Valid points all around. You can tell you're a true gamer. Some ppl just collect to sell ot off eventually. Because of Gamepass I'm finally sold on digital media but I sure miss the good old days of the NES, SNES etc when buying games & going though the manuals were the best feeling!
100%. I was pretty close to a complete N64 loose set. Have most of the heavies. Even have a beautiful HD CRT. But I just can't be bothered to collect anymore. I have gone totally toward emulation, and save states alone will keep me on digital for good.
And I don’t think we really want it to crash as we enjoy the community aspects of gaming. Current prices are literally what we have to pay to sustain them
@@hm_nambo Totally agree. Not only the community, but the popularity of retro games is why 2D indie games are so successful and popular. I’m not willing to sacrifice those things just so I can hoard games for less money. Lol
Everything crashes eventually, video games are no exception especially with an aging community. Youngsters don't have that nostalgia feeling towards video games which sucks. I've never collected for the value I just want a big collection so when I retire I won't be bored 😂
@@retropursuit992hi, im a youngster (13), I LOVE retro video games, they imo are way better than newer ones. My favorite console is the wii, but i also own an n64 and xbox 360
I built most of my collection up 15 to 20 years ago. I remember going into Goodwills back in the early to mid 2000's, and finding complete in box NES games for $10 each, a complete in box Sega CD system for $20, a Sega Nomad for $5, a Panasonic 3DO with 10 games and all the hookups and a controller for $30, etc. I also remember back then, you couldn't hardly give a Sega Saturn away for free. I have a friend who wanted to sell his Saturn around 2005/2006, and no pawn shop would buy it from him. One guy at a pawn shop laughed when my friend asked how much they would pay for his Saturn, and the guy was like..."Hahaha, how about ZERO?" I have sold off a good chunk of my collection in recent years to capitalize on the crazy prices, but if the market ever crashes and prices go back down, I might buy back some of the stuff I parted with.
I agree. I collect PC bigbox games. I can't buy much of anything anymore. It's just too much $. I would love to have complete shelves of Infocom, SSI, Dataeast, QQP, old Avalon Hill, etc. I'll play them in emulation, but I want to see the materials and read through them like I bought them (because I did!). I miss the old days around 2000. I could go out and by tons of used games. They'd only cost a few dollars each. I could go on ebay and get a couple dozen at a time for $50 or so. Now the resellers scarf up everything, break up the lots and sell them for high dollars. It's depressing.
95% of my collection was bought before 2019 so I am somewhat fortunate. I bought a handful of games I really wanted during the pandemic because I just wanted to be done with collecting. But I would gladly lose money on those couple games if it meant I could have fun collecting again.
Prices are always regulated by supply and demand. Those two aren’t the same now as ten years ago and will never return to that point. So, each collector should set his own boundaries in the current market situation. Also, is quite misleading saying that your collection is completely free when you hustled to get it, even if you enjoyed the hustle. Just my two cents in the matter as you asked them, it is an interesting topic. Love your content, greetings from Mexico
You’re one of the only people I’ve seen that understands the concepts of supply and demand. It regulates the price of everything, including games, and gamers don’t understand this for some reason. No clue why. And yeah, these guys claiming it’s “free” because they only traded their time for it is hilarious. By that logic, my house was free. Lol
I miss the days of going to a game expo, spending $40 and leaving with a box full of good stuff. Those days have been long gone for a good 10-15 years.
Good takes! I definitely agree. I think the “investor” types really pollute hobbies. There was a wave of reseller activity in 2015 after some of those “your old games could be worth millions” articles started to run, and recently with this sealed game/grading wave it’s only gotten worse. Supply is very dry and prices have doubled/tripled since 2019. My collection is similar in that it’s largely come from Gsales and is free from keeping what I want. I’d argue it’s the real enthusiasts and collectors that want to see the market for games crash because it’s the only way to really weed out the resellers. Once a product gets on their radar it stays there until the dollar signs go away (and with it the incentive). You’ll always have hustlers buying up games at thrifts/pawns/Gsales until they aren’t worth trying to flip anymore. Can’t wait for that crash to come. There’s so many genuinely fun games that have no business being so expensive that I’d love to add to the collection one day.
I would be so happy if games were around 2012 level. the prices and scarcity of the last few years at flea markets, pawn shops etc has completely turned me off the hunt, something I always love to do. long gone are the days of getting up at 4am for flea markets in the city and definitely coming home with a bag full of goodies, would be lucky to find a scratched up ps2 game now.
I wouldn’t necessarily want the market to go back to the early 2000s. I dig the interest that ensures conventions thrive and allows me to connect with people that have the same interests. It’s at a good place and I’m having as much fun collecting as I ever have. And I’ve spent the most money I ever had these past couple years… but luckily stuff sells for more now too, so it all works out in the end. I’m not doing this to make money, so I’m good breaking even.
I end up collecting because games are only worth a tenth after they’re used. Just more feasible to keep them. I usually wait til a game I want is in the 20-25 dollar range.Rarely will I buy a day one game,this year it was Elden Ring. The rest I’m happy to wait on.
I was lucky enough to acquire most of my collection pre-pandemic. Not to say that I don't still purchase a game here and there now but it's definitely slowed down. Prices have gotten insane and it's honestly taken a lot of the fun out of the hobby. Like you, I couldn't care less about the value of my collection. If someone told me tomorrow that it's all completely worthless, it wouldn't affect me in the least bit. I enjoy playing my games all the time and hunting new ones. Personally, I think prices have reached their all time high and will plateau and or begin to fall. Our age range of people that grew up with these games and have a nostalgia for this stuff is getting older and slowly growing out of the nostalgia faze. Sure, you can say that the one's who grew up in the Wii/Ps2/Xbox era may dip into the nostalgia a bit but I don't believe it will be the driving force that our generation had. We witnessed video games evolve to what they are today, in real time. The opening of the packages, the nice, thick manuals that were fun to read and look at, the evolution of what video games looked like compared to the previous generation and the new ideas being implemented. It was a GREAT time! That's what drives our nostalgia for them so strongly. Now with the game companies leaning heavily into the digital media stage, video games are basically incomplete at their launch and require a ton of patches to even run correctly. Collecting a physical copy is basically pointless because the disks are just simply a key to allow you to play. Don't have internet? You may as well not even bother playing video games. Video game collecting as we know it will basically cease to exist and people our age that grew up in the golden years will either be done with our collection or no longer care to do it anymore.
Well said. I've had this thought growing since the beginning of the pandemic. All the passion I have for this has been diminished with the massive onslaught of resellers looking to cash in. Everywhere I look now is a reseller.
You are right they are everywhere. I’m currently trying to collect all Xbox 360 controllers because they are awesome, it crazy how one control is above 30 or more specially chrome versions and se. I would be happy if I could get them for less than 10 bucks or less than 20. One of the most comfortable controllers, easy to repair too, and analog sticks last longer than n64.
Don’t get me wrong I will always love the n64 and been thinking about trying to get all the 296 collection in loose carts and then maybe after that try to get them with both and manual. I hate the analog stick and how it becomes loose and at times unplayable. That’s why I now own 2 hori pads, but other than the stick I do like the n64 oem controller.
We feel exactly the same way and it’s refreshing to hear you feel the same way too. If games bottomed out tomorrow you’d really separate the shelf collectors from the actual gamers. Great topic. We appreciate your honesty.
Yeah same here I love my owner games and consoles for the entertainment and nostalgia value but it doesn’t hurt to know my ownership of my items is worth a pretty penny even through I will never sell it. I will also continue to clean and refurbish when need be, my consoles and games, or even mod if I get better at it. I will never sell. I love originality and oem parts though as well.
You could argue that not only is your collection free, but in many ways it paid YOU. The time you spent having a good time with Matt and the boys and the followers you amassed creating the videos you have are worth much more than whatever the market says the collection is worth, in my opinion. Time isn’t money, time is everything, and time spent doing what you love is always the most valuable
Everything is free when you work for it.... I do the same thing with computers. I buy and sell macs and I am an expert at finding the best way to monetize them. The big money is in quality programs. In 2017 I made $15000 in three days because of a shortage of batteries on the 2012 macs. Apple was giving people free 2016 macs if you brought them in looking replace their battery on the 2012. I bought 7 of them and got them all swapped and only paid for the batteries. Resold the laptops kept one. Now was that free? No I hustled.
@@Cyril29a congratulations? But I’m not sure how that relates to my point. I was speaking on the value of spending time with friends and family as being as much a reward as any monetary gains you may or may not make.
@@Creep1ngDe4th My point was that the collecting isn't free... he worked to earn it by going to sales and reselling etc. Those hours he put in are an exchange for the reward of the games. I was simply saying that I don't think it is accurate to say it is free.
The “everything in my game room was free!” will never stop being funny to me. Using time and effort to get money so you can buy things you want… what’s that called again? Oh, that’s right: A JOB. LOL. Honestly, with that logic, my house was free, too. 🤣🤣🤣
Never gonna crash because now you have all the 2000s kids making money and going back to buy all the 90s games and 2000s games from their childhood so unless you collecting Atari I doubt anything from the SNES to Wii era is gonna see huge drops any time soon.
Would love to have cheap retro games. Let the sealed and graded games keep their value but let us have our 5 buck games. Miss going into a used video/ game store on paycheck day and leaving with 60 bucks worth of games and movies for the weekend.
It's the same for me. I collect video games for the memories it brings back, the new memories to come, and simply for the love of building my collection. Which I have to say has drastically slowed in recent years because of the increase in the market. But, the value of my collection is just icing on the cake for me. I do bring up the value on an item by item basis simply to justify a given purchase to my wife, because unfortunately, my collection was not free. And she grumbles about the money I spend on my collection (which used to be much less), but I think it makes her feel a little better knowing that most of the time the current value of an item is greater than what I'm spending on it. But, ultimately, the value of my collection is only truly meaningful if I ever intended to sell it, which I do not.. lol But, who knows. Maybe some day, it will come in handy if I'm ever in a really tight spot, or maybe even when I'm gone.. lol
But, I would love it if the market crashed and I could go back to getting stacks of playstation and xbox games for 60 cents a piece in Goodwill's like I used to be able to..
Unfortunately I don’t know why I wasn’t trying to go back and buy older console video games back years ago I just started around 2018, because I have a better way to sustain myself too, but I’ve always loved video games. I too will never sell my owned video games and consoles, the only thing I sell are doubles that I have or games I really don’t want which is hard to let go at times.
Also, thank you SeeJayAre for being one of the few remaining retro collector channels that still enjoys gaming and collecting, and not shoved WHATNOT down your viewers throats. We all know these things are valuable - not every channel needs to make values and making money the main schtick
The “everything in my game room was free!” will never stop being funny to me. Using time and effort to get money so you can buy things you want… what’s that called again? Oh, that’s right: A JOB. LOL. Honestly, with that logic, my house was free, too. 🤣🤣🤣
Yea but he bought the first stack kept what he wanted sold the rest made a profit, used the profit to buy the next stack do it over and over again, you never spent any money because you made your original investment back plus a profit then kept profiting off your profits, therefore its free, you never used your money from your job to buy anything thats what he means by free, he only uses whatever his profits from the last time were to buy more stuff, your paying for your house out of your check from work not off profits from selking stuff, so your house is being paid for out of pocket, he not saying he doesnt have to put any time or effort into doing it,
@@tonylenzi166 - “he doesn’t have to put any time and effort into doing it,” Um, what? There’s no time or effort to game hunting, buying, listing, shipping, selling? That’s pretty cool that he just gets the games he wants and then money magically appears in his account with no time or effort spent! 🤣🤣🤣
@@jkemp6791 i said hes NOT saying he doesnt put time or effort into it, he saying its free as far as monitary goes, trust me i know all about reselling its what i do for a living, i know theres time and effort involved in it lol
@@tonylenzi166 - Yes, I know. I’ve been following him for a decade. He’s spent tens of thousands of hours Game hunting. Just because he doesn’t spend money from his job on games doesn’t make them “free.” That’s idiotic. Unless you don’t value your time at all and your after work “free time” is worth nothing. If you’re saying it is, you and Jay can come do some chores at my house. Don’t worry; it will be after work so it’s “free.” Lol
I agree completely. I'm never selling my physical games, so i don't attach a monetary value to them, although i know they have one. Most I'll ever do is trade some for other games. I think prices will come down eventually, not sure when though. Going to need a lot of people to lose interest and stop buying them.
As a long-time collector, I think that accessibility to retro games is a big problem to getting into the hobby. Thankfully the market has seen drops recently, especially in the insane sealed and graded market, which is just a dumb idea in itself - keeping games trapped is ridiculous. I think nobody really knows if or when the market will crash, but we should always keep in mind that games are, and always will be for the fun of playing and collecting them, not for holding onto them for monetary value.
*I hope so as well honestly. I could care less what my collection is worth. There was a better time when I was collecting many many years ago. Where game values were very low. So very few people were looking for the stuff. The only people looking for them were people wanting to play and collect them. Not people just looking to sell. Yes I sell doubles/extras as well to fund the hobby. But if the market did crash, all the people who are in the hobby strictly for reselling. Who do not collect or play them at all. I truly believe 90% less people would be searching for these games. Which would make it a lot more fun again. Also I do have friends who sell games as a way of income and this is nothing against them at all. Just stating the hobby of game hunting/collecting would be much more enjoyable.*
Back in mid 2018 my bff wasn't speaking to me and I took it extremely hard.(Thankfully we made up) it was then suggested to me by another friend that I find a hobby or something to get my mind off of it. So I languished for a few months and while just randomly surfing youtube I came across metaljesusrocks. So seeing his massive collection inspired me to get all of the games I played from my childhood and it just grew from there. I found all kinds of games that I had missed out on as a kid. Hell I didn't even know that the sega saturn existed until I started collecting. My new hobby made me happy beyond all words and it still does. Yes, it became an absolute addiction for a while that has gotten me into trouble (debt) for but I don't regret it. It has made me more outgoing, talkative(gotta talk to get those deals lol!) and in some ways a new lease on life as I just like traveling more. I didn't get into this hobby to make money. Yes, I've sold games(usually to help me in a tight spot), yes I get excited if I find a rare/expensive game in the wild, I have a general idea of what my collection is worth. My collection means more to me than money.
1) Building a collection through reselling: it costs more to buy stuff, but you make more in reselling duplicates, so it’s a wash. 2) Consequences of a crash: Do you really think that would mean we’d suddenly find nes and snes rares at flea markets and pawn shops for cheap? I doubt it. If most collectors aren’t in it for the money, they’ll hang on to their stuff whether it’s highly valuable or not. 3) Random thought: I started in 1990 before collectible prices were attached to games. It sure was fun going through big crates of Atari 2600 and nes with every title $1 to $3 (got my boxed Magical Chase for $3). Crash or no crash, those days are long gone and they are never coming back. Way back, I was about the only one at a typical flea market looking for old games. Now at any given flea market there are 20 people looking for old games, and many of those are merely looking to buy in order to resell. There’s far less out in the wild to find, and there’s way more competition for that tiny fraction. I do long for the good old days-Now a great score is then you find a $100 game for $60.
Most of my collection was gathered in 2017-2019. It was so damn fun too going to markets and garage sales and getting cheap games I never had as a kid but wanted. Now it’s just not fun to collect because it’s just money grabbing greed
I do sell games when I'm done with them but I've never sold a game because it shot up in value. Like SeeJayAre, I would like to be able to buy those game that I can't afford rather than have super crazy expensive games in my collection. I'm all for a crash.
I'm the Design Director for a game company. My collection is of everything that impacted me on my road to where I am today. The big issue with what you're talking about is what you're describing where people aren't looking at the value of a game for it's fun/entertainment.. it's just $$$. They're influenced by flippers they see on UA-cam and go for the trill of the hunt without having a reason behind 'collecting'. Sad but it is what it is.
I think a lot of people only actually want certain games because they’re valuable and sought after, whereas if that same game was in a dollar bin they would have no interest. A lot of the game collecting scene now is just flexing valuable items rather than love for the games.
I think you are correct. Lots of games are sought after purely because of rarity and price. Lots of times those games are garbage and people wouldn't look twice at them. That's how a lot of them got rare in the first place. They suck!
I wanna collect new stuff,not for waiting, mostly cuzz i like sealed soo much and the older the better,just to show to my friends and keep in prestine condition, for a future person that will also cherrish my items
Lol at the kids running upstairs. I'm wearing headphones and it feels like it's happening inside my house and it's freaking me out ahah. Nice video though
I never sell anything so I don't really care, but it is nice to know if I lose my job or something major required me to get some quick cash that I can offload some of this to cover something important. So, I'd hope the market would be 'up' during that time period for me should it ever arise.
I agree about the sealed market. I'm a gamer. I play video games. The only sealed games on my shelves are the new games I haven't played yet, but plan to.
Absolutely agree! I'm a little late to the retro collecting game, so it sucks when you want to go get a game you enjoyed playing or always wanted but your folks were too broke (or I was too broke) at the time to get it and now you're still too broke! Lol. I got into retro gaming as a way to connect with my 7 yr old, who has very limited interests because he's autistic. Gaming for our family is a way to get into his world. We also use it as a form of occupational therapy..its really helped with his coordination and his problem solving skills. So, absolutely zero tears would be shed if my games were now worthless.
i sold my collection before all the prices spiked :/ i think my collection 4x right after i sold it. now if i ever want to collect again and get those games back id have to pay out the ass. really sucks.
I got into game collecting maybe 6 or 7 years ago. I always had a small collection but being an adult and able to get the games I couldn't as a kid was great. But when the pandemic hit some of those games I always wanted to play like Rule of Rose, Rival Schools, and so many Gamecube games is now a pipe dream. If the crash happened then it would allow actual gamers to get games they want. I blame Phoenix
Couldn't agree more. I'm not into collecting for the monetary value of the games. I just like having the history physically in my hand. I'm slightly glad that the crazy prices have made me much more mindful of what I'm buying. Finally fantasy 3 (6) is one of my favorite games of all time and I'd rather save up for a while to buy a nice copy of that rather than buy a bunch of games I don't really care about. I think in the current market really thoughtful collecting is the only way to have fun with the hobby
I used to collect 360 Games, I got rid of most of my collection a whole back. Now I want to get back into it again, and I can't believe what some 360 games are suddenly "worth". In 2017 I bought F.E.A.R Files for $5. Now it's knocking at $100s door....360 games shouldn't be worth anything anymore.
I think the lockdowns contributed to the prices rising, but they would have got there eventually anyway. The way I see it, there are two 'sub-hobbies" within this hobby; collecting and gaming. Most of us are some combination of the two, but there are people who are only interested in collecting and don't play their games, and others who just use emulators and roms. I am much closer to the latter. I do have a modest collection of consoles for display, but almost all of my retro gaming takes place on emulators (while keeping a close eye on the fpga scene). With prices the way they are now, I'm really glad I made a conscious decision years ago not to become a cartridge collector. I still get vicarious enjoyment from seeing impressive collections like yours though.
That is awesome I’m not much of an emulator player although I do have some systems with emulation around. I’m more of the original games type of gamer. I don’t buy games to just display I buy them because they have Greta reviews and I plan to check them out and play them. Yes, I like trying new things and enjoy a little of everything. That’s why I have a number of consoles. I do wish same games where less expensive then today. Also I really cherish the n64, original xbox and Xbox 360. would mind having all n64 games because of my live for it, but I get discouraged because of the price of them today., and if I choose to get them complete forget about it.
A real inflection point will be when the kids who just group up with digital downloads, will they even care about physical? Probably not. They can play all retro games via digital, or emulate it. At that point everything on our shelves will just turn into cumbersome worthless plastic.
That's a hard one. I've been collecting for 23 years and have never sold a single game, so I don't care about value either. However, if prices drop a huge amount that might mean interest has dropped a lot. If interest drops, there might be fewer conventions, retro stores, and videos made about them. I wouldn’t like that.
There's not a real collector that doesn't feel the same. No one wants hurdles for their collection and if my whole collection of comics, cards, toys, etc we're to tank in value to a point where i could easily collect more i'd take it in a heartbeat. I don't plan to get rid of anything ive been collecting for the past 25 years so what does their value matter to me? Their true value is how they make me feel by having them.
Garage sales are non-existing wete i live. Back between the year 2000-2004 you could get anything between $2-$5 here. Even gamestop had a retro area like buy 3 for $10. Now every local retro store the cheapest game is like $12.99. Its fucking ridiculous
Honestly, I actually agree. I wouldn't be against a market crash happening. I'm honestly not worried about my collection dropping in value. I don't view it as an investment, mainly because I want to play the games that I buy. There are tons of games I would like to own and play, but most of the retro games I want to own, and play are ridiculously expensive. Of course, I will play them through an emulator if it comes to that. However, I just want to own these games too. Even if it's a game I don't like.
I have literally just one sealed game and it's only because I got it completely by accident. The photos on eBay made it look like it was just the flash of the camera reflecting on the plastic at a weird angle, but it turned out to be a genuine factory sealed copy even though I paid pretty much "average" market value for it as if it was a normal opened game. Guess the seller either didn't know what he had or just didn't care because the listing had no mention whatsoever of it being sealed. I was surprised, but I guess that's why it went unnoticed and nobody else bought it before me. I'm happy to have it because it's a fairly popular title so to have a sealed copy of it means to have a couple of extra bucks in my pocket eventually 20 years from now, but I agree 100% that collecting factory sealed stuff (be it games or consoles or anything else really, like scale model kits or anime figurines or packs/cases of trading cards) is absolutely asinine and it's also the #1 reason why prices have gone up all across the board, regardless of what you're collecting for. Everything else that I own is rigorously opened and used fairly frequently.
Tyler Esposito (My Retro Life) sold his collection of over 1000 games he had with his Dad for years/decades back in 2018. This is so he can start collecting with his daughter. Please check out his channel.
I would say I am somebody who collects to play but also considers the investment side when it comes to certain things, but even then I still agree 100%. I hate this beast of the collectors market where to actually get the stuff you want you have to resell the stuff you find. It makes sense and is miles more economically smart then pumping hundreds of dollars into getting games, but I hate that it is this way. If every game's value dropped to roughly $5-$25 a piece then I'd be a happy camper, even if I may have lost a lot of money in some items.
I wish the game market would crash. earlier this year I looked I thought I lost my gamecube collection to a flood so I looked how much those games would cost. I was blown away when I saw games, I got for 60$ priced at 130$ luckily most of my collection was safe. there was no way I would've paid those prices for knowing full well they're not worth it. seeing as how these games doubled in prices in just a few years says it's scalpers are the problem along with people that are paying these prices for video games that arent even rare
I do wish video game prices would come down a bit - mainly NES, SNES, Genesis - I just can’t see myself paying more than $100 for a video game!! That’s just too much… so YES I go to flea markets, yard sales, Facebook market place etc to find the best deals and if I find a good deal then great but if I don’t find a good deal I am OK with my video game collection that I have -
I started collecting maybe 12 years ago when ps2 was the last generation and games were cheap. I built a great collection of a couple hundred games. I would find dreamcast game cube and even game boy games in charity shops for only a couple of pounds. I had to sell off 90% of my collection about 5 years ago cos I needed the money. Been trying to get it all back now and it's like 4x the price of what I paid. I have to go to carboots in the summer and try and find games to trade in for credit to get those games I had all those years ago. Example. Klonoa on ps2 I bought for £8 in store 10 years ago, now its £40-50. I do get lucky still though, got def jam fight for ny for 75p this summer. Wanted it to complete my ps2 def jam sub set. I think it's roughly a £30 game now. I'm a very casual collector now with the aim of getting one heavy hitter retro game each year off my wish list for cheap/free through trades. For me this year it was blood will tell on ps2. And when I do get round to playing them if I don't like them I sell or trade it in. Like I'm not fussed about getting klonoa on ps2 now cos it just wasn't my type of game after playing it. Wouldn't turn it down if I found it for cheap now though
I agree there are 3 kinds of collectors that I come across at garage sales and Flea Markets. First group of people are like myself that are trying to build on their collection. Maybe flip what they already have and reinvest back into the collection as Mr. Rogers has pointed out. The second group people I run into are investors. Keeping games just to sit on hoping 10 years from now that same game will double or triple in price. The last group of people I run into are just out for the money!!!! Just want to resell games or systems for profit. They don't care to own a collection just dollar signs.
Im with you on the crash id love to go back to early 2000s i could go into gamestop and buy a stack 40 50 games for 50 to 150 bux, that was how i built the bulk of my nes collection, id buy every 99 cent or under game every time i went in, once i had all of them i started buying all the 1 to 5 dollar games, then they stopped sellong thrm my dad would buy box full of games and consoles for 5 bux at yardsales, those were the days
Its wild what happened, I thought things were out of control when I was about a year into garage sale finds, and I only started going out because somehow I stumbled on your videos. The fact we live in the same city, you live fairly close to me was exciting to me too. Additionally to the haters, you helped me out with NES and SNES classic at cost, greatly apricated , we had very respectful interactions and I loved seeing your game room.. There are a few titles that I really wanted have escaped me but my entire collection is built the same way as yours, I understand the market exists and stores etc have a business. but I was priced out a long time ago. On that note if you pay up to $100 for a game you are going to play and enjoy thats ok, but I certainly would not recommend buying shelf filler at that price. I also agree, I would not be upset if my collection became worth less money and I feel in time it will be, as I feel Pop figures will ( buy them for fun not profit). Also I love my comic collection, but after 23 years of reading and collecting, I will admit the fact most of it is worth less than I paid is a bit frustrating in some ways, I never planned to make large amounts of money, but recently decided I would be better off keeping the stuff I thought about selling to make space. Also apparently KW Vintage games is no more.
Ive been following you for years and will continue to I like what your doing let it fly off the cuff like bit head its great content game room looks fantastic bro keep rocking
The only "collectors" who would be upset by the market crashing are "collectors" that plan to sell off their collection. But a true collector that derives joy out of the hobby never plans to sell they would only sell out of necessity.
I've collected Video games for over 30 years, I'm currently at over 18,000 games + systems and accessories in my collection. I have lots of sure rare pieces in my collection. Do I want the Video Game market to crash? Yes. When I first started It was never about the value, So many rarer games I never got back then are now at prices I really don't want to spend. Most of my high dollar games I pick up today I get from trading/selling a bunch of games I already own from garage sale (like you). If it crashed I wouldn't change, I'd still be buying games to add to my collection. To me it was never about the value, it was about getting the games I want in my collection.
I feel so lucky getting into collecting at like 2010-2011. I was able to get my fire red n64 for like $20 at a garage sale, and the rest of the funtastics besides smoke all under 100. Now a smoke is like 200+.
Really good perspective and great points. I agree with what you're saying, although I think where I'm at in life makes my perspective different. I didn't get into collecting for an investment. I got into it because I love video games and collecting and no matter how much the market goes up or down that won't change. That said, it's true as I've gotten older I've looked at my collection more as an investment before because as I get older I realize my own mortality and start to ask myself things like "how long am I really going to keep collecting?" "when I'm 50,60, 70 am I going to really care about this and want to hold onto this collection?" Or, am I going to want to sell it at that point so I can do more to enjoy the rest of my life and make sure I'm taken care of as I become a senior citizen. One of the thing that I think might make my outlook different than yours, SeeJayAre, is you have kids. I don't and at this point in my life I'm not sure I will. I'm engaged now after being in a relationship for several years, but I don't think at my age kids are in the cards for us. So, I don't have anyone to pass down my collection to when I'm older so that directions the options of what to do with it when I'm older more to selling it and naturally if you're looking that way you start to think of value and you naturally look at it more as an investment. Another part of the problem is as I get older I find myself gaming less and less and when I do it's rarely retro games. The reason is I just don't have the time I used to. Life got busy. Adulthood is a b*tch sometimes and when I do have spare time I usually want to play a newly released game that everyone has been recommending to me. Also, I sell vintage online full time and have for years. I sell a lot of video games. So, when you do that, you are trained to look at things in terms of dollar signs and value and that includes my personal collection even though I have no intention of selling it anytime soon. It's largely a double edged sword for me. A market crash would mean being able to get games for cheaper. On the other hand, it would devalue my collection. I should also mention I'm really into sealed game collecting and now grading but my reasons aren't primary investing. They are two fold: 1. I think sealed game collecting and getting them graded and put in the case is a great way to practice game preservation, which is very important to me with collecting, 2. When I was a kid most of my joy was actually getting the game. For example, unwrapping a brand new, sealed N64 games for Christmas was an incredible feeling so getting sealed games is a way of having that permanently. I think my love of sealed game collecting also stems from the fact at some point early on my primary interested in collecting became the actual collection and not playing it. In otherwords, the enjoy I got was hunting for, acquiring and displaying and looking at (and showing off) the collection and as my interest in playing games decreased (or became difficult because of having less free time to do so) the idea of having sealed games I couldn't play without opening became increasingly acceptable to me. A huge benefit of a market crash would sealed games would be affordable again, at least some degree. It's insane now. Anyway, sorry for the long rant, but just wanted to share my thoughts from a different perspective.
I actually sold my collection during the pandemic. I didn't know if I would lose my job, so I chose to sell it and pay off debt and play it safe. I don't miss it, as the market and collecting community was just way out of hand in my opinion and I was no longer enjoying collecting. It made sense for me, but for those who still want to hang on to their collections, I get it as well. I just wasn't enjoying it anymore.
Yah super annoying. Everything gets ruined by these people that don’t have love or passion for games and nostalgia of it. Ruins it for people like us that would just keep the collection and use it
I didn't find the time to comment on few previous videos but have to say I'm glad to see you upload more regularly once again! :) All the best to you and your family! As for the topic I wouldn't mind if the crash happened a little while later since I'm currently in the process of selling all of my games (500-ish, starting with the rarest PS2, PSP and DS games.) It's not the first time either. Just like now about a decade ago I moved to another country and worked abroad so I sold my previous games. The collection I had back then was exclusively PC big box games of which I kept the few meaningful ones and will keep few PS2 games this time around as well. Yet I try to keep myself from getting too attached to things and learned the first time around having a collection was a great investment for times like this. When I begun looking for PS2 games from different countries across Europe I considered what they might be worth in future, then later played or read about them all. It seems I'm driven by curiosity first so I'll surely start collecting again as it gives me another reason to go out and experience the local culture I'm not used to yet. Just have to see what's available half way across the globe, maybe and hopefully PC-98 and Vita!
I been collecting games since the early 00s and sold alot of my games during the pandemic. Realized I bought way to many duplicates of certain collect edition, etc. Didnt have time to every play them. Thus, end up selling alot. Still have a big backlog of games, but use offer up or instagram to sell nowadays.
I am in complete agreement with you. I love my collection. I love the hunt. I love playing and sharing memories as my life goes on. I find the more I see games as an investment tbe more the magic and fun goes away.
It's all about the money for me. Lowball the hell out of people to get as much as possible for as little as possible so that I can make as much as possible. But that's the life of a full time reseller.
The only way that will happen is if there's an exodus from collecting. Unfortunately I find way more broken stuff today for sale at retro stores. It's all money and no interest in the product they are selling
All nostalgia bubbles burst, all collector markets peak and aside from truly rare items every collecting market is cyclical. Before games it was comics, before comics it was cards, before cards it was coins, before coins it was stamps etc. Prices will correct eventually over the long term. Yes just like Action Comics #1 the NWC Gold cart or Magical Chase or Stadium Events might never be affordable but everything else will eventually be affordable again once the investors and speculators move on to the next market to fleece.
My collection is not worth that much already. But I'd love to be able to get more games cheaper. There is so many TurboGrafx 16 games I had as a kid I'd love to have again and Sega Saturn. My NES collection is at about 150 games but I'd love to have more.
I agree, I'm not in it for the money, I do find it cool to see things that I bought for cheap being worth a good amount but I'm not selling them so it doesn't really affect me if they drop in value, I have bought a few more expensive games and actively looking for reasonable deals on more expensive games so that's where I wouldn't want the market to drop off because then I would have overpaid but again I wouldn't be selling them so I just take the hit!
In my opinion I hope it does crash as I had to sell my small collection due to covid and hope one day to start collecting some of it again for a decent amount.
I can totally understand that. If I was still collecting I would much prefer that it wasn't a popular thing mostly from the standpoint of it was fun to find this stuff randomly in thrift stores. What do you normally sell your extras through? Kijiji mostly? I was thinking of purging a large chunk of my collection but really don't like how Ebay works. Might do Facebook and Craigslist.
I feel the same way, I have been collecting on and off since I started working around 2010 in europe and had to start over here in the US when I moved for work in 2015. I use to enjoy going to flea markets and looking on craigslist and even ebay when you could find bundles of consoles with tones of games for around 30 to 40$. It is so expansive now it sucked all the fun of the hunt. I collect to play and share the experience of playing on older systems with my kids but it is getting way to expansive unfortunately. I am lucky I have most of the systems and there is solutions now to play roms on the actual hardware but it is not the same.
You and I are cut from the same cloth. Basically started UA-cam at the same time and have been collecting since the early 2000s. I can’t stand this current landscape, including what UA-cam has become regarding retro video game collecting. It’s value only. No one talks about the games anymore. I remember you and I used to feel somewhat guilty about flipping - it was a necessary evil as it was the only way to get the volume of games we have. I never understood people yapping about value, specifically about things they supposedly will never sell. It’s not worth anything if you’re not going to sell it. Good video, SJR.
Dude’s already established money wise. That’s why he don’t care.. i am a true gamer but enjoy to sell some games i don’t play anymore. It’s a way for me to earn some extra bucks. That’s what’s fun and adds value
I don't necessarily disagree with your perspective. Absolutely, I would like to be able to obtain games for less money and add them to my collection. The issue that many of us have is that it's become very difficult to find games at garage sales, swap meets, etc....even more difficult if you live in an area that doesn't really have much in the way of flea markets, etc. For that reason, many of us have had to pay up for some games in order to obtain them and it would be a disappointment if they were suddenly worth a fraction of what you paid.
Valid points all around. You can tell you're a true gamer. Some ppl just collect to sell ot off eventually. Because of Gamepass I'm finally sold on digital media but I sure miss the good old days of the NES, SNES etc when buying games & going though the manuals were the best feeling!
100%. I was pretty close to a complete N64 loose set. Have most of the heavies. Even have a beautiful HD CRT.
But I just can't be bothered to collect anymore. I have gone totally toward emulation, and save states alone will keep me on digital for good.
Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, etc....
The fact that so many of us want the retro game market to crash so we can buy tons of games for cheap… is exactly why it’s never going to crash.
And I don’t think we really want it to crash as we enjoy the community aspects of gaming. Current prices are literally what we have to pay to sustain them
@@hm_nambo Totally agree. Not only the community, but the popularity of retro games is why 2D indie games are so successful and popular. I’m not willing to sacrifice those things just so I can hoard games for less money. Lol
Everything crashes eventually, video games are no exception especially with an aging community.
Youngsters don't have that nostalgia feeling towards video games which sucks. I've never collected for the value I just want a big collection so when I retire I won't be bored 😂
@@retropursuit992hi, im a youngster (13), I LOVE retro video games, they imo are way better than newer ones. My favorite console is the wii, but i also own an n64 and xbox 360
I 110% agree. I wish things were still cheap. I got into collecting too late. Now things are so expensive
I built most of my collection up 15 to 20 years ago. I remember going into Goodwills back in the early to mid 2000's, and finding complete in box NES games for $10 each, a complete in box Sega CD system for $20, a Sega Nomad for $5, a Panasonic 3DO with 10 games and all the hookups and a controller for $30, etc. I also remember back then, you couldn't hardly give a Sega Saturn away for free. I have a friend who wanted to sell his Saturn around 2005/2006, and no pawn shop would buy it from him. One guy at a pawn shop laughed when my friend asked how much they would pay for his Saturn, and the guy was like..."Hahaha, how about ZERO?" I have sold off a good chunk of my collection in recent years to capitalize on the crazy prices, but if the market ever crashes and prices go back down, I might buy back some of the stuff I parted with.
I agree. I collect PC bigbox games. I can't buy much of anything anymore. It's just too much $. I would love to have complete shelves of Infocom, SSI, Dataeast, QQP, old Avalon Hill, etc. I'll play them in emulation, but I want to see the materials and read through them like I bought them (because I did!). I miss the old days around 2000. I could go out and by tons of used games. They'd only cost a few dollars each. I could go on ebay and get a couple dozen at a time for $50 or so. Now the resellers scarf up everything, break up the lots and sell them for high dollars. It's depressing.
95% of my collection was bought before 2019 so I am somewhat fortunate. I bought a handful of games I really wanted during the pandemic because I just wanted to be done with collecting. But I would gladly lose money on those couple games if it meant I could have fun collecting again.
Prices are always regulated by supply and demand. Those two aren’t the same now as ten years ago and will never return to that point. So, each collector should set his own boundaries in the current market situation. Also, is quite misleading saying that your collection is completely free when you hustled to get it, even if you enjoyed the hustle. Just my two cents in the matter as you asked them, it is an interesting topic. Love your content, greetings from Mexico
You’re one of the only people I’ve seen that understands the concepts of supply and demand. It regulates the price of everything, including games, and gamers don’t understand this for some reason. No clue why. And yeah, these guys claiming it’s “free” because they only traded their time for it is hilarious. By that logic, my house was free. Lol
I miss the days of going to a game expo, spending $40 and leaving with a box full of good stuff. Those days have been long gone for a good 10-15 years.
Good takes! I definitely agree. I think the “investor” types really pollute hobbies. There was a wave of reseller activity in 2015 after some of those “your old games could be worth millions” articles started to run, and recently with this sealed game/grading wave it’s only gotten worse. Supply is very dry and prices have doubled/tripled since 2019.
My collection is similar in that it’s largely come from Gsales and is free from keeping what I want. I’d argue it’s the real enthusiasts and collectors that want to see the market for games crash because it’s the only way to really weed out the resellers. Once a product gets on their radar it stays there until the dollar signs go away (and with it the incentive). You’ll always have hustlers buying up games at thrifts/pawns/Gsales until they aren’t worth trying to flip anymore.
Can’t wait for that crash to come. There’s so many genuinely fun games that have no business being so expensive that I’d love to add to the collection one day.
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Wish all you want. Video games will never crash, too many people new and old are into games.
I would be so happy if games were around 2012 level. the prices and scarcity of the last few years at flea markets, pawn shops etc has completely turned me off the hunt, something I always love to do. long gone are the days of getting up at 4am for flea markets in the city and definitely coming home with a bag full of goodies, would be lucky to find a scratched up ps2 game now.
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I’ve already noticed the prices dropping which I’m ok with. Collecting now a days is expensive and it shouldn’t be.
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I wouldn’t necessarily want the market to go back to the early 2000s. I dig the interest that ensures conventions thrive and allows me to connect with people that have the same interests. It’s at a good place and I’m having as much fun collecting as I ever have. And I’ve spent the most money I ever had these past couple years… but luckily stuff sells for more now too, so it all works out in the end. I’m not doing this to make money, so I’m good breaking even.
I end up collecting because games are only worth a tenth after they’re used. Just more feasible to keep them. I usually wait til a game I want is in the 20-25 dollar range.Rarely will I buy a day one game,this year it was Elden Ring. The rest I’m happy to wait on.
Only day 1 games I purchased was Borderlands 3 and TT's Wonderland
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I do miss hunting for video games when they cost $2,$5, or $10 @ the most,but now I stopped because they’re too expensive now.
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I was lucky enough to acquire most of my collection pre-pandemic. Not to say that I don't still purchase a game here and there now but it's definitely slowed down. Prices have gotten insane and it's honestly taken a lot of the fun out of the hobby. Like you, I couldn't care less about the value of my collection. If someone told me tomorrow that it's all completely worthless, it wouldn't affect me in the least bit. I enjoy playing my games all the time and hunting new ones.
Personally, I think prices have reached their all time high and will plateau and or begin to fall. Our age range of people that grew up with these games and have a nostalgia for this stuff is getting older and slowly growing out of the nostalgia faze. Sure, you can say that the one's who grew up in the Wii/Ps2/Xbox era may dip into the nostalgia a bit but I don't believe it will be the driving force that our generation had. We witnessed video games evolve to what they are today, in real time. The opening of the packages, the nice, thick manuals that were fun to read and look at, the evolution of what video games looked like compared to the previous generation and the new ideas being implemented. It was a GREAT time! That's what drives our nostalgia for them so strongly. Now with the game companies leaning heavily into the digital media stage, video games are basically incomplete at their launch and require a ton of patches to even run correctly. Collecting a physical copy is basically pointless because the disks are just simply a key to allow you to play. Don't have internet? You may as well not even bother playing video games. Video game collecting as we know it will basically cease to exist and people our age that grew up in the golden years will either be done with our collection or no longer care to do it anymore.
I am totally down for a crash. I just want to collect without having to sell my organs on the black market to afford it.
Well said. I've had this thought growing since the beginning of the pandemic. All the passion I have for this has been diminished with the massive onslaught of resellers looking to cash in. Everywhere I look now is a reseller.
You are right they are everywhere. I’m currently trying to collect all Xbox 360 controllers because they are awesome, it crazy how one control is above 30 or more specially chrome versions and se. I would be happy if I could get them for less than 10 bucks or less than 20. One of the most comfortable controllers, easy to repair too, and analog sticks last longer than n64.
Don’t get me wrong I will always love the n64 and been thinking about trying to get all the 296 collection in loose carts and then maybe after that try to get them with both and manual. I hate the analog stick and how it becomes loose and at times unplayable. That’s why I now own 2 hori pads, but other than the stick I do like the n64 oem controller.
We feel exactly the same way and it’s refreshing to hear you feel the same way too.
If games bottomed out tomorrow you’d really separate the shelf collectors from the actual gamers.
Great topic. We appreciate your honesty.
100% agree with this idea! I love my collection for the nostalgia value, not the dollar value!
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Yeah same here I love my owner games and consoles for the entertainment and nostalgia value but it doesn’t hurt to know my ownership of my items is worth a pretty penny even through I will never sell it. I will also continue to clean and refurbish when need be, my consoles and games, or even mod if I get better at it. I will never sell. I love originality and oem parts though as well.
You could argue that not only is your collection free, but in many ways it paid YOU.
The time you spent having a good time with Matt and the boys and the followers you amassed creating the videos you have are worth much more than whatever the market says the collection is worth, in my opinion. Time isn’t money, time is everything, and time spent doing what you love is always the most valuable
great point.
Everything is free when you work for it....
I do the same thing with computers. I buy and sell macs and I am an expert at finding the best way to monetize them. The big money is in quality programs. In 2017 I made $15000 in three days because of a shortage of batteries on the 2012 macs. Apple was giving people free 2016 macs if you brought them in looking replace their battery on the 2012. I bought 7 of them and got them all swapped and only paid for the batteries. Resold the laptops kept one. Now was that free? No I hustled.
@@Cyril29a congratulations? But I’m not sure how that relates to my point. I was speaking on the value of spending time with friends and family as being as much a reward as any monetary gains you may or may not make.
@@Creep1ngDe4th My point was that the collecting isn't free... he worked to earn it by going to sales and reselling etc. Those hours he put in are an exchange for the reward of the games. I was simply saying that I don't think it is accurate to say it is free.
The “everything in my game room was free!” will never stop being funny to me.
Using time and effort to get money so you can buy things you want… what’s that called again? Oh, that’s right: A JOB. LOL. Honestly, with that logic, my house was free, too. 🤣🤣🤣
Never gonna crash because now you have all the 2000s kids making money and going back to buy all the 90s games and 2000s games from their childhood so unless you collecting Atari I doubt anything from the SNES to Wii era is gonna see huge drops any time soon.
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Would love to have cheap retro games. Let the sealed and graded games keep their value but let us have our 5 buck games. Miss going into a used video/ game store on paycheck day and leaving with 60 bucks worth of games and movies for the weekend.
It's the same for me. I collect video games for the memories it brings back, the new memories to come, and simply for the love of building my collection. Which I have to say has drastically slowed in recent years because of the increase in the market. But, the value of my collection is just icing on the cake for me. I do bring up the value on an item by item basis simply to justify a given purchase to my wife, because unfortunately, my collection was not free. And she grumbles about the money I spend on my collection (which used to be much less), but I think it makes her feel a little better knowing that most of the time the current value of an item is greater than what I'm spending on it.
But, ultimately, the value of my collection is only truly meaningful if I ever intended to sell it, which I do not.. lol
But, who knows. Maybe some day, it will come in handy if I'm ever in a really tight spot, or maybe even when I'm gone.. lol
But, I would love it if the market crashed and I could go back to getting stacks of playstation and xbox games for 60 cents a piece in Goodwill's like I used to be able to..
Unfortunately I don’t know why I wasn’t trying to go back and buy older console video games back years ago I just started around 2018, because I have a better way to sustain myself too, but I’ve always loved video games. I too will never sell my owned video games and consoles, the only thing I sell are doubles that I have or games I really don’t want which is hard to let go at times.
Also, thank you SeeJayAre for being one of the few remaining retro collector channels that still enjoys gaming and collecting, and not shoved WHATNOT down your viewers throats. We all know these things are valuable - not every channel needs to make values and making money the main schtick
The “everything in my game room was free!” will never stop being funny to me.
Using time and effort to get money so you can buy things you want… what’s that called again? Oh, that’s right: A JOB. LOL. Honestly, with that logic, my house was free, too. 🤣🤣🤣
Yea but he bought the first stack kept what he wanted sold the rest made a profit, used the profit to buy the next stack do it over and over again, you never spent any money because you made your original investment back plus a profit then kept profiting off your profits, therefore its free, you never used your money from your job to buy anything thats what he means by free, he only uses whatever his profits from the last time were to buy more stuff, your paying for your house out of your check from work not off profits from selking stuff, so your house is being paid for out of pocket, he not saying he doesnt have to put any time or effort into doing it,
@@tonylenzi166 - “he doesn’t have to put any time and effort into doing it,” Um, what? There’s no time or effort to game hunting, buying, listing, shipping, selling? That’s pretty cool that he just gets the games he wants and then money magically appears in his account with no time or effort spent! 🤣🤣🤣
@@jkemp6791 i said hes NOT saying he doesnt put time or effort into it, he saying its free as far as monitary goes, trust me i know all about reselling its what i do for a living, i know theres time and effort involved in it lol
@@jkemp6791 matter of fact he says it in this video, thats theres tons of hours involved in this or something to that effect
@@tonylenzi166 - Yes, I know. I’ve been following him for a decade. He’s spent tens of thousands of hours Game hunting. Just because he doesn’t spend money from his job on games doesn’t make them “free.” That’s idiotic. Unless you don’t value your time at all and your after work “free time” is worth nothing. If you’re saying it is, you and Jay can come do some chores at my house. Don’t worry; it will be after work so it’s “free.” Lol
Big W, I can’t even get into the hobby because of the prices. like man I just want to play retro video games. 😢😂
I agree completely. I'm never selling my physical games, so i don't attach a monetary value to them, although i know they have one. Most I'll ever do is trade some for other games. I think prices will come down eventually, not sure when though. Going to need a lot of people to lose interest and stop buying them.
As a long-time collector, I think that accessibility to retro games is a big problem to getting into the hobby. Thankfully the market has seen drops recently, especially in the insane sealed and graded market, which is just a dumb idea in itself - keeping games trapped is ridiculous. I think nobody really knows if or when the market will crash, but we should always keep in mind that games are, and always will be for the fun of playing and collecting them, not for holding onto them for monetary value.
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*I hope so as well honestly. I could care less what my collection is worth. There was a better time when I was collecting many many years ago. Where game values were very low. So very few people were looking for the stuff. The only people looking for them were people wanting to play and collect them. Not people just looking to sell. Yes I sell doubles/extras as well to fund the hobby. But if the market did crash, all the people who are in the hobby strictly for reselling. Who do not collect or play them at all. I truly believe 90% less people would be searching for these games. Which would make it a lot more fun again. Also I do have friends who sell games as a way of income and this is nothing against them at all. Just stating the hobby of game hunting/collecting would be much more enjoyable.*
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Back in mid 2018 my bff wasn't speaking to me and I took it extremely hard.(Thankfully we made up) it was then suggested to me by another friend that I find a hobby or something to get my mind off of it. So I languished for a few months and while just randomly surfing youtube I came across metaljesusrocks. So seeing his massive collection inspired me to get all of the games I played from my childhood and it just grew from there. I found all kinds of games that I had missed out on as a kid. Hell I didn't even know that the sega saturn existed until I started collecting.
My new hobby made me happy beyond all words and it still does. Yes, it became an absolute addiction for a while that has gotten me into trouble (debt) for but I don't regret it. It has made me more outgoing, talkative(gotta talk to get those deals lol!) and in some ways a new lease on life as I just like traveling more. I didn't get into this hobby to make money. Yes, I've sold games(usually to help me in a tight spot), yes I get excited if I find a rare/expensive game in the wild, I have a general idea of what my collection is worth.
My collection means more to me than money.
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completely agree, thank you for saying it!! It should be a hobby for ALL, not just "investors" :)
I came to one conclusion at least: You're passionate about retro games and I love to see that!
Based. I would love for games to be cheap so I can play games on original hardware without the hassle of inflated reselling.
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1) Building a collection through reselling: it costs more to buy stuff, but you make more in reselling duplicates, so it’s a wash. 2) Consequences of a crash: Do you really think that would mean we’d suddenly find nes and snes rares at flea markets and pawn shops for cheap? I doubt it. If most collectors aren’t in it for the money, they’ll hang on to their stuff whether it’s highly valuable or not. 3) Random thought: I started in 1990 before collectible prices were attached to games. It sure was fun going through big crates of Atari 2600 and nes with every title $1 to $3 (got my boxed Magical Chase for $3). Crash or no crash, those days are long gone and they are never coming back. Way back, I was about the only one at a typical flea market looking for old games. Now at any given flea market there are 20 people looking for old games, and many of those are merely looking to buy in order to resell. There’s far less out in the wild to find, and there’s way more competition for that tiny fraction. I do long for the good old days-Now a great score is then you find a $100 game for $60.
This is great because of you I have a collection as well but you’re lucky you have the room and space. Because over time it can pile up!
Most of my collection was gathered in 2017-2019.
It was so damn fun too going to markets and garage sales and getting cheap games I never had as a kid but wanted. Now it’s just not fun to collect because it’s just money grabbing greed
I do sell games when I'm done with them but I've never sold a game because it shot up in value.
Like SeeJayAre, I would like to be able to buy those game that I can't afford rather than have super crazy expensive games in my collection. I'm all for a crash.
I'm the Design Director for a game company. My collection is of everything that impacted me on my road to where I am today. The big issue with what you're talking about is what you're describing where people aren't looking at the value of a game for it's fun/entertainment.. it's just $$$. They're influenced by flippers they see on UA-cam and go for the trill of the hunt without having a reason behind 'collecting'. Sad but it is what it is.
I think a lot of people only actually want certain games because they’re valuable and sought after, whereas if that same game was in a dollar bin they would have no interest. A lot of the game collecting scene now is just flexing valuable items rather than love for the games.
I think you are correct. Lots of games are sought after purely because of rarity and price. Lots of times those games are garbage and people wouldn't look twice at them. That's how a lot of them got rare in the first place. They suck!
I wanna collect new stuff,not for waiting, mostly cuzz i like sealed soo much and the older the better,just to show to my friends and keep in prestine condition, for a future person that will also cherrish my items
I completely agree! I'm so tired of watching some video about underrated gems only to look up the games and they be in the $100s!
The only reason I have sealed games is so I know which games I haven't played yet.
Lol at the kids running upstairs. I'm wearing headphones and it feels like it's happening inside my house and it's freaking me out ahah. Nice video though
I never sell anything so I don't really care, but it is nice to know if I lose my job or something major required me to get some quick cash that I can offload some of this to cover something important. So, I'd hope the market would be 'up' during that time period for me should it ever arise.
I agree about the sealed market. I'm a gamer. I play video games. The only sealed games on my shelves are the new games I haven't played yet, but plan to.
Absolutely agree! I'm a little late to the retro collecting game, so it sucks when you want to go get a game you enjoyed playing or always wanted but your folks were too broke (or I was too broke) at the time to get it and now you're still too broke! Lol. I got into retro gaming as a way to connect with my 7 yr old, who has very limited interests because he's autistic. Gaming for our family is a way to get into his world. We also use it as a form of occupational therapy..its really helped with his coordination and his problem solving skills. So, absolutely zero tears would be shed if my games were now worthless.
I totally agree, they’re very few “new” games…they allow follow the leader then try to experiment & innovate…it def needs a reboot
i sold my collection before all the prices spiked :/ i think my collection 4x right after i sold it. now if i ever want to collect again and get those games back id have to pay out the ass. really sucks.
I got into game collecting maybe 6 or 7 years ago. I always had a small collection but being an adult and able to get the games I couldn't as a kid was great. But when the pandemic hit some of those games I always wanted to play like Rule of Rose, Rival Schools, and so many Gamecube games is now a pipe dream. If the crash happened then it would allow actual gamers to get games they want. I blame Phoenix
i hate phoenix too man
Couldn't agree more. I'm not into collecting for the monetary value of the games. I just like having the history physically in my hand. I'm slightly glad that the crazy prices have made me much more mindful of what I'm buying. Finally fantasy 3 (6) is one of my favorite games of all time and I'd rather save up for a while to buy a nice copy of that rather than buy a bunch of games I don't really care about. I think in the current market really thoughtful collecting is the only way to have fun with the hobby
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I used to collect 360 Games, I got rid of most of my collection a whole back. Now I want to get back into it again, and I can't believe what some 360 games are suddenly "worth". In 2017 I bought F.E.A.R Files for $5. Now it's knocking at $100s door....360 games shouldn't be worth anything anymore.
I think the lockdowns contributed to the prices rising, but they would have got there eventually anyway.
The way I see it, there are two 'sub-hobbies" within this hobby; collecting and gaming. Most of us are some combination of the two, but there are people who are only interested in collecting and don't play their games, and others who just use emulators and roms.
I am much closer to the latter. I do have a modest collection of consoles for display, but almost all of my retro gaming takes place on emulators (while keeping a close eye on the fpga scene).
With prices the way they are now, I'm really glad I made a conscious decision years ago not to become a cartridge collector.
I still get vicarious enjoyment from seeing impressive collections like yours though.
That is awesome I’m not much of an emulator player although I do have some systems with emulation around. I’m more of the original games type of gamer. I don’t buy games to just display I buy them because they have Greta reviews and I plan to check them out and play them. Yes, I like trying new things and enjoy a little of everything. That’s why I have a number of consoles. I do wish same games where less expensive then today. Also I really cherish the n64, original xbox and Xbox 360. would mind having all n64 games because of my live for it, but I get discouraged because of the price of them today., and if I choose to get them complete forget about it.
A real inflection point will be when the kids who just group up with digital downloads, will they even care about physical? Probably not. They can play all retro games via digital, or emulate it. At that point everything on our shelves will just turn into cumbersome worthless plastic.
That's a hard one. I've been collecting for 23 years and have never sold a single game, so I don't care about value either. However, if prices drop a huge amount that might mean interest has dropped a lot. If interest drops, there might be fewer conventions, retro stores, and videos made about them. I wouldn’t like that.
There's not a real collector that doesn't feel the same. No one wants hurdles for their collection and if my whole collection of comics, cards, toys, etc we're to tank in value to a point where i could easily collect more i'd take it in a heartbeat. I don't plan to get rid of anything ive been collecting for the past 25 years so what does their value matter to me? Their true value is how they make me feel by having them.
Garage sales are non-existing wete i live. Back between the year 2000-2004 you could get anything between $2-$5 here. Even gamestop had a retro area like buy 3 for $10. Now every local retro store the cheapest game is like $12.99. Its fucking ridiculous
I wish I could go back in time, forget trying to save the world or whatever... buying cheap Nes & snes games is all I would care about.
Some games at game stores are below $10.
Honestly, I actually agree. I wouldn't be against a market crash happening. I'm honestly not worried about my collection dropping in value. I don't view it as an investment, mainly because I want to play the games that I buy. There are tons of games I would like to own and play, but most of the retro games I want to own, and play are ridiculously expensive. Of course, I will play them through an emulator if it comes to that. However, I just want to own these games too. Even if it's a game I don't like.
I have literally just one sealed game and it's only because I got it completely by accident. The photos on eBay made it look like it was just the flash of the camera reflecting on the plastic at a weird angle, but it turned out to be a genuine factory sealed copy even though I paid pretty much "average" market value for it as if it was a normal opened game. Guess the seller either didn't know what he had or just didn't care because the listing had no mention whatsoever of it being sealed. I was surprised, but I guess that's why it went unnoticed and nobody else bought it before me.
I'm happy to have it because it's a fairly popular title so to have a sealed copy of it means to have a couple of extra bucks in my pocket eventually 20 years from now, but I agree 100% that collecting factory sealed stuff (be it games or consoles or anything else really, like scale model kits or anime figurines or packs/cases of trading cards) is absolutely asinine and it's also the #1 reason why prices have gone up all across the board, regardless of what you're collecting for. Everything else that I own is rigorously opened and used fairly frequently.
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Tyler Esposito (My Retro Life) sold his collection of over 1000 games he had with his Dad for years/decades back in 2018. This is so he can start collecting with his daughter. Please check out his channel.
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I would say I am somebody who collects to play but also considers the investment side when it comes to certain things, but even then I still agree 100%. I hate this beast of the collectors market where to actually get the stuff you want you have to resell the stuff you find. It makes sense and is miles more economically smart then pumping hundreds of dollars into getting games, but I hate that it is this way. If every game's value dropped to roughly $5-$25 a piece then I'd be a happy camper, even if I may have lost a lot of money in some items.
Very good points. My collection is made of games I want to play only, I'm not a completionist therefore I wouldn't care for it all to crash in value.
I wish the game market would crash. earlier this year I looked I thought I lost my gamecube collection to a flood so I looked how much those games would cost. I was blown away when I saw games, I got for 60$ priced at 130$ luckily most of my collection was safe. there was no way I would've paid those prices for knowing full well they're not worth it. seeing as how these games doubled in prices in just a few years says it's scalpers are the problem along with people that are paying these prices for video games that arent even rare
I do wish video game prices would come down a bit - mainly NES, SNES, Genesis - I just can’t see myself paying more than $100 for a video game!! That’s just too much… so YES I go to flea markets, yard sales, Facebook market place etc to find the best deals and if I find a good deal then great but if I don’t find a good deal I am OK with my video game collection that I have -
I agree. If you’re truly a gamer at heart you should agree with this statement.
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No one in Canada wants to buy Persona 5 Royal in Canada at 90$ with tax. That game was released on PS3.
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I started collecting maybe 12 years ago when ps2 was the last generation and games were cheap. I built a great collection of a couple hundred games. I would find dreamcast game cube and even game boy games in charity shops for only a couple of pounds. I had to sell off 90% of my collection about 5 years ago cos I needed the money. Been trying to get it all back now and it's like 4x the price of what I paid. I have to go to carboots in the summer and try and find games to trade in for credit to get those games I had all those years ago.
Example. Klonoa on ps2 I bought for £8 in store 10 years ago, now its £40-50.
I do get lucky still though, got def jam fight for ny for 75p this summer. Wanted it to complete my ps2 def jam sub set. I think it's roughly a £30 game now.
I'm a very casual collector now with the aim of getting one heavy hitter retro game each year off my wish list for cheap/free through trades. For me this year it was blood will tell on ps2. And when I do get round to playing them if I don't like them I sell or trade it in. Like I'm not fussed about getting klonoa on ps2 now cos it just wasn't my type of game after playing it. Wouldn't turn it down if I found it for cheap now though
I'm with you on this, it's crazy how prices are currently.
100% plus SOOOOOO many more reasons such as how the modern gaming current market works.
I agree there are 3 kinds of collectors that I come across at garage sales and Flea Markets. First group of people are like myself that are trying to build on their collection. Maybe flip what they already have and reinvest back into the collection as Mr. Rogers has pointed out. The second group people I run into are investors. Keeping games just to sit on hoping 10 years from now that same game will double or triple in price. The last group of people I run into are just out for the money!!!! Just want to resell games or systems for profit. They don't care to own a collection just dollar signs.
Im with you on the crash id love to go back to early 2000s i could go into gamestop and buy a stack 40 50 games for 50 to 150 bux, that was how i built the bulk of my nes collection, id buy every 99 cent or under game every time i went in, once i had all of them i started buying all the 1 to 5 dollar games, then they stopped sellong thrm my dad would buy box full of games and consoles for 5 bux at yardsales, those were the days
Its wild what happened, I thought things were out of control when I was about a year into garage sale finds, and I only started going out because somehow I stumbled on your videos. The fact we live in the same city, you live fairly close to me was exciting to me too. Additionally to the haters, you helped me out with NES and SNES classic at cost, greatly apricated , we had very respectful interactions and I loved seeing your game room.. There are a few titles that I really wanted have escaped me but my entire collection is built the same way as yours, I understand the market exists and stores etc have a business. but I was priced out a long time ago. On that note if you pay up to $100 for a game you are going to play and enjoy thats ok, but I certainly would not recommend buying shelf filler at that price. I also agree, I would not be upset if my collection became worth less money and I feel in time it will be, as I feel Pop figures will ( buy them for fun not profit).
Also I love my comic collection, but after 23 years of reading and collecting, I will admit the fact most of it is worth less than I paid is a bit frustrating in some ways, I never planned to make large amounts of money, but recently decided I would be better off keeping the stuff I thought about selling to make space. Also apparently KW Vintage games is no more.
Ive been following you for years and will continue to I like what your doing let it fly off the cuff like bit head its great content game room looks fantastic bro keep rocking
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If that happened we will never see a new console from any company out there but with the rapid increase in technology that will never happen.
The only "collectors" who would be upset by the market crashing are "collectors" that plan to sell off their collection. But a true collector that derives joy out of the hobby never plans to sell they would only sell out of necessity.
I've collected Video games for over 30 years, I'm currently at over 18,000 games + systems and accessories in my collection. I have lots of sure rare pieces in my collection. Do I want the Video Game market to crash? Yes. When I first started It was never about the value, So many rarer games I never got back then are now at prices I really don't want to spend. Most of my high dollar games I pick up today I get from trading/selling a bunch of games I already own from garage sale (like you). If it crashed I wouldn't change, I'd still be buying games to add to my collection. To me it was never about the value, it was about getting the games I want in my collection.
100 percent agree with you! The prices are ridiculous. Games are way over priced
I feel so lucky getting into collecting at like 2010-2011. I was able to get my fire red n64 for like $20 at a garage sale, and the rest of the funtastics besides smoke all under 100. Now a smoke is like 200+.
The red N64 is called the watermelon one.
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Really good perspective and great points. I agree with what you're saying, although I think where I'm at in life makes my perspective different.
I didn't get into collecting for an investment. I got into it because I love video games and collecting and no matter how much the market goes up or down that won't change. That said, it's true as I've gotten older I've looked at my collection more as an investment before because as I get older I realize my own mortality and start to ask myself things like "how long am I really going to keep collecting?" "when I'm 50,60, 70 am I going to really care about this and want to hold onto this collection?" Or, am I going to want to sell it at that point so I can do more to enjoy the rest of my life and make sure I'm taken care of as I become a senior citizen. One of the thing that I think might make my outlook different than yours, SeeJayAre, is you have kids. I don't and at this point in my life I'm not sure I will. I'm engaged now after being in a relationship for several years, but I don't think at my age kids are in the cards for us. So, I don't have anyone to pass down my collection to when I'm older so that directions the options of what to do with it when I'm older more to selling it and naturally if you're looking that way you start to think of value and you naturally look at it more as an investment.
Another part of the problem is as I get older I find myself gaming less and less and when I do it's rarely retro games. The reason is I just don't have the time I used to. Life got busy. Adulthood is a b*tch sometimes and when I do have spare time I usually want to play a newly released game that everyone has been recommending to me.
Also, I sell vintage online full time and have for years. I sell a lot of video games. So, when you do that, you are trained to look at things in terms of dollar signs and value and that includes my personal collection even though I have no intention of selling it anytime soon.
It's largely a double edged sword for me. A market crash would mean being able to get games for cheaper. On the other hand, it would devalue my collection. I should also mention I'm really into sealed game collecting and now grading but my reasons aren't primary investing. They are two fold: 1. I think sealed game collecting and getting them graded and put in the case is a great way to practice game preservation, which is very important to me with collecting, 2. When I was a kid most of my joy was actually getting the game. For example, unwrapping a brand new, sealed N64 games for Christmas was an incredible feeling so getting sealed games is a way of having that permanently.
I think my love of sealed game collecting also stems from the fact at some point early on my primary interested in collecting became the actual collection and not playing it. In otherwords, the enjoy I got was hunting for, acquiring and displaying and looking at (and showing off) the collection and as my interest in playing games decreased (or became difficult because of having less free time to do so) the idea of having sealed games I couldn't play without opening became increasingly acceptable to me. A huge benefit of a market crash would sealed games would be affordable again, at least some degree. It's insane now.
Anyway, sorry for the long rant, but just wanted to share my thoughts from a different perspective.
I actually sold my collection during the pandemic. I didn't know if I would lose my job, so I chose to sell it and pay off debt and play it safe. I don't miss it, as the market and collecting community was just way out of hand in my opinion and I was no longer enjoying collecting. It made sense for me, but for those who still want to hang on to their collections, I get it as well. I just wasn't enjoying it anymore.
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Yah super annoying. Everything gets ruined by these people that don’t have love or passion for games and nostalgia of it. Ruins it for people like us that would just keep the collection and use it
I didn't find the time to comment on few previous videos but have to say I'm glad to see you upload more regularly once again! :) All the best to you and your family!
As for the topic I wouldn't mind if the crash happened a little while later since I'm currently in the process of selling all of my games (500-ish, starting with the rarest PS2, PSP and DS games.) It's not the first time either. Just like now about a decade ago I moved to another country and worked abroad so I sold my previous games. The collection I had back then was exclusively PC big box games of which I kept the few meaningful ones and will keep few PS2 games this time around as well. Yet I try to keep myself from getting too attached to things and learned the first time around having a collection was a great investment for times like this. When I begun looking for PS2 games from different countries across Europe I considered what they might be worth in future, then later played or read about them all. It seems I'm driven by curiosity first so I'll surely start collecting again as it gives me another reason to go out and experience the local culture I'm not used to yet. Just have to see what's available half way across the globe, maybe and hopefully PC-98 and Vita!
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1000% agree I rather be able to get games I want but right now there $100+ so ig been just waiting until I find it cheaper
I been collecting games since the early 00s and sold alot of my games during the pandemic. Realized I bought way to many duplicates of certain collect edition, etc. Didnt have time to every play them. Thus, end up selling alot. Still have a big backlog of games, but use offer up or instagram to sell nowadays.
Why you don’t upload so much lately? Been loving your videos and your game collection/room!
I am in complete agreement with you. I love my collection. I love the hunt. I love playing and sharing memories as my life goes on. I find the more I see games as an investment tbe more the magic and fun goes away.
It's all about the money for me. Lowball the hell out of people to get as much as possible for as little as possible so that I can make as much as possible. But that's the life of a full time reseller.
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Think that would be an interesting video. “If I started again, what would and wouldn’t I collect”
The only way that will happen is if there's an exodus from collecting. Unfortunately I find way more broken stuff today for sale at retro stores. It's all money and no interest in the product they are selling
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All nostalgia bubbles burst, all collector markets peak and aside from truly rare items every collecting market is cyclical. Before games it was comics, before comics it was cards, before cards it was coins, before coins it was stamps etc. Prices will correct eventually over the long term. Yes just like Action Comics #1 the NWC Gold cart or Magical Chase or Stadium Events might never be affordable but everything else will eventually be affordable again once the investors and speculators move on to the next market to fleece.
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My collection is not worth that much already. But I'd love to be able to get more games cheaper. There is so many TurboGrafx 16 games I had as a kid I'd love to have again and Sega Saturn. My NES collection is at about 150 games but I'd love to have more.
I agree, I'm not in it for the money, I do find it cool to see things that I bought for cheap being worth a good amount but I'm not selling them so it doesn't really affect me if they drop in value, I have bought a few more expensive games and actively looking for reasonable deals on more expensive games so that's where I wouldn't want the market to drop off because then I would have overpaid but again I wouldn't be selling them so I just take the hit!
In my opinion I hope it does crash as I had to sell my small collection due to covid and hope one day to start collecting some of it again for a decent amount.
I can totally understand that. If I was still collecting I would much prefer that it wasn't a popular thing mostly from the standpoint of it was fun to find this stuff randomly in thrift stores. What do you normally sell your extras through? Kijiji mostly? I was thinking of purging a large chunk of my collection but really don't like how Ebay works. Might do Facebook and Craigslist.
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I wish it would too. Loads of good old games I want to play, but things are too high.
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I feel the same way, I have been collecting on and off since I started working around 2010 in europe and had to start over here in the US when I moved for work in 2015. I use to enjoy going to flea markets and looking on craigslist and even ebay when you could find bundles of consoles with tones of games for around 30 to 40$. It is so expansive now it sucked all the fun of the hunt. I collect to play and share the experience of playing on older systems with my kids but it is getting way to expansive unfortunately. I am lucky I have most of the systems and there is solutions now to play roms on the actual hardware but it is not the same.
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You and I are cut from the same cloth. Basically started UA-cam at the same time and have been collecting since the early 2000s. I can’t stand this current landscape, including what UA-cam has become regarding retro video game collecting. It’s value only. No one talks about the games anymore.
I remember you and I used to feel somewhat guilty about flipping - it was a necessary evil as it was the only way to get the volume of games we have.
I never understood people yapping about value, specifically about things they supposedly will never sell. It’s not worth anything if you’re not going to sell it.
Good video, SJR.
Since I have sold most of my high ticket games the past couple years, I would love for it to crash so I can buy them all back.
Dude’s already established money wise. That’s why he don’t care.. i am a true gamer but enjoy to sell some games i don’t play anymore. It’s a way for me to earn some extra bucks. That’s what’s fun and adds value
I don't necessarily disagree with your perspective. Absolutely, I would like to be able to obtain games for less money and add them to my collection. The issue that many of us have is that it's become very difficult to find games at garage sales, swap meets, etc....even more difficult if you live in an area that doesn't really have much in the way of flea markets, etc. For that reason, many of us have had to pay up for some games in order to obtain them and it would be a disappointment if they were suddenly worth a fraction of what you paid.
Agreed.. I need to make a response video