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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.