I am 51 yrs old & I would say the difference now as a posed to when I was growing up - There wasn't any focus on hoarding or selling your console/games 30 years down the road for Profit. No social media, no influencers- No pressure to be anything other than an individual who just want to Play The Game
The ironic thing is when you’re getting a “great deal” you’re just ripping off someone who doesn’t know the value of the item they have lol, great video as always and thanks for putting into words how I myself feel as well as a lot of others!
I would enjoy listening to you talk about that topic greg! The only time I ever bought something where I knew I was getting a smoking deal was a few years ago at a flea market I found 2 sealed packs of gen 1 jungle booster packs. Paid 5 bucks for 2 packs. It was too good of a deal to be honest and the sellers didnt speak my language so I just took the deal. Hell they could be resealed for all i know but they look to good to be resealed. They were at the bottom of an old box anyway.
You're absolutely correct. People who wouldn't think twice ripping off some mother cleaning out her kids' old game collection at a garage sale to add to their hoard can still get self- righteous about someone doing the same thing to resell it. I realize that one cause is slightly less greedy than the other, but honestly how different is it?
Buying something from someone who chose to price that item at that price, doesn't sound like ripping off someone. No one tells you to undervalue something, that's the sellers fault for not doing the research or being aware of what they have.
I don't give a damn about the game prices. If I see a game at a store that I want, and I can afford it, I'll get it. These games are relics to me, memories of my youth, and it's great to go back to when I was a kid just enjoying the gameplay.
@@GetTheGreg Sure, what it becomes is investing. For example, if you buy a sealed copy of the game with no intention to play it only to get it graded and to one day resell that game for significantly more than you had paid for it, that's not a game collecting hobby, that's a game collecting investment. Maybe doing that is fun for you, and maybe you get joy out of it, but still it's an investment. Just as if someone was to buy a house, or car, then upgrade/repair it so that the value increases only to resell it later. I don't fault anyone for being a reseller or investor, I just don't have an interest in doing it because to me it feels like a bubble thats slowly growing. Eventually the bubble pops, which we saw back with the first video game crash and the housing market collapse. Bubbles pop (hell just look at bitcoin) and hopefully if it does in time I can finally get a few games i just want to play, not pay 5000 dollars for. :)
It’s so exhausting to get anything anymore. So many hoarders and even worse resellers who buy up everything and just resell. So sick of it. I miss the 90s and early 2000s.
Here's my feelings about the current collecting scene: "Collectors cannibalize collectors" - agreed, but more so in the past. Now it seems more "speculators cannibalize collectors". Before, collectors collect for the pure passion, or mostly the passion of games. Now it seems more the passion of money in the guise of passion for games. Prices in the past were more stable and more predictable in its trends. Nowadays, the only predictable thing are the unstable prices.
I think this is spot on. If I sold a sealed game a few years ago almost certainly it'd be a collector buying it. Now a days, I feel like it would be a 50/50 shot collector or speculator buying it.
I agree with everything you said except for that video games will never return back to to 2019 prices and before. A lot of the 90s games are what’s highly desirable these days because the people who got that stuff originally, are at a point in their lives where they can afford to pay 100s-1,000s of dollars for a game. Eventually, the people who collect that stuff will move on and price will fall back a bit.
That's fair. I shouldnt have been so definitive in that assessment because yes, in 2 years, 5 years, 10 years, a lot could change that we can't even predict.
A lot of people on the internet are angry that retro gaming stuff is unobtainable, but the main reason why retro gaming stuff is so expensive is because everyone has big collections of stuff and can resell also.
Video games as a whole? It'll never return back. But individual consoles go through boom and bust as each generation longs for the nostalgia of the past, with only handfuls of truely rare titles keeping their price. Right now nes and gameboy have gotten way cheaper than they've been in years, with SNES starting to fade out as people move onto N64 and gamecube. But the real wildcard is what happens to the market once its flooded with repros? Right now N64 is absolutely inundated with fake Chinese repros.
Hey bro, I love your videos. You provide a wealth of obscure knowledge that I don't hear anywhere else. I'd like to make one suggestion though. If you invest $30 into a descent lapel mic, I really think it would help bring your videos to the next level. As it is now, there's a ton of echo in your audio. Just some food for thought. Keep up the great work 👍
If you grew up with NES, and you've decided that's gonna be your focus, then PS2 or VHS won't fill that void. And more people could afford prices before than the current prices. I also like "the hunt" or to get a good deal, but I have a collection goal and don't want to sell the items I'm buying, so it really hurts when you have to 😢
I’ve been collecting since like 2010 … my Game collection is worth almost half a million thanks to covid , wata and the fact I knew games we’re super under valued years ago … I didnt put anywhere near what’s it’s valued at now … I keep asking myself do I sell now or will it continue to rise … cuz I could get a house and stop renting which would be really nice
I've been rent free for 10 years. The only thing I concentrated is improved retirement, don't have to worry about paying to fat bankers monthly, can go on far away trips and buy what ever. Thinking of buying investe income home now.
For me personally, prices have always mattered. For my entire life so far I have lived with my family in economically instability. Due to this since day 1 my mother instilled in me that there's always a better deal for something somewhere else and I have to thank her so much for that. Just recently I was browsing on DKoldies they were selling ds lites for like 120, I went on eBay for 2 seconds and found the exact same ds for 35. I do believe collectors need to look for deals, but on the flip side I believe SOME resellers need be a bit more fair. What I mean by this is the resellers who go to like 10 stores in a town and literally by up everything just to immediately flip on eBay. I feel like that should be more called out and isn't right at all. They way I see it they're literally taking from an entire community, and preventing people from going to their local store to get what they want. With the way the economy is and how expensive everything is drastically becoming, those clearances, sales, and deals really matter, and to see someone who doesn't even live in your town just swoop everything in one go is just disheartening more than anything.
Funny thing is collectors tend to make more money in the long run than speculators, as speculators tend to panic sell whenever a notable dip in the market happens. Whereas collectors will hold onto their stuff and let prices recover.
Is that what it’s all about though? Making money? There are much better ways to make money than having fucking video game collection. I never thought about my games as investments or a fall back plan. In fact, I always thought of my video games as a hedonistic purchase that was just about having fun. That’s what I take issue with. A lot of people who are buying stuff now, it has almost nothing to do with playing the games.
I dont hate the player or the game. Most markets with emtional ties (nostalgia) will always bring out cynicism from people priced out or when passion hobbies become more profitized. Im a single dad, so im more financially strick and just say "im priced out"... now i just kind of recommend people who wanna play games they love from the past and are priced out to emulate. Really its not about the item itself, but the memories. Those are priceless.
If a group of people collect something that is no longer in production then its supply and demand and the prises can only go up. No matter what it is you are collecting. So no point in complaining about it..
I consider myself a collector that plays videogames (When I have time due to family and kids) and I never go for hunting to resell it later. Everytime that I found something cheap I will contact a few people to offer it to them and trade it for anything that they have and I would like.
Dude, this is the video I needed! I love hearing this take and you're entirely right. The only way to wrongly collect is if it hurts your ability to save, pay rent, or pay for necessities.
This is a really good video (I wish I saw it earlier) and you make some great points. That said, video game collecting in 2022 does suck for me. Key words being "for me." If everyone one else is happy and it's fine for them, great. It's just not the same for me and it's all good.
Ive been "seriously" collecting since right before covid when I got out of Yu-Gi-Oh. I've had my ups and down in attitude but I've adopted the philosophy you can't get them all so as long as I'm getting something either to flip so I can buy more or I buy things that go directly into my collection I love this hobby. It's something my wife and I do together & it's great.
Great video, you mostly said what I was thinking. I have been hunting/collecting for a good few years a got a collection probably worth around €25-30k and i would rather the price increase not decrease.
Wow, you put out a well thought descriptive explanation in regards to game collecting without once being a name calling negative individual. No Timmy, Kimmie or Poindexter references. I salute you! I have shared this with my brother whom collects Pokémon cards and it literally speaks volumes to a recent conversation him and I had over prices and how to offload things you currently own in order to acquire things you’d like to own. Using the capital you’ve already acquired and using that to purchase new things. Beautifully said!
I agree hunting is so satisfying, it does take patience. Not many people are willing to be as patient. A lot of time it’s being at the right place at the right time. Hunting does require dedication like you mentioned. Great video!
I would say that every collector needs to watch this video, but it would probably just make them cry since most collectors don’t even have a basic grasp on basic economics or critical thinking skills. “Go collect something else” hits the hardest. I’m primarily a PS3 collector so I get/got all my shit cheap, I got all the semi pricey stuff before the PSN scare…then you had people saying “I never got to buy this stuff” when it’s all been under 10-20$ for years and no one gave a rat’s ass about them up until then 😴
Exactttllyyy. Most of the stuff people are collecting has been out for 10, 20, 30 years now haha. There's just no logic in complaining about price increases when we are dealing with limited collectables - especially the most popular games and franchises
Game chasing does s*x nowadays, but collecting remains a great (though pricy) hobby, which is both a good and a bad thing. In the end, collecting what really matters to you keeps it fun.
Old Collector from Europe here. The first real hit on prices where 2014. The Smartphone Age (Pricelooking) destroyed the rest. Friend of me had a reseller-shop which he closed 2020, where his main problem was to buy stuff cheap because of private persons which want ebay/store prices for their games. There was no money to make anymore (buying and reselling). I stopped collecting 2016 because of unreasonable prices and storage problems.
Oh man much has changed. I started 25 years ago and purchased most of my collection (mostly old pc games 80s/90s) 15 years ago, and paid usually an average price of 2-3 € per Game. I never would have estimated the crazy prices today …
A big problem I noticed is pawn shops thrift stores. Pawn shops give people a dollar for each game you have but price them at eBay prices. Same with thrift stores like goodwill people donate them for free but put them on ebay and charge insane shipping.
Very interesting take, you made a lot of good points. Don’t hate the players, hate the game 😂 I started collecting in 2017, so by then, most people I talked to in the hobby told me I was late to the party in terms of finding great deals. I tried thrifting, but felt like it was always games I had no interest in, and when they were, they were the same price as buying them at Game stores or online….so I don’t do it anymore. eBay and retro game stores on my area are my go to options, and that’s ok for the most part. I think my frustration stems from the sense that people who don’t play games are flooding the hobby nowadays, which stinks, but it is what it is. I will still collect because I love video games in general. Great vid!
Congrats on hitting 5k subs! 🙌 Great vid. “MSRP” is a form of price manipulation. Also, $1.00 in 1985 is $2.59 in 2021. So, a new game would sell for around $155.47 in today’s dollars at launch.
You basically hit on every single relevant point that any collector needs to understand. Well done video! For further expansion on the points you covered, people could watch Reserved investments. His understanding of how nostalgia is one of the biggest factors that affect the collectables industry is informative and on point. From my point of view, as a video game reseller of 5 plus years, I can verify that it's definitely getting more challenging to find good deals out in the wild. Knowledge is power and most "regular" people have a pretty good intuition that video games are worth something now and it only takes 2 seconds to ebay a price. So as a reseller I'm facing the same buy pressure as collectors, as you mentioned. I also wonder how many "collectors" are really resellers who present themselves as collectors and are now just butthurt that they can't rake in that free cash like they used to. Free markets are a bitch huh.
This was great and I appreciate the thoroughness of topics discussed. The prices are the prices. I can't be concerned with what game used to be priced at. I started truly collecting in April 2020, but I always paid attention to the prices and just bought what I wanted to play immediately. Because of scarcity and YT being a haven for people discovering new (old) games, I ramped up my buying and sell off some things. Typical of YT to have 1 or 2 people make a video about "quitting", then a slew of other people "quit" to piggyback off of someone else's success. My only real issue with pricing is if you go to a game shop and they actively look up eBay prices and try to sell you a game based on that. I've had this happen with a KOF game on 360. Game had a $29 tag, but the guy wanted to charge me $49 and blame it on another employee. That's wrong. But, yeah, great vid! WE created these prices collectively, so we got to deal with them. Pivot your collecting like Greg said.
Game stores that change the price on you are the absolute worst haha. Especially if they are just going to quote eBay. If I wanted to pay the eBay price, I could have just stayed home today and bought it on eBay haha.🥴
Really great video and I agree with everything you’re saying. I’m leaning towards walking away from collecting this year as prices are just so high now. I’ve completed my Pokémon game collection and I think it’s time for some down time…at least for now.
Hey I’m a younger gamer than a lot of the retro tubers I’ve seen (24) and just thought I’d give my two cents for what it’s worth. Until getting more involved with watching the UA-cam videos I really didn’t consider the prices much, they were what they were. I’m interested in experiencing gaming history and others are too. These things have value beyond the monetary or collecting aspects of it which is why I don’t think there’s a bubble that’d burst. The way I looked at it mainly was yes you could get some of these games cheaper before, but if they’re the price of new games all these years later then you know they’re either rare or good and it’s up to us to decide what’s worth to us, and if it isn’t there are usually other ways to experience them in rereleases, ports etc. even if it’s not ideal. If it isn’t worth it, the price will come down eventually. I’m much more into the gaming side than the hunting side though, my anxieties mean eBay and Amazon honestly are my main ways to get games and I get games that I am interested in playing only. Like you say budgeting and setting boundaries are important as I’ve already gone down the rabbit hole a couple of times in the few years I’ve been collecting and had to course correct myself. Great video and as much as there is a lot of complaining about aspects of game collecting, gaming itself the start of this year alone has been incredible.
I feel like that's how a lot of the younger generation feels about getting into it now. All of the old timers remember days of "games being cheap", but for everyone else who joins the hobby now, there is no memory of that. Like you said, prices are what they are. Many people think that just because something used to be cheaper, it's now unjustifiable to be more expensive (when talking about collectibles). The hobby has grown tremendously these past 2 years alone. Like you said, it's up to us to decide if prices are worth it or not - and if it's not DON'T BUY. For myself, it really is that simple. Complaining doesn't change anything.
The reason why everyone focuses on the higher end games is becuase its no fun and no adrenaline rush to find the mediocre common games. By definition they are easy to find, so yeah we can just go buy them and collect them. But the fun part for most people in any hobby, is finding that rarity for cheap.
The solution is trying stuff that is overlooked but is appreciated within a niche For example, Star Fox Adventures is overlooked because it was too different from the other games in the series. You can still find it easily for 20$. However, the game is appreciated by people that aren't bothered by that difference in jaunra. I tried it and I liked it a lot, I recommend it to people that like rare games or Adventure games such as Zelda. For me to enjoy the hobby, collecting shoud be balanced between niche good games and more expensive but also great games
MATE! What a breath of fresh air - you eloquently articulated some great opinions on the hobby. For me, collecting remains mostly a personal endeavour that has little influence from outside opinions - I adapt to the market and will often reevaluate my collection as the years go by. Always having fun along the way!
I know that perceiving time gets hazier the older I get, so something that happened in 2012 seems like yesterday, not a decade ago. UA-cam doesn't help, since I can see the same people making the same types of videos, so it's like no time at all has passed. I have some old Paypal receipts that seem unreal now, like a $90 Saturn bundle that came with Lunacy, Albert Odyssey, and five or so other games, but then I have to give it a second to let it dawn on me that 2008 was a long time ago. As you said, I remember people in 2010 saying prices are too high from 2008, and in 2012 from 2010. I think the sharp increase has people a bit off. Seeing Saturn stuff go from $30 to $60 to $100 to over within a few years after years of hovering within +/- $10 of an average has even thrown me for a loop.
That one is a fair complaint. Things did move faster this past year than in the past. Generally what would have taken 5 years took like 2, so everyone who was just kind of passive was really caught off guard I think!
@@GetTheGreg I tried to stay a step ahead by hoovering up what looked to be the next hot system, so SNES games when NES were rising, then PS1 when it was SNES, then Genesis when it was PS1. I'm happy with not getting those last few titles, given how many I was able to get at $50 or less. I think age has a lot to do with it, too. I'm worrying about health insurances and upcoming mortgages and stuff, while in my 20s, I was going crazy on ebay (and to date myself, Circuit City and K B Toys discount bins). A lot of the videos I've seen are people closer to my age.
So i spent little bit more for games than i did 10 years ago. *shrugs* their just more people, collecting video games. Supply and Demand. I think we going to be fine, cause you can still play the game if you want, digitally.
I think what troubles me is that while yes, there are more gamers than there has been in the past, there’s also more supply. Think about it: we now have like 6 generations of games available. Back 20 years ago, there were only a handful of systems you could even buy stuff for. What’s changed is what Greg brought up in this video: the hunters. I never would run into people who were out in the community who were buying games with zero intention of playing the games. When I go out now? That’s the majority of people I see. That’s not video games becoming more popular. That’s just more people trying to make a buck. It’s the worst part of capitalism creeping into this hobby. At least that’s my 2cents.
@@leeartlee915 Well most people dont want to work for someone else, or a 9 to 5 job, i get that. But also we should look into careers people trying to get into. Most want to be UA-camrs/Twitchers/Pro Gamers. But realistic jobs, that pay very good amount of money are being overlooked. People are even leaving 6 figures jobs, just to be thrift store/goodwill reseller. Your average homeless guy makes more in a day than some people make in a week at their job, at major cities. Weird lil mest up right now. Just waiting to see if someone brings little bit common sense to the world. As the saying goes "Work Smarter not Harder" but sometimes to get into a Dream Position. You got to put in little bit of "Hard Work"
@@LordsOfSkulls I don’t disagree with anything you said but I’m kinda old school. If you dig ditches, provide hospice care, educate, give therapy, or take away the garbage, I see those as all important vocations. But reselling? What the fuck do they provide the world? Some extra ebay listings? Helping Amazon become even MORE dominate in the world of commerce? Yeah, I’m not in support of that. I will always think lowly of resellers. And the fact that they helped to kinda ruin retro gaming, that just makes me dislike them even more.
@@leeartlee915 I agree, completely, but i do like resellers for 1 thing. They go out and find the stuff, and take time to put it on Ebay. Some people actually put it up for fair prices out their. I dont mind paying someone $10-$20 more, for getting game i couldnt find locally in mint condition. Or finding it in some weird place, and making it available to buy. I do look at bad resellers who are buying out consoles/ from retail stores, just to sell for $50-$200 as bad resellers. Also the Sealed Market, that is whole new level of "NFTs/Bad Crypto scam" on Video Game Scene. But i also do find the attraction of having two copies of same game, one being new and sealed, in protective case + grade on it, kinda appealing. And other copy or digital to be used to play. Especially when certain games are going for over anything $1000+. Most money someone should pay for no matter how Rare, should be $500 in my opinion. Video Games Ment to be played, and not be purchased for "Profit"
@@leeartlee915 yap that the problem, also if you think about, as new generations comes out, older ones are not produced anymore, so its limited amount of inventory/prints for those games.
you said it all and for that you get a like from me. its funny how all those people that complain about prices in video games, turn around and sell it themselves at or above what is considered market value.
Hunting is the real collecting! I found "GOLD" so many times in the past on fleemarkets or in stores which did'nt know what they had (because there the game i bought was not listed on ebay/amazon, where they could compare the prices to....this kind of common, are we talking about). I was always 100 times ahead compared to private resellers and shopkeepers. THAT WAS COLLECTING.
I only really started collecting games this year, all for the PS2 (bought the console this summer). I've now have a small collection of about 25 games of which I've played about 75%. There's honestly so much out there for a good price, heck I just bought the Hitman collection for only six bucks. Some games are ridiculously expensive though, but then I just buy other games that are more affordable / within my current budget.
yeh its just become so much harder which does suck, before i could find a lot of mint stuff on ebay, now everything is either described as mint and is damaged or a fking reseal, the passed few months have just been head ache for me with the amount of returns and head aches. Learning that VGA have graded more fakes than i realized also pisses me off. Luckily I've made good contacts over the years so I can still get good finds from people who rather deal with me than a random on ebay, but for people coming in it must be a fking nightmare at this stage.
@@GetTheGreg I agree! That track in your video reminds me of going to Toy's R Us in 1996 and playing Mario 64 for the first time. That track was from the water stages and at the time nothing was even close graphically! Masterpiece!
Don't get me wrong.. I don't like scalpers and I don't like overpaying for games BUT I would much rather collect things that are not only valuable to me but valuable in general. I spend a lot of time playing and collecting and it makes me more proud of it and honestly lots of work and creativity went into these works of art and the good games deserve to have value. Not to mention, when you have to save up to buy one game I find you enjoy them more and are more likely to spend time playing them.
Yeah Greg, you make some really good points in this video. No sarcasm. Just legit kudos. Everyone is different so I can only speak for myself but I’ve been playing video games for over 30 years. As far as being a “collector”, I was never the type to try to own an entire consoles library or go after the rarest of games. I just bought stuff I wanted to play. I’d buy a healthy mix of old stuff and new. And now, the only stuff I buy is modern stuff. The reason? I was never some garage sale hunting, pawn shop prowling, online sniper, type of buyer. I just would pick stuff up as I saw it and then I would keep it. I never flipped shit. Ever. And when I would see something that was choice but I already owned it, I would leave it, with the expectation that someone else who wanted that copy of Earthbound. But as you bring up in this video, the “treasure hunters” made that not feasible. It just spoiled the whole thing for me. And as technology improved, the rationalization to own the physical media became less and less important. But again, as someone who’s been playing and buying video games for 30 years, resellers, flippers, speculators, hoarders, whatever, they’ve just made it not worth it. I’m not as big of a materialist as some but it does make me a little sad that, yeah, the chance of picking up some SNES RPG for $30 is like impossible. Guess that’s what happens when you were able to wonder into a video game store in the late 90s and pick up a CiB Earthbound for $20.
I wish Retro Rick and people like him would get why some of us despise what he does as this video lays it out. Being a video game hunter is not the same as being a collector/enthusiast. When you spend more time thinking about how much money you can make on eBay then you do about what games you want to play, you are no longer “all about the games”. That’s one of the biggest reasons there has been such backlash on UA-cam against these types of guys. Plus, their whole thing is just kinda gross. I feel like they don’t really add anything to society. “Oh jeez, you find a game for $2 and are gonna sell it for $20 online? You are doing such a service for the world! Thank you for your brave efforts”. I’m like “fuck you. Do something better with your time and volunteer or something”.
Yeah. Seeing prices for various retro games (both new & used) skyrocket because of UA-camrs, Grading companies etc. has me thinking about resorting to piracy to get retro games without paying the high prices these resellers are asking for.
The whole treasure hunting thing is a tried and true from of entertainment (Storage Wars, anyone haha?). I think a lot of people now vicariously do their hunting through these kinds of UA-cam channels. I don't know him or his channel well at all, but I did see a thumbnail that said "selling everything" or something? If enough people decide to sell out of video games, that *will* help prices come down a bit on some stuff!
I really think investors made it way too much about money than the actual games. That’s the problem. And also it’s weird that if you’re a true game collector why isn’t CIB enough? Why does it have to be sealed? Makes me think people value the cellophane more than the game itself. Wata really elevated the hobby and ruined it at the same time lol if I had to do it all over again I’d only collect CIB
Great video I have been collecting for 22 years . The more you get the less everything you have, less space,time and money. I already sold my NES,GC,N64 & DC collections...and keeping just 5 games for each one. There still plenty other collections for me to sell...I don't have the Pharaohs syndrome "bury me with my games" like some collectors claim to have. I want "my games" to get passed on to someone else no matter who gamer or reseller I do not care much anymore. I Also, blame technology, mainstream media articles and social networks for ruining this hobby. With that said get off my lawn and let me play my games !!!
I started by collecting instruction booklets because I loved the artwork and the graphics. Now the instructions are expensive because most of them got roached, lost or thrown away. I collect Gameboy and the boxes are cardboard so nice copies are getting harder to find. I don't get that people are sending games that you can still buy in a store off to get graded? Its clogging the grading facilities up, they need to have a department dedicated to retro games that concentrates on games that are 10+ years old. How hard is it going to be to find a graded copy of Zelda fo the Nintendo Switch in 10 years time? It's not, they will be tens of thousands of them.
It's probably a little tougher to collect now if your targets are the obscure and expensive, so I guess I could see why someone who thinks the experience is all about getting amazing things for nothing might be discouraged now. Despite everything with reselling, grading, the economy and all of these other factors making things more expensive generally, there's still a ton of inexpensive items out there. I would ask every collector what they are doing this for. If it's to find something cool without a particular expectation, you can still do that and I still find it fulfilling. Effort is part of the process and if the challenge of looking for stuff isn't enjoyable in and of itself, collecting "in the wild" might not be for you. For me, my approach is to be broad. Sometimes I hunt, sometimes I go to retail, ebay, sometimes thrifts...overall, it's fun and I don't feel "loss" just because I don't walk away with some gem.
I enjoyed the video transitions on this clip. Funny thing is ..... people who want CHEAP video games, want them dirt cheap for like $5 lol invest in certain titles, if not be quiet.
You have a spectacular point about the average selling price for PS1 games that you used to support your overall argument. There is another angle to that argument that many don't consider: From 2005-2009, Prices on the most expensive PS1 games were at, or above 2018-2019 prices. Games that I picked up in college, are only just now exceeding the price I paid for them over a decade ago. People tend to put blinders on, and the ones complaining the loudest are the flipper/scammer collectors that have only been in it for a couple of years and whose only experience is the recent price volatility. Another thing to consider is the relevance of the console generation. Gen 1-4 prices are a fraction of what they once were. As the older collectors who were young adults age out of the hobby (die of old age) there are fewer and fewer who care about that console generation. In another 10-15 years you will see the prices on even the holy grails of the Master System and Nintendo start to fall off a cliff. In 2 decades Gen 6 will be a forgotten relic as today's young adults put tomorrow's money into Gen 8 and 9.
I think about that too (the aging generations). I don't think NES heavies like sword master or dragon fighter will continue to rise in price. It does feel like we are getting close and close to the inflection point of running out of collectors who actually care about "random expensive game" from that generation. My younger brothers were born in 2000 and outside of grabbing some NES classics like Dragon Warrior and SMB 3, they have no interest in exploring the library of games.
I’d have to agree. People complain a lot about game prices, yet they are looking at certain games such as PS1, SNES, Gamecube etc. and they see all these games shoot up to the hundreds on a lot of these. Unfortunately we are just in a time where these games are old and now everyone wants these, and the demand is higher than the supply. People need to go for other things such as 360, PS3, Wii as examples. Because games like those systems will have their time where they become valuable. Collecting on the cheap is totally possible, collectors just feel they need the expensive shit. Great video!
A lot of people don't want to do any kind of pivots, so then they just sit and complain haha. I don't have any time for that kind of mentality these days! 😬
I think the problem is, the market is becoming more streamlined with social media. Everyone is aware now of the value of some of the more popular games. The days of buying vintage games from Grandma for pennies on the dollar are done for the most part. The people complaining are the ones not willing to adapt to new market conditions.
To me it only seems to suck based on the franchise and console demand specifically with the prices they don’t seem to really even be based on rarity anymore just money (for example the Pokémon games are so common yet they cost up to 200$ while games with limited releases are worth less) Now in terms of collecting sealed game I understand the appeal now it’s a great way of preservation (and a little bit of showing off), but my problem lies with collectors who collect games and hoard them for their value and sell it higher than market value and never play them (I’m specifically talking about collectors who are open about doing that) you can’t assume a random person is doing it. I also agree with what you’d said about the problem with collectors if you think it’s overpriced then don’t buy it that helps the value go up.
Long answer yes... Throw in the looming spectre of disc rot for retro optical discs and it's no longer worth the money and effort. This is why I strongly recommend modding older consoles and putting game files on a SD card or hard drive. I did that with my PS2, OG Xbox, Dreamcast, and Gamecube.
ha, good points, I laughed a bunch of times. personally I still enjoy collecting a lot. I just don't find lots of good deals anymore. My local game store gets lots of games I want all the time though, and they take other stuff that's *not video games* as trade-in value, so that always means good fun x)
That's awesome that you can work with your local game store, that always helps a ton. These days I don't even have a lock game store haha, just an overpriced pawn shop that doubles as a game store🥲
@@GetTheGreg I'm really surprised how game stores have been closing around here, as much as the demand has gone up. We did have 3 in town here up until recently, now only 1. (not counting pawn shops and a music store that also buys/sells video games... oh, and Game Stop but that's like mentioning Chucky Cheese when talking about arcades) My only guess is whoever was running them just didn't handle business very well. The one that's still open is still killing it!
I did see RGT 85's video the other day, and I did have a look at the Sega Saturn library and noticed that 66 CIB games cost more than a $100 and there's even really shitty games like Crow: City of Angels which aren't far off that. When you factor in that North America had 258 games total. That's about 1/4 of the library.
In my opinion, only games that had cardboard boxes are worth getting graded, everything else you can just swap cases/etc to make a mint cib. For example, if i want a mint final fantasy 3 box, i need to buy an actual ff3 box, but if i want a mint final fantasy X, i can just buy a new PS2 game and swap the ffX sheet to make it look mint. Grading switch stuff is insane.
I collect games for me myself and I. I do not buy games for monetary gain or whatever. I collect only games I actually enjoy and want to play from time to time.
Video game collecting has absolutely changed . You use to be able to go out and find stacks of cheap games (nes for example) at any garage sale, goodwill, etc. But then resellers and speculators entered the fray and turned what was pretty much a "thrill of the hunt" hobby into essentially pay to play. The thrill is gone because almost everything is available online now, via resellers, for a price and nothing is really left out in the open to find or discover, mostly because resellers wait outside of used stores to scoop up and resell before normal people can find it. And whats worse, places like goodwill themselves started siphoning off games to resell on their website before they can even enter the brick and mortar stores. When a hobby goes from getting fun games for a few bucks to trying to outcompete whoever has a larger credit line or bank account, its dead. Better of emulating or if you want a similar look and tactile feel of inserting carts, repros. At my peak I had well over 1300 games and i've sold them all with the exception of a few because collecting is no longer fun or financially feasible.
Collectors seek to get the titles that all the other collectors are also looking for, the games that has climbed in price, the games that youtubers are talking about, the so called hidden gems and so on. I mean, why not try to find your own hidden gems, instead of following the river flow of things? I have recently started looking into Famicom and found that there are a lot of quality titles in there, which can be picked up for cheap. Also the Wii, PS2, PS3, Xbox360 and so on has tons of collectable titles for cheap.
I still found my GameCube for like $16 last year at my local salvation army and there were good games like viewtiful joe complete as well. To say you can't find this stuff anymore is just wrong. Yes it doesn't happen too often anymore. But, if ur persistent eventually you will find something
Came back to this video because it popped up in my feed. As someone who has collected graded comics as well as Star Wars for a long time. I think the main issue is the grading companies with games. The grading a video game idea is about like the same thing to me as grading VCR tapes. If it’s complete in box why grade it you can longer pull it out and see the original manual & maps etc. I understand grading sealed items but tbh that’s about the only thing in VCR or Games that should be graded. Rest is just a BS way to drive a premium on the market. Happened with modern comics as well and I strongly disagree with that too.
We love your videos great, you’ve a good way about you and you come across well. Ever thought about making other content relating to completely different topic alongside or as well as gaming/the video game trade?
Ebay dealers will sell used games at 10x what it sold for new. That about says it all for me getting any games for my classic consoles. I'd rather buy downloads for my PS4 rather than go to ebay for them
Psp games I’m into are all $70 plus now and I just bought a psp. I bid on Star Ocean second evolution and got it new for $74 after tax but ppl try to scalp it for $120
My goal is just to collect all sealed games I remember from my past! I do look for playstation 2 games and only 1 ps1 ''cash bash'' It makes me happy to see my past :,)
I am 51 yrs old & I would say the difference now as a posed to when I was growing up - There wasn't any focus on hoarding or selling your console/games 30 years down the road for Profit. No social media, no influencers- No pressure to be anything other than an individual who just want to Play The Game
The ironic thing is when you’re getting a “great deal” you’re just ripping off someone who doesn’t know the value of the item they have lol, great video as always and thanks for putting into words how I myself feel as well as a lot of others!
That's also a whole other topic of discussion hahah🤝😅
I would enjoy listening to you talk about that topic greg! The only time I ever bought something where I knew I was getting a smoking deal was a few years ago at a flea market I found 2 sealed packs of gen 1 jungle booster packs. Paid 5 bucks for 2 packs. It was too good of a deal to be honest and the sellers didnt speak my language so I just took the deal. Hell they could be resealed for all i know but they look to good to be resealed. They were at the bottom of an old box anyway.
Hello there!
You're absolutely correct. People who wouldn't think twice ripping off some mother cleaning out her kids' old game collection at a garage sale to add to their hoard can still get self- righteous about someone doing the same thing to resell it. I realize that one cause is slightly less greedy than the other, but honestly how different is it?
Buying something from someone who chose to price that item at that price, doesn't sound like ripping off someone. No one tells you to undervalue something, that's the sellers fault for not doing the research or being aware of what they have.
I don't give a damn about the game prices. If I see a game at a store that I want, and I can afford it, I'll get it. These games are relics to me, memories of my youth, and it's great to go back to when I was a kid just enjoying the gameplay.
It's no longer a hobby when your looking at things based on value.
I'm not sure how you are differentiating it then. What does it become? Can you elaborate a bit more?
@@GetTheGreg Sure, what it becomes is investing. For example, if you buy a sealed copy of the game with no intention to play it only to get it graded and to one day resell that game for significantly more than you had paid for it, that's not a game collecting hobby, that's a game collecting investment. Maybe doing that is fun for you, and maybe you get joy out of it, but still it's an investment. Just as if someone was to buy a house, or car, then upgrade/repair it so that the value increases only to resell it later.
I don't fault anyone for being a reseller or investor, I just don't have an interest in doing it because to me it feels like a bubble thats slowly growing. Eventually the bubble pops, which we saw back with the first video game crash and the housing market collapse. Bubbles pop (hell just look at bitcoin) and hopefully if it does in time I can finally get a few games i just want to play, not pay 5000 dollars for. :)
My thought exactly.
It’s so exhausting to get anything anymore. So many hoarders and even worse resellers who buy up everything and just resell. So sick of it. I miss the 90s and early 2000s.
No, it’s still a hobby.
Here's my feelings about the current collecting scene:
"Collectors cannibalize collectors" - agreed, but more so in the past.
Now it seems more "speculators cannibalize collectors".
Before, collectors collect for the pure passion, or mostly the passion of games.
Now it seems more the passion of money in the guise of passion for games.
Prices in the past were more stable and more predictable in its trends.
Nowadays, the only predictable thing are the unstable prices.
I think this is spot on. If I sold a sealed game a few years ago almost certainly it'd be a collector buying it. Now a days, I feel like it would be a 50/50 shot collector or speculator buying it.
I agree with everything you said except for that video games will never return back to to 2019 prices and before.
A lot of the 90s games are what’s highly desirable these days because the people who got that stuff originally, are at a point in their lives where they can afford to pay 100s-1,000s of dollars for a game.
Eventually, the people who collect that stuff will move on and price will fall back a bit.
That's fair. I shouldnt have been so definitive in that assessment because yes, in 2 years, 5 years, 10 years, a lot could change that we can't even predict.
A lot of people on the internet are angry that retro gaming stuff is unobtainable, but the main reason why retro gaming stuff is so expensive is because everyone has big collections of stuff and can resell also.
Video games as a whole? It'll never return back. But individual consoles go through boom and bust as each generation longs for the nostalgia of the past, with only handfuls of truely rare titles keeping their price. Right now nes and gameboy have gotten way cheaper than they've been in years, with SNES starting to fade out as people move onto N64 and gamecube. But the real wildcard is what happens to the market once its flooded with repros? Right now N64 is absolutely inundated with fake Chinese repros.
Hey bro, I love your videos. You provide a wealth of obscure knowledge that I don't hear anywhere else. I'd like to make one suggestion though. If you invest $30 into a descent lapel mic, I really think it would help bring your videos to the next level. As it is now, there's a ton of echo in your audio. Just some food for thought. Keep up the great work 👍
I appreciate the suggestion!
If you grew up with NES, and you've decided that's gonna be your focus, then PS2 or VHS won't fill that void. And more people could afford prices before than the current prices.
I also like "the hunt" or to get a good deal, but I have a collection goal and don't want to sell the items I'm buying, so it really hurts when you have to 😢
I’ve been collecting since like 2010 … my
Game collection is worth almost half a million thanks to covid , wata and the fact I knew games we’re super under valued years ago … I didnt put anywhere near what’s it’s valued at now … I keep asking myself do I sell now or will it continue to rise … cuz I could get a house and stop renting which would be really nice
You should totally sell “some “ and stop paying rent bro
I've been rent free for 10 years. The only thing I concentrated is improved retirement, don't have to worry about paying to fat bankers monthly, can go on far away trips and buy what ever.
Thinking of buying investe income home now.
For me personally, prices have always mattered. For my entire life so far I have lived with my family in economically instability. Due to this since day 1 my mother instilled in me that there's always a better deal for something somewhere else and I have to thank her so much for that. Just recently
I was browsing on DKoldies they were selling ds lites for like 120, I went on eBay for 2 seconds and found the exact same ds for 35. I do believe collectors need to look for deals, but on the flip side I believe SOME resellers need be a bit more fair. What I mean by this is the resellers who go to like 10 stores in a town and literally by up everything just to immediately flip on eBay. I feel like that should be more called out and isn't right at all. They way I see it they're literally taking from an entire community, and preventing people from going to their local store to get what they want. With the way the economy is and how expensive everything is drastically becoming, those clearances, sales, and deals really matter, and to see someone who doesn't even live in your town just swoop everything in one go is just disheartening more than anything.
Funny thing is collectors tend to make more money in the long run than speculators, as speculators tend to panic sell whenever a notable dip in the market happens. Whereas collectors will hold onto their stuff and let prices recover.
Is that what it’s all about though? Making money? There are much better ways to make money than having fucking video game collection. I never thought about my games as investments or a fall back plan. In fact, I always thought of my video games as a hedonistic purchase that was just about having fun. That’s what I take issue with. A lot of people who are buying stuff now, it has almost nothing to do with playing the games.
@@leeartlee915 spot on 👍
I dont hate the player or the game. Most markets with emtional ties (nostalgia) will always bring out cynicism from people priced out or when passion hobbies become more profitized. Im a single dad, so im more financially strick and just say "im priced out"... now i just kind of recommend people who wanna play games they love from the past and are priced out to emulate. Really its not about the item itself, but the memories. Those are priceless.
I blame social media for game collecting becoming what it is today
Very well said! Sick and tired of the negativity. Goes for other collector niches I know and am a part of
If a group of people collect something that is no longer in production then its supply and demand and the prises can only go up. No matter what it is you are collecting. So no point in complaining about it..
I consider myself a collector that plays videogames (When I have time due to family and kids) and I never go for hunting to resell it later. Everytime that I found something cheap I will contact a few people to offer it to them and trade it for anything that they have and I would like.
I like that you pointed out that collectors and flippers face the same new changes and pressures of hunting
A thoughtful and refreshing take. Well done!
Much appreciated man. Hopefully you don't mind me snagging some B Roll 😅🤝
Dude, this is the video I needed! I love hearing this take and you're entirely right. The only way to wrongly collect is if it hurts your ability to save, pay rent, or pay for necessities.
This is a really good video (I wish I saw it earlier) and you make some great points. That said, video game collecting in 2022 does suck for me.
Key words being "for me."
If everyone one else is happy and it's fine for them, great. It's just not the same for me and it's all good.
Ive been "seriously" collecting since right before covid when I got out of Yu-Gi-Oh. I've had my ups and down in attitude but I've adopted the philosophy you can't get them all so as long as I'm getting something either to flip so I can buy more or I buy things that go directly into my collection I love this hobby. It's something my wife and I do together & it's great.
Just found your channel as I bounce back and forth with my interests in collecting in 2022. Great content and well said my friend!
You would be a great mediator with your balanced approach and ability to see all sides of an issue
Hahah🤝
Great video, you mostly said what I was thinking. I have been hunting/collecting for a good few years a got a collection probably worth around €25-30k and i would rather the price increase not decrease.
Wow, you put out a well thought descriptive explanation in regards to game collecting without once being a name calling negative individual. No Timmy, Kimmie or Poindexter references. I salute you! I have shared this with my brother whom collects Pokémon cards and it literally speaks volumes to a recent conversation him and I had over prices and how to offload things you currently own in order to acquire things you’d like to own. Using the capital you’ve already acquired and using that to purchase new things. Beautifully said!
No one’s “identity” should ever be tied to collecting anything.
I agree hunting is so satisfying, it does take patience. Not many people are willing to be as patient. A lot of time it’s being at the right place at the right time. Hunting does require dedication like you mentioned. Great video!
This video needs to hit trending so more than just sealed collectors see it. Wonder what would happen if it got posted to r/Gamecollecting 🤔
All we need is a brave sacrifice...
WATA " We grade everything...kinda..not really"
I would say that every collector needs to watch this video, but it would probably just make them cry since most collectors don’t even have a basic grasp on basic economics or critical thinking skills.
“Go collect something else” hits the hardest.
I’m primarily a PS3 collector so I get/got all my shit cheap, I got all the semi pricey stuff before the PSN scare…then you had people saying “I never got to buy this stuff” when it’s all been under 10-20$ for years and no one gave a rat’s ass about them up until then 😴
Exactttllyyy. Most of the stuff people are collecting has been out for 10, 20, 30 years now haha. There's just no logic in complaining about price increases when we are dealing with limited collectables - especially the most popular games and franchises
Game chasing does s*x nowadays, but collecting remains a great (though pricy) hobby, which is both a good and a bad thing. In the end, collecting what really matters to you keeps it fun.
Old Collector from Europe here. The first real hit on prices where 2014. The Smartphone Age (Pricelooking) destroyed the rest. Friend of me had a reseller-shop which he closed 2020, where his main problem was to buy stuff cheap because of private persons which want ebay/store prices for their games. There was no money to make anymore (buying and reselling). I stopped collecting 2016 because of unreasonable prices and storage problems.
Oh man much has changed. I started 25 years ago and purchased most of my collection (mostly old pc games 80s/90s) 15 years ago, and paid usually an average price of 2-3 € per Game. I never would have estimated the crazy prices today …
A big problem I noticed is pawn shops thrift stores. Pawn shops give people a dollar for each game you have but price them at eBay prices. Same with thrift stores like goodwill people donate them for free but put them on ebay and charge insane shipping.
Very interesting take, you made a lot of good points. Don’t hate the players, hate the game 😂 I started collecting in 2017, so by then, most people I talked to in the hobby told me I was late to the party in terms of finding great deals. I tried thrifting, but felt like it was always games I had no interest in, and when they were, they were the same price as buying them at Game stores or online….so I don’t do it anymore. eBay and retro game stores on my area are my go to options, and that’s ok for the most part. I think my frustration stems from the sense that people who don’t play games are flooding the hobby nowadays, which stinks, but it is what it is. I will still collect because I love video games in general. Great vid!
You hit the nail on the head Greg. Great video.
Congrats on hitting 5k subs! 🙌
Great vid.
“MSRP” is a form of price manipulation.
Also, $1.00 in 1985 is $2.59 in 2021. So, a new game would sell for around $155.47 in today’s dollars at launch.
You know you can't ever mention inflation when talking about video game prices! That doesn't exist!
You basically hit on every single relevant point that any collector needs to understand. Well done video! For further expansion on the points you covered, people could watch Reserved investments. His understanding of how nostalgia is one of the biggest factors that affect the collectables industry is informative and on point.
From my point of view, as a video game reseller of 5 plus years, I can verify that it's definitely getting more challenging to find good deals out in the wild. Knowledge is power and most "regular" people have a pretty good intuition that video games are worth something now and it only takes 2 seconds to ebay a price. So as a reseller I'm facing the same buy pressure as collectors, as you mentioned.
I also wonder how many "collectors" are really resellers who present themselves as collectors and are now just butthurt that they can't rake in that free cash like they used to. Free markets are a bitch huh.
Everyone wants what everyone else has. It will always be that way haha👌
This was great and I appreciate the thoroughness of topics discussed.
The prices are the prices. I can't be concerned with what game used to be priced at.
I started truly collecting in April 2020, but I always paid attention to the prices and just bought what I wanted to play immediately.
Because of scarcity and YT being a haven for people discovering new (old) games, I ramped up my buying and sell off some things.
Typical of YT to have 1 or 2 people make a video about "quitting", then a slew of other people "quit" to piggyback off of someone else's success.
My only real issue with pricing is if you go to a game shop and they actively look up eBay prices and try to sell you a game based on that. I've had this happen with a KOF game on 360. Game had a $29 tag, but the guy wanted to charge me $49 and blame it on another employee. That's wrong.
But, yeah, great vid! WE created these prices collectively, so we got to deal with them. Pivot your collecting like Greg said.
Game stores that change the price on you are the absolute worst haha. Especially if they are just going to quote eBay.
If I wanted to pay the eBay price, I could have just stayed home today and bought it on eBay haha.🥴
Really great video and I agree with everything you’re saying. I’m leaning towards walking away from collecting this year as prices are just so high now. I’ve completed my Pokémon game collection and I think it’s time for some down time…at least for now.
Great video, Greg!
Hey I’m a younger gamer than a lot of the retro tubers I’ve seen (24) and just thought I’d give my two cents for what it’s worth.
Until getting more involved with watching the UA-cam videos I really didn’t consider the prices much, they were what they were. I’m interested in experiencing gaming history and others are too. These things have value beyond the monetary or collecting aspects of it which is why I don’t think there’s a bubble that’d burst. The way I looked at it mainly was yes you could get some of these games cheaper before, but if they’re the price of new games all these years later then you know they’re either rare or good and it’s up to us to decide what’s worth to us, and if it isn’t there are usually other ways to experience them in rereleases, ports etc. even if it’s not ideal. If it isn’t worth it, the price will come down eventually.
I’m much more into the gaming side than the hunting side though, my anxieties mean eBay and Amazon honestly are my main ways to get games and I get games that I am interested in playing only. Like you say budgeting and setting boundaries are important as I’ve already gone down the rabbit hole a couple of times in the few years I’ve been collecting and had to course correct myself. Great video and as much as there is a lot of complaining about aspects of game collecting, gaming itself the start of this year alone has been incredible.
I feel like that's how a lot of the younger generation feels about getting into it now. All of the old timers remember days of "games being cheap", but for everyone else who joins the hobby now, there is no memory of that. Like you said, prices are what they are. Many people think that just because something used to be cheaper, it's now unjustifiable to be more expensive (when talking about collectibles). The hobby has grown tremendously these past 2 years alone. Like you said, it's up to us to decide if prices are worth it or not - and if it's not DON'T BUY.
For myself, it really is that simple. Complaining doesn't change anything.
The reason why everyone focuses on the higher end games is becuase its no fun and no adrenaline rush to find the mediocre common games. By definition they are easy to find, so yeah we can just go buy them and collect them. But the fun part for most people in any hobby, is finding that rarity for cheap.
The solution is trying stuff that is overlooked but is appreciated within a niche
For example, Star Fox Adventures is overlooked because it was too different from the other games in the series. You can still find it easily for 20$.
However, the game is appreciated by people that aren't bothered by that difference in jaunra.
I tried it and I liked it a lot, I recommend it to people that like rare games or Adventure games such as Zelda.
For me to enjoy the hobby, collecting shoud be balanced between niche good games and more expensive but also great games
@@antusFireNova Oh yeah I agree. 100%.
MATE! What a breath of fresh air - you eloquently articulated some great opinions on the hobby. For me, collecting remains mostly a personal endeavour that has little influence from outside opinions - I adapt to the market and will often reevaluate my collection as the years go by. Always having fun along the way!
Great appreciate it, man!
And I agree fully. If it ever becomes "not fun", then there's no reason to continue putting yourself through it!
I know that perceiving time gets hazier the older I get, so something that happened in 2012 seems like yesterday, not a decade ago. UA-cam doesn't help, since I can see the same people making the same types of videos, so it's like no time at all has passed. I have some old Paypal receipts that seem unreal now, like a $90 Saturn bundle that came with Lunacy, Albert Odyssey, and five or so other games, but then I have to give it a second to let it dawn on me that 2008 was a long time ago. As you said, I remember people in 2010 saying prices are too high from 2008, and in 2012 from 2010. I think the sharp increase has people a bit off. Seeing Saturn stuff go from $30 to $60 to $100 to over within a few years after years of hovering within +/- $10 of an average has even thrown me for a loop.
That one is a fair complaint. Things did move faster this past year than in the past. Generally what would have taken 5 years took like 2, so everyone who was just kind of passive was really caught off guard I think!
@@GetTheGreg I tried to stay a step ahead by hoovering up what looked to be the next hot system, so SNES games when NES were rising, then PS1 when it was SNES, then Genesis when it was PS1. I'm happy with not getting those last few titles, given how many I was able to get at $50 or less. I think age has a lot to do with it, too. I'm worrying about health insurances and upcoming mortgages and stuff, while in my 20s, I was going crazy on ebay (and to date myself, Circuit City and K B Toys discount bins). A lot of the videos I've seen are people closer to my age.
Keep in mind that buying Saturn games in 2012 is kinda like buying PS3 or xbox 360 games today in terms of 11-13 years after console got abandoned.
So i spent little bit more for games than i did 10 years ago. *shrugs* their just more people, collecting video games. Supply and Demand. I think we going to be fine, cause you can still play the game if you want, digitally.
I think what troubles me is that while yes, there are more gamers than there has been in the past, there’s also more supply. Think about it: we now have like 6 generations of games available. Back 20 years ago, there were only a handful of systems you could even buy stuff for. What’s changed is what Greg brought up in this video: the hunters. I never would run into people who were out in the community who were buying games with zero intention of playing the games. When I go out now? That’s the majority of people I see. That’s not video games becoming more popular. That’s just more people trying to make a buck. It’s the worst part of capitalism creeping into this hobby. At least that’s my 2cents.
@@leeartlee915 Well most people dont want to work for someone else, or a 9 to 5 job, i get that. But also we should look into careers people trying to get into. Most want to be UA-camrs/Twitchers/Pro Gamers.
But realistic jobs, that pay very good amount of money are being overlooked. People are even leaving 6 figures jobs, just to be thrift store/goodwill reseller.
Your average homeless guy makes more in a day than some people make in a week at their job, at major cities.
Weird lil mest up right now. Just waiting to see if someone brings little bit common sense to the world.
As the saying goes "Work Smarter not Harder" but sometimes to get into a Dream Position. You got to put in little bit of "Hard Work"
@@LordsOfSkulls I don’t disagree with anything you said but I’m kinda old school. If you dig ditches, provide hospice care, educate, give therapy, or take away the garbage, I see those as all important vocations. But reselling? What the fuck do they provide the world? Some extra ebay listings? Helping Amazon become even MORE dominate in the world of commerce? Yeah, I’m not in support of that. I will always think lowly of resellers. And the fact that they helped to kinda ruin retro gaming, that just makes me dislike them even more.
@@leeartlee915 I agree, completely, but i do like resellers for 1 thing. They go out and find the stuff, and take time to put it on Ebay. Some people actually put it up for fair prices out their. I dont mind paying someone $10-$20 more, for getting game i couldnt find locally in mint condition. Or finding it in some weird place, and making it available to buy.
I do look at bad resellers who are buying out consoles/ from retail stores, just to sell for $50-$200 as bad resellers.
Also the Sealed Market, that is whole new level of "NFTs/Bad Crypto scam" on Video Game Scene. But i also do find the attraction of having two copies of same game, one being new and sealed, in protective case + grade on it, kinda appealing. And other copy or digital to be used to play. Especially when certain games are going for over anything $1000+. Most money someone should pay for no matter how Rare, should be $500 in my opinion.
Video Games Ment to be played, and not be purchased for "Profit"
@@leeartlee915 yap that the problem, also if you think about, as new generations comes out, older ones are not produced anymore, so its limited amount of inventory/prints for those games.
you said it all and for that you get a like from me. its funny how all those people that complain about prices in video games, turn around and sell it themselves at or above what is considered market value.
That's how it works. There shouldn't be this weird stigma of it being a "bad thing" to get fair market value for your games🤷♂️
Hunting is the real collecting! I found "GOLD" so many times in the past on fleemarkets or in stores which did'nt know what they had (because there the game i bought was not listed on ebay/amazon, where they could compare the prices to....this kind of common, are we talking about). I was always 100 times ahead compared to private resellers and shopkeepers. THAT WAS COLLECTING.
I only really started collecting games this year, all for the PS2 (bought the console this summer). I've now have a small collection of about 25 games of which I've played about 75%. There's honestly so much out there for a good price, heck I just bought the Hitman collection for only six bucks. Some games are ridiculously expensive though, but then I just buy other games that are more affordable / within my current budget.
yeh its just become so much harder which does suck, before i could find a lot of mint stuff on ebay, now everything is either described as mint and is damaged or a fking reseal, the passed few months have just been head ache for me with the amount of returns and head aches. Learning that VGA have graded more fakes than i realized also pisses me off. Luckily I've made good contacts over the years so I can still get good finds from people who rather deal with me than a random on ebay, but for people coming in it must be a fking nightmare at this stage.
Refreshing to find this amongst the sea of negativity. I love collecting, and yes it harder and more expensive but it's still a blast
Great video! Perfectly said 👏 FYI I absolutely love the Mario 64 music in the background it's super nostalgic!
Haha there are a few tracks that really stuck with me over the years!
@@GetTheGreg I agree! That track in your video reminds me of going to Toy's R Us in 1996 and playing Mario 64 for the first time. That track was from the water stages and at the time nothing was even close graphically! Masterpiece!
Don't get me wrong.. I don't like scalpers and I don't like overpaying for games BUT I would much rather collect things that are not only valuable to me but valuable in general. I spend a lot of time playing and collecting and it makes me more proud of it and honestly lots of work and creativity went into these works of art and the good games deserve to have value. Not to mention, when you have to save up to buy one game I find you enjoy them more and are more likely to spend time playing them.
Yeah Greg, you make some really good points in this video. No sarcasm. Just legit kudos. Everyone is different so I can only speak for myself but I’ve been playing video games for over 30 years. As far as being a “collector”, I was never the type to try to own an entire consoles library or go after the rarest of games. I just bought stuff I wanted to play. I’d buy a healthy mix of old stuff and new. And now, the only stuff I buy is modern stuff. The reason? I was never some garage sale hunting, pawn shop prowling, online sniper, type of buyer. I just would pick stuff up as I saw it and then I would keep it. I never flipped shit. Ever. And when I would see something that was choice but I already owned it, I would leave it, with the expectation that someone else who wanted that copy of Earthbound. But as you bring up in this video, the “treasure hunters” made that not feasible. It just spoiled the whole thing for me. And as technology improved, the rationalization to own the physical media became less and less important. But again, as someone who’s been playing and buying video games for 30 years, resellers, flippers, speculators, hoarders, whatever, they’ve just made it not worth it. I’m not as big of a materialist as some but it does make me a little sad that, yeah, the chance of picking up some SNES RPG for $30 is like impossible. Guess that’s what happens when you were able to wonder into a video game store in the late 90s and pick up a CiB Earthbound for $20.
Feel the same things, so agree when people only focused only with negativity with collecting, the so much to explored, so much games to collect..
I wish Retro Rick and people like him would get why some of us despise what he does as this video lays it out. Being a video game hunter is not the same as being a collector/enthusiast. When you spend more time thinking about how much money you can make on eBay then you do about what games you want to play, you are no longer “all about the games”. That’s one of the biggest reasons there has been such backlash on UA-cam against these types of guys. Plus, their whole thing is just kinda gross. I feel like they don’t really add anything to society. “Oh jeez, you find a game for $2 and are gonna sell it for $20 online? You are doing such a service for the world! Thank you for your brave efforts”. I’m like “fuck you. Do something better with your time and volunteer or something”.
Yeah. Seeing prices for various retro games (both new & used) skyrocket because of UA-camrs, Grading companies etc. has me thinking about resorting to piracy to get retro games without paying the high prices these resellers are asking for.
The whole treasure hunting thing is a tried and true from of entertainment (Storage Wars, anyone haha?). I think a lot of people now vicariously do their hunting through these kinds of UA-cam channels.
I don't know him or his channel well at all, but I did see a thumbnail that said "selling everything" or something? If enough people decide to sell out of video games, that *will* help prices come down a bit on some stuff!
@@GetTheGreg honestly I hope it will. It could be better for everyone
@@oriongear2499 That’s what I did. I moved to “acquiring” games through other means than physical media.
@@GetTheGreg Hopefully they will.
I really think investors made it way too much about money than the actual games. That’s the problem. And also it’s weird that if you’re a true game collector why isn’t CIB enough? Why does it have to be sealed? Makes me think people value the cellophane more than the game itself. Wata really elevated the hobby and ruined it at the same time lol if I had to do it all over again I’d only collect CIB
I've always been drawn to sealed games, right from the get-go in 2008 ish. And I can't explain it either. It's always felt much more satisfying to me
Great video I have been collecting for 22 years . The more you get the less everything you have, less space,time and money. I already sold my NES,GC,N64 & DC collections...and keeping just 5 games for each one. There still plenty other collections for me to sell...I don't have the Pharaohs syndrome "bury me with my games" like some collectors claim to have. I want "my games" to get passed on to someone else no matter who gamer or reseller I do not care much anymore. I Also, blame technology, mainstream media articles and social networks for ruining this hobby.
With that said get off my lawn and let me play my games !!!
I started by collecting instruction booklets because I loved the artwork and the graphics. Now the instructions are expensive because most of them got roached, lost or thrown away. I collect Gameboy and the boxes are cardboard so nice copies are getting harder to find. I don't get that people are sending games that you can still buy in a store off to get graded? Its clogging the grading facilities up, they need to have a department dedicated to retro games that concentrates on games that are 10+ years old. How hard is it going to be to find a graded copy of Zelda fo the Nintendo Switch in 10 years time? It's not, they will be tens of thousands of them.
Get the Greg Group Therapy
I just want you to know that I'm listening, and I hear you.
It's probably a little tougher to collect now if your targets are the obscure and expensive, so I guess I could see why someone who thinks the experience is all about getting amazing things for nothing might be discouraged now. Despite everything with reselling, grading, the economy and all of these other factors making things more expensive generally, there's still a ton of inexpensive items out there. I would ask every collector what they are doing this for. If it's to find something cool without a particular expectation, you can still do that and I still find it fulfilling. Effort is part of the process and if the challenge of looking for stuff isn't enjoyable in and of itself, collecting "in the wild" might not be for you. For me, my approach is to be broad. Sometimes I hunt, sometimes I go to retail, ebay, sometimes thrifts...overall, it's fun and I don't feel "loss" just because I don't walk away with some gem.
I have been collecting since the 70's and take time off because of collectors burn out but here I am and I always will be. VIDEO GAMES RULE!!!
I actually agree with that fully. Some months I'll hardly buy any new games but then I almost feel reinvigorated to get hunting and collecting again!
great greg get game greg get
I enjoyed the video transitions on this clip.
Funny thing is ..... people who want CHEAP video games, want them dirt cheap for like $5 lol invest in certain titles, if not be quiet.
Whenever someone says "they used to all be $5 in 2004" I just stop listening hahah
You have a spectacular point about the average selling price for PS1 games that you used to support your overall argument. There is another angle to that argument that many don't consider: From 2005-2009, Prices on the most expensive PS1 games were at, or above 2018-2019 prices. Games that I picked up in college, are only just now exceeding the price I paid for them over a decade ago. People tend to put blinders on, and the ones complaining the loudest are the flipper/scammer collectors that have only been in it for a couple of years and whose only experience is the recent price volatility.
Another thing to consider is the relevance of the console generation. Gen 1-4 prices are a fraction of what they once were. As the older collectors who were young adults age out of the hobby (die of old age) there are fewer and fewer who care about that console generation. In another 10-15 years you will see the prices on even the holy grails of the Master System and Nintendo start to fall off a cliff. In 2 decades Gen 6 will be a forgotten relic as today's young adults put tomorrow's money into Gen 8 and 9.
I think about that too (the aging generations). I don't think NES heavies like sword master or dragon fighter will continue to rise in price. It does feel like we are getting close and close to the inflection point of running out of collectors who actually care about "random expensive game" from that generation. My younger brothers were born in 2000 and outside of grabbing some NES classics like Dragon Warrior and SMB 3, they have no interest in exploring the library of games.
I so loved watching this video. Very well done!
I’d have to agree. People complain a lot about game prices, yet they are looking at certain games such as PS1, SNES, Gamecube etc. and they see all these games shoot up to the hundreds on a lot of these. Unfortunately we are just in a time where these games are old and now everyone wants these, and the demand is higher than the supply. People need to go for other things such as 360, PS3, Wii as examples. Because games like those systems will have their time where they become valuable. Collecting on the cheap is totally possible, collectors just feel they need the expensive shit. Great video!
A lot of people don't want to do any kind of pivots, so then they just sit and complain haha. I don't have any time for that kind of mentality these days! 😬
@@GetTheGreg lol yep! Their loss.
10:34 emotional and thought-provoking topic with CRAZY sax playing in the background 🤣
You have no idea have much background music stresses me out hahah. I just had to say F it and move on😂
Very well made video! I hope more ppl in the community see this
Appreciate it man!
I think the problem is, the market is becoming more streamlined with social media. Everyone is aware now of the value of some of the more popular games. The days of buying vintage games from Grandma for pennies on the dollar are done for the most part.
The people complaining are the ones not willing to adapt to new market conditions.
This was a very balanced and informative video! Appreciate the insights 😊
🤝
Excellent comment on the collector mentality. Kudos!
To me it only seems to suck based on the franchise and console demand specifically with the prices they don’t seem to really even be based on rarity anymore just money (for example the Pokémon games are so common yet they cost up to 200$ while games with limited releases are worth less) Now in terms of collecting sealed game I understand the appeal now it’s a great way of preservation (and a little bit of showing off), but my problem lies with collectors who collect games and hoard them for their value and sell it higher than market value and never play them (I’m specifically talking about collectors who are open about doing that) you can’t assume a random person is doing it. I also agree with what you’d said about the problem with collectors if you think it’s overpriced then don’t buy it that helps the value go up.
Catching someone slipping and getting a great deal is Crazyyyyyyyyyy 🤣
Fuggin’ on!!🔥🔥🔥
Long answer yes...
Throw in the looming spectre of disc rot for retro optical discs and it's no longer worth the money and effort.
This is why I strongly recommend modding older consoles and putting game files on a SD card or hard drive. I did that with my PS2, OG Xbox, Dreamcast, and Gamecube.
Short answer no
Great video, very informative! Keep it up!
ha, good points, I laughed a bunch of times. personally I still enjoy collecting a lot. I just don't find lots of good deals anymore. My local game store gets lots of games I want all the time though, and they take other stuff that's *not video games* as trade-in value, so that always means good fun x)
That's awesome that you can work with your local game store, that always helps a ton. These days I don't even have a lock game store haha, just an overpriced pawn shop that doubles as a game store🥲
@@GetTheGreg I'm really surprised how game stores have been closing around here, as much as the demand has gone up. We did have 3 in town here up until recently, now only 1. (not counting pawn shops and a music store that also buys/sells video games... oh, and Game Stop but that's like mentioning Chucky Cheese when talking about arcades) My only guess is whoever was running them just didn't handle business very well. The one that's still open is still killing it!
Well said
I did see RGT 85's video the other day, and I did have a look at the Sega Saturn library and noticed that 66 CIB games cost more than a $100 and there's even really shitty games like Crow: City of Angels which aren't far off that. When you factor in that North America had 258 games total. That's about 1/4 of the library.
In my opinion, only games that had cardboard boxes are worth getting graded, everything else you can just swap cases/etc to make a mint cib. For example, if i want a mint final fantasy 3 box, i need to buy an actual ff3 box, but if i want a mint final fantasy X, i can just buy a new PS2 game and swap the ffX sheet to make it look mint. Grading switch stuff is insane.
That's very true. When it comes to PS2 and other dvd stuff, compete in box games are hardly ever graded - they are all factory sealed.
Wow, this was a perfect video, hit the nail on the head! Well said, cheers :)
I collect games for me myself and I. I do not buy games for monetary gain or whatever. I collect only games I actually enjoy and want to play from time to time.
Great perspective!!! And video
Video game collecting has absolutely changed . You use to be able to go out and find stacks of cheap games (nes for example) at any garage sale, goodwill, etc. But then resellers and speculators entered the fray and turned what was pretty much a "thrill of the hunt" hobby into essentially pay to play. The thrill is gone because almost everything is available online now, via resellers, for a price and nothing is really left out in the open to find or discover, mostly because resellers wait outside of used stores to scoop up and resell before normal people can find it. And whats worse, places like goodwill themselves started siphoning off games to resell on their website before they can even enter the brick and mortar stores. When a hobby goes from getting fun games for a few bucks to trying to outcompete whoever has a larger credit line or bank account, its dead. Better of emulating or if you want a similar look and tactile feel of inserting carts, repros. At my peak I had well over 1300 games and i've sold them all with the exception of a few because collecting is no longer fun or financially feasible.
I opted for the EverDrive and RetroPie method of collecting.
Another quality video by the man, the myth, the legend.
It's aggravating that thrift stores research and jack up the price. I remember when you could buy Chibi Robo gamecube for $12
Collectors seek to get the titles that all the other collectors are also looking for, the games that has climbed in price, the games that youtubers are talking about, the so called hidden gems and so on. I mean, why not try to find your own hidden gems, instead of following the river flow of things? I have recently started looking into Famicom and found that there are a lot of quality titles in there, which can be picked up for cheap. Also the Wii, PS2, PS3, Xbox360 and so on has tons of collectable titles for cheap.
Oh absolutely. There's just so many different directions to go with it and you'll have fun just through the learning process!
I still found my GameCube for like $16 last year at my local salvation army and there were good games like viewtiful joe complete as well. To say you can't find this stuff anymore is just wrong. Yes it doesn't happen too often anymore. But, if ur persistent eventually you will find something
Agreed fully
Came back to this video because it popped up in my feed. As someone who has collected graded comics as well as Star Wars for a long time. I think the main issue is the grading companies with games. The grading a video game idea is about like the same thing to me as grading VCR tapes. If it’s complete in box why grade it you can longer pull it out and see the original manual & maps etc. I understand grading sealed items but tbh that’s about the only thing in VCR or Games that should be graded. Rest is just a BS way to drive a premium on the market. Happened with modern comics as well and I strongly disagree with that too.
Very good video! We’ll thought out!
I appreciate it!
We love your videos great, you’ve a good way about you and you come across well. Ever thought about making other content relating to completely different topic alongside or as well as gaming/the video game trade?
All well said Greg.....but where is that DarkStone Boi! The true Grail
The consoles have changed over the years. Cartridge games have become rare in the wild and its more wii/xbox 360/ps3 now. This will shift in time.
Selling my old games to buy new games, what are you drunk Greg? Is it even collecting if you don’t end up with every video game?
That's my bad
Ebay dealers will sell used games at 10x what it sold for new. That about says it all for me getting any games for my classic consoles. I'd rather buy downloads for my PS4 rather than go to ebay for them
Great video👍🏼
Psp games I’m into are all $70 plus now and I just bought a psp. I bid on Star Ocean second evolution and got it new for $74 after tax but ppl try to scalp it for $120
My goal is just to collect all sealed games I remember from my past! I do look for playstation 2 games and only 1 ps1 ''cash bash'' It makes me happy to see my past :,)
But games are expensive ''sealed'' and I would go for a German/French/spain language if I have to do so
Going for different language/region is a really great way to get a game for MUCH cheaper!
If you only collect games that start with the letter U, it's still pretty cheap and easy
I'm a Z only kind of guy
U superiority