends at FamicomWorld, and damnit, it's been two years since they paid me and nobody ever got to read this. You'll note I did not mention FW by name in the article, instead pointing the site's audiences to other resources like NA and DP -- this was because I was specifically asked *not* to send that site's audiences to FamicomWorld, since, you know, we have a pretty good thing going here and it's largely unknown.

In any case -- enjoy the piece! I think it'll provide some interesting perspective on how much things have changed since 2013 -- and how much they've stayed the same. Hope this sparks some decent discussion! Also, if you enjoy my writing, please check out my website, invisiblegamer.net! Also, you can probably guess what site this was for, but please don't mention them in the comments.

The Rising Cost of Retro Collecting

by Michael Burns

In late 2010, a cartridge-only copy of Earthbound cost around $85 on the secondhand market. Shantae, WayForward's overlooked Gameboy Color masterpiece, could be had for under $100. Today, the same games can easily fetch $200 apiece, despite both having recently been announced for Virtual Console release. And it's not just the rare titles that are commanding such ridiculous premiums: Nintendo enthusiasts looking to build up a retro gaming collection in 2013 are finding even common games, like The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Super Metroid, selling in the $30-$40 range, up from around $15-20 just a few years ago.

What the heck is going on in the retro gaming market? Why, in this age of digital distribution, has it become so costly to re-experience these games as they were originally intended to be played? And most importantly, is there any relief in sight for those of us who can't afford to trade a week's worth of lunches for a little quality time with the classics?

Virtual Console is a Bust

Seven years after its promising launch on the Wii, things are looking dire for Nintendo's Virtual Console. Even as its competitors have embraced multi-device account systems for digital purchases, Nintendo stubbornly continues to tie digital goods to the consoles they were originally downloaded on, meaning consumers have to pay for every single Virtual Console game they want to play on their 3DS or Wii U systems...even if they've already bought them on Wii. Worse, Nintendo has chosen to kick off each platform's Virtual Console with only a handful of titles, meaning players have another half-decade of waiting before the 3DS and Wii U can theoretically compete with the Wii's catalog of classics. And that's to say nothing of the many high-profile titles that are still missing from the service, or games like Donkey Kong Country that have been delisted due to expired licenses, or those that will never see the light of day because their publishers no longer exist to grant digital licenses in the first place.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news," Baby Mario told them, "but they're releasing Xevious and Solomon's Key again."

All of this begs the question: what right-minded Nintendo fan would invest in a Virtual Console service that is incomplete at best, and built upon a business model that nickel-and-dimes the company's most faithful followers? I love Earthbound, and hats off to Nintendo for finally overcoming the challenges of uploading a ROM to the Internet, but what about those Wii owners who've spent seven years begging the company to release the game on the system they already own? Should they really have to spend $300 for the privilege of playing the game on a Wii U, when that same $300 could buy an original copy of the game and a Super Nintendo that can play hundreds more titles than will ever be available on Virtual Console?

Supply, Meet Demand

Three years ago, the United States was struggling to recover from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Hundreds of thousands across the country were barely scraping by. Gamers, forced to do whatever they could to make ends meet, flooded online marketplaces like Craigslist and eBay with their old games, then watched in horror as a wave of competition from likeminded sellers forced them to offload their collections at rock-bottom prices. It was a great time to be a collector if you had the cash to spare, but who really had the income to justify that kind of frivolity?

Ouch.

Fast forward three years. The U.S. economy is finding its legs again. Employment is slowly, but steadily, on the rise, and those twenty- and thirty-somethings that grew up on Nintendo are finally starting to earn a little bit of money. Ravenous with nostalgia and with nobody to tell them no, a growing audience of young adults is finally snapping up all the games they could never afford as kids. And they don't seem to care how much they cost.

The Internet Makes Everyone an Expert

Of course, not everyone's in it for the love of the game. For every person hawking an extra copy of Super Mario World to offset the cost of a Final Fantasy III, there are 10 more looking to make a quick buck off of hardcore collectors and careless spenders. And honestly, with stories like this becoming more and more common, who can blame them? There's nothing wrong with seeking fair market compensation for high-demand goods; unfortunately for bargain-hunters, technology has given anyone with a smartphone and a box of old "game tapes" the ability to abuse the market. Prospective sellers, often ignorant of a game's worth and too impatient to research closing prices on auctions, resort to checking Buy It Now prices and setting their games accordingly. And though these prices tend to be high compared to what most people are willing to pay, all it takes is a single, overpaying consumer for the perceived value of a game to become the game's actual value.

Confounding this issue is the so-called Video Game Authority, an organization that exists, according to its mission statement, "to provide video game collectors throughout the world with added peace of mind when making purchases sight unseen." The VGA purports to solve the problem of varying perspectives on collectability by using a standard measurement and scoring system for the physical condition of games, consoles, and accessories. For collectors with serious cash to burn, a VGA grade provides some assurance that their investment in a game is money well spent, but for those of us who buy games to play them, it means price gouging has become an accepted practice.

Is The Legend of Zelda worth $1000? If you buy into the VGA grading system, it might be.

Every Bubble Bursts

If you ask some longtime collectors, it's a bad time to get into retro gaming, and it's only going to get worse as new buyers enter the market. But consumer spending habits will ultimately determine how long this bubble can sustain itself, which makes the solution to the problem pretty simple: if a game costs too much, don't buy it! And if you really need to have that Chrono Trigger cartridge? Get off eBay, where you'll probably end up paying $100 or more, and go join one of the many web-based communities dedicated to classic gaming, like Nintendo Age, Racketboy, and Digital Press. Stick around for a bit, make some friends, and learn about some of the great games that passed you by when you traded in all your old stuff for the latest, greatest technology. And who knows? Maybe if you ask nicely, someone will cut you a deal.



Special thanks to retro gaming enthusiasts Dave Allwein and Manuel Dillinger for their gracious assistance in putting together this feature. (That's you guys!)

[famiac]

Awesome article. Thanks for letting it see the light of day.

[nusilver]

Thanks! It was kind of general info, but that's the audience for the site it was supposed to be for. I'm still happy with how it came out.

[manuel]

Nice. 
Hey, I'm mentioned! 

[Mo-hd]

Great article! Thanks for sharing.

[nusilver]

Yep! I had to give real names for anyone I sourced, even if I didn't quote anyone. Thanks, again!

[zmaster18]

Yeah, game collecting as well as collecting other stuff in general seems to be getting more and more expensive. Anyone notice how expensive North American N64 games are getting recently?

[MaxXimus]

Yes it's getting insane. It's only a matter of time before jN64 games start to skyrocket as well.

Nice article. Thanks for sharing.

[fcgamer]

Yes it's getting insane. It's only a matter of time before jN64 games start to skyrocket as well.

Nice article. Thanks for sharing.

I hope they do...I have access to a whole cash of new old stock jN64 games, CIB, though due to the (slightly) high price per game, I never grab them from my buddy.  If there starts to be a demand though, I will be there!

[Gio_16bits]

And this is the very reason why i got myself a flash devices for my Commodore 64, Atari 600xl, and Famicom/Nes. Games that i've always wanted to play, but couldn't because of  these stupid expensive prices for these games.

[zmaster18]

Yeah, I plan on getting the everdrive for famicom and snes because all those really fantastic games are too expensive to own.

[MaxXimus]

I'd get an everdrive 64 eventually so that I wouldn't have to fiddle with adapters and such, and also to play prototypes and other games I normally wouldn't have access to such as the PAL exclusives that won't boot on USA JAP systems (assuming they would boot off the everdrive) but I would also continue to buy the cartridges as well. I think the N64 is an awesome system so I don't mind paying for the cartridges. I do always try to find deals when ever I can though.

[The Hero]

Wow Prices really have skyrocketed even repro/homebrew collecting it gets quite expensive....

[Sarahconner]

Your article structures some of the thoughts Ive been having on the topic but haven't written.   Thanks, great work.