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[Impotaku]

Let's differentiate, if you buy a sealed copy of a game you want it for collecting only, you don't plan on opening it. If you buy a CIB copy you can both be collecting and playing it. I got friends who love to play with the physical consoles, I'm in a SNES collecting group but many have started collecting TurboGrafx games too because they are cheap still in comparison (especially Japanese ones). Now, we all know that physical games will eventually fail, a battery in a SNES game might leak and ruin the circuit, or the pins might get too damaged, a disc might decay or become too scratched to be playable, etc. In that case those games can drop their price so if you bought them as investment they will be a complete loss. Some of that could happen to sealed games but in this case you are buying the item as a piece of memorabilia, not to play it so if the battery decays and eats the whole PCB away it doesn't matter as long as it doesn't destroy the box.

I personally collect games that I a) played as a child/teen, b) games that I read in magazines at that age but could never buy, c) games that I want to play. Very rarely I buy something to not play it, which is why I nowadays focus more on portable and consoles that have a portable version than home consoles where you need a CRT to experience the game as when you were child. But I totally understand someone wanting to pay 500 or 1000 for a sealed copy, or a copy of a game that had low production.

Not everyone who buys a sealed game sits on it, There are also people like myself who buy sealed games to open & play because they want a copy that's pristine as finding copies out there in pristine condition is extremely hard for quite a few titles so buying sealed gets you a near guaranteed mint copy. Dont care how rare or valuable a sealed game is if i want to play it then it's getting stripped of it's plastic. I have no interest in hoarding sealed games to sit on them.

Stupidly rare game, took years to find a pristine sealed copy but i wanted to play it so zip.

Sealed copy of Zanac another pricy game, someone even messaged me hate because of this pic saying i'm ruining collecting by opening it. Boo hoo cry some more LOL it's getting enjoyed like it's meant to.

Another that's near impossible to find sealed, and now theres 1 less LOL

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

Let me tell you a secret, they are all crap (kuon, rule of rose, haunting grounds). I emulated them once i heard about the price hype. Gameplay TERRIBLE, story barely there, let your brain use imagination. Level design non sensical. You really need to be special type of sausage to actually fork out money on these highly praised, boring turds.

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

I know they're rare collector items, but it's still….Greed.

 

[RoboFu]

Outrageous

Or how about get them off eBay for $50 first?

 

[JayK47]

Interesting. I still have Resident Evil 2 and Silent Hill. Silent Hill is going for well over $100 on Ebay. Things I think would be worth something are always going for like $10 to $20 on Ebay. Stuff like Silent Hill though?

 

[sainraja]

These are factory sealed or very rare games. You can buy a used Resident Evil 3 Nemisis for under £20. Don't be stupid.

That might be true, but it's just one of the possible futures. Digital is replacing physical (perhaps not as quickly as it did for music, but still).

 

[Three]

That might be true, but it's just one of the possible futures. Digital is replacing physical (perhaps not as quickly as it did for music, but still).

I'm not sure I follow your point about the multiverse of possible futures.

In the future we may have games that are no longer printed and are cheaper digital only but that is not a negative of physical. That is just them not printing them. The alternative future is that we may have a game that is digital only and then becomes delisted which is far worse.

If I am someone who buys physical then I'll be able to sell what I buy at high prices and at worse I'd have to buy a digital copy for cheap if I can't find it physical. That's if it is still offered digital at all.

 

[sainraja]

I'm not sure I follow your point about the multiverse of possible futures.

In the future we may have games that are no longer printed and are cheaper digital only but that is not a negative of physical. That is just them not printing them. The alternative future is that we may have a game that is digital only and then becomes delisted which is far worse.

If I am someone who buys physical then I'll be able to sell what I buy at high prices and at worse I'd have to buy a digital copy for cheap if I can't find it physical. That's if it is still offered digital at all.

I understand the negatives of physical not being an option. I was just saying that given how things are going and it is not like the companies making consoles/games are stopping the push for digital, that sooner or later, we will see physical games fetch high prices due to scarcity.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

Or how about get them off eBay for $50 first?

Way ahead of you, by about twenty years

 

[Sojiro]

Perhaps I'm still speaking (albeit a bit naively) from the viewpoint of someone who likes to collect games, but also to actively play them with the copies he bought.

I never believed in stacking a shelf full of rarities just because they cost an arm and a leg, and I'd never buy a game I don't like just for its perceived value. But I guess I'm in the minority.

I don't think you're in the minority whatsoever, I would wager the majority of people who physically collect games (especially retro titles), actually play their collection and aren't buying WATA graded garbage shelf pieces. I collect physical and don't line my shelves with sealed shit, and I also have no intention of ever doing a complete library for any system. I have a decent sized collection across a number of systems, but I choose to curate it with only titles that I already love or have some interest in playing.

These listings are also just whatever the idiot seller thinks someone might bite at. Don't get me wrong, even going off of what Pricecharting shows for averages of worth I still feel like what is being asked for these titles is way too much, especially given that I never hear people mention they are even worth playing (not talking about the RE games). I can imagine all those WATA graded games are constantly relisted after their sell by dates expire, since (thankfully) no one that legitimately gives a shit about gaming as a hobby bought into that bubble market that fucksticks with money tried to pump up.

I will say, Covid did boost retro prices a good bit, and while they have gone down since then, they aren't back to what they were before the pandemic hit. I still do buy retro titles, but I have slowed down what I buy, and am patient with trying to find prices that I am willing to pay for.

 

[tylrdiablos]

In the UK we have a place called CEX, there's 3 relatively near me and all of them have a copy of Rule Of Rose for £190.
I mean, can a title be considered rare if one retailer alone has 10+ in stock?

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

One day I'll get that Rule of Rose. It's one of the holy grails I must obtain.

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

You should always filter by sold listings

I can list a pencil for $50,000 on eBay. Doesn't mean it's worth that much.

 

[MidGenRefresh]

I have a sealed copy of Fable for the original Xbox. I'm not sure how much it's worth.

 

[consoul]

This handful of PS2 horror games is worth more than my car.

Rule of Rose was collectible from day one, due to the unwarranted media frenzy around it, but the others cost me virtually nothing because nobody wanted them back then. I paid less than $20 for Kuon.

 

[amigastar]

Outrageous

 

[Pasta la Vista]

Rule of Rose has always been an expensive and overpriced (because it's horrible) game.

The graded stuff is a scam, same as always. There are YT videos that go into how scummy that market is, lots of scam artists and grifters manipulating the market like selling shit to themselves to raise the price.

Exactly this. Lots of market manipulation on the more valuable stuff. I've been selling off my collection slowly on ebay for like the past 5 years and with a little research you'll start to see patterns of games being sold too frequently for inflated prices. People get their friends in on it, it's a whole racket.

 

[Pasta la Vista]

This handful of PS2 horror games is worth more than my car.

Rule of Rose was collectible from day one, due to the unwarranted media frenzy around it, but the others cost me virtually nothing because nobody wanted them back then. I paid less than $20 for Kuon.

PAL versions of games typically go for much much less than the NTSC U versions.

 

[Durin]

Collecting in general is a pretty shit hobby, and I like to collect as well lol.

Between preying on fomo with limited runs of stuff, artificial scarcity, the scam of gradings, and scalpers/drop shippers/side hustlers and aftermarket prices, a lot of the joy has been sucked out.

It went from being about a love for something and wanting to collect memorabilia, to who has the biggest peen because of how much money they made from selling this shit, or who spent the most money on their collection.

Yeah, it gets quite a bit excessive. I really never got into the whole grading thing, or needing pristine condition. I just want the box with art, and the disc/cart to work. I don't need games for the sake of having them, it's gotta be something I'm gonna play because I like it, and I'm not even gonna have some big display...because I'm just gonna convert the game into a ROM to emulate anyway (unless it's the less than 1% games that don't emulate well).

 

[GrayChild]

PAL versions of games typically go for much much less than the NTSC U versions.

I actually thought about getting the American versions of Silent Hill 1 and Parasite Eve II, as the (well-kept) UK editions ended up being more expensive. Same with the classic RE's. Getting the German ones is out of the questions due to both their localization and censored gore, especially with the first one.

 

[cireza]

Doesn't mean the games are actually sold at these prices.

 

[Setsuna Mudou]

 

[Breakfast at Noon]

Same goes for VHS tapes of horror movies, it's just the way it is.

 

[Flabagast]

Rule of Rose is the GOAT horror game, so that explains it a little bit

 

[Sintoid]

I'll wait it on PSPlus

 

[bad guy]

Don't CD/DVDs rot after a few decades?

 

[Nintendo's Witch]

A fool and his money

 

[DryvBy]

Your physical media future.

The best part is owning this stuff sealed and selling it. Tell me how your digital future is with that. Can you even buy Rule of Rose in digital format?

Sit this one out, digital missionary.

 

[Punished Miku]

The best part is owning this stuff sealed and selling it. Tell me how your digital future is with that. Can you even buy Rule of Rose in digital format?

Sit this one out, digital missionary.

Digital has its issues. This thread is about physical. It's just common sense that this is the future of physical games. The supply will decrease and disappear and the price will skyrocket. A few wealthy nerds will be able to get the games and keep it on their shelf and never play it.

 

[DryvBy]

Digital has its issues. This thread is about physical. It's just common sense that this is the future of physical games. The supply will decrease and disappear and the price will skyrocket. A few wealthy nerds will be able to get the games and keep it on their shelf and never play it.

They want sealed games. There's some opened games that are ridiculously priced too but mostly its the sealed ones. But still great someone can buy it. I just sold a Pokemon card for $300, something I don't care about at all. Let the rich buy it all!

 

[spookyfish]

Not everyone who buys a sealed game sits on it, There are also people like myself who buy sealed games to open & play because they want a copy that's pristine as finding copies out there in pristine condition is extremely hard for quite a few titles so buying sealed gets you a near guaranteed mint copy. Dont care how rare or valuable a sealed game is if i want to play it then it's getting stripped of it's plastic. I have no interest in hoarding sealed games to sit on them.

Stupidly rare game, took years to find a pristine sealed copy but i wanted to play it so zip.

Good on you. Do what you want with it.

 

[Mattyp]

I actually thought about getting the American versions of Silent Hill 1 and Parasite Eve II, as the (well-kept) UK editions ended up being more expensive. Same with the classic RE's. Getting the German ones is out of the questions due to both their localization and censored gore, especially with the first one.

Yeah NTSC games have always been cheaper for me, such much larger market and production numbers. Even getting all my games from UK was cheaper for a bit, I have in excess of thousands of physical games I don't get the bullshit of grading it but if that's what floats people's boats.

I'm glad I amassed my collection a decade ago before this became a thing but most my games have cost me a couple bucks each in much larger collections I would buy in end of product life low points.

Once a new console drops, wait 2-3 years and the dead spot of Eb games wanting rid of them and everyone else typically was lowest from NES to PS4.

There's some bargain xbox physical games to be had at moment bought a bunch for $2 each the other day but this is the last generation for this part of video games (physical)

 

[Kotaro]

I happen to have a few sealed PS2 games in my collection. I like how Sony games used to have label and security strip back then, it kinda validate the authenticity of a new, sealed game.

Not only horror games command high price, highly collectible franchise like Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy also go for high price if they're sealed and the label/strip intact like this.

As far as I know Sony stopped having security label/strip for their new games in early 2004

 

[cinnamonandgravy]

This handful of PS2 horror games is worth more than my car.

Rule of Rose was collectible from day one, due to the unwarranted media frenzy around it, but the others cost me virtually nothing because nobody wanted them back then. I paid less than $20 for Kuon.

get a better car

 

[Evil Calvin]

Just because they list it high doesn't mean it's worth that value.

 

[Futaleufu]

Looks like some fool trying to get rid of their useless WATA graded collection

 

[EverydayBeast]

 

[consoul]

get a better car

but that would eat into my game budget!

(I have a better car. Was just making the point that those games are worth more than my second shitbox car.)

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

I happen to have a few sealed PS2 games in my collection. I like how Sony games used to have label and security strip back then, it kinda validate the authenticity of a new, sealed game.

Not only horror games command high price, highly collectible franchise like Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy also go for high price if they're sealed and the label/strip intact like this.

As far as I know Sony stopped having security label/strip for their new games in early 2004

I'll sell ya a sealed Xenosaga 3!

 

[Kotaro]

I'll sell ya a sealed Xenosaga 3!

Is it the lenticular cover edition?

Sealed lenticular cover is worth almost as much as sealed Kuon as far as I know

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

Is it the lenticular cover edition?

Sealed lenticular cover is worth almost as much as sealed Kuon as far as I know

Sad times...the lc edition is open and is *VERY* used but have just a regular sealed copy.

It's cool, no one is paying $1k for a copy of xenosaga 3 regardless of the cool moving images on the front.