How Will The State of The Retro Gaming Collecting Hobby Be in 5-10 Years?

Not sure if this has been discussed before....but where do you guys think the retro gaming collecting hobby will go in the near future? With the advent of online downloads & the gradual phasing out of physical copies of games....there doesn't seem to be a good outlook for value of physical copies of old games in the future.

This is already evident in the prices of used PSX games due to downloadable psx games from the PSN store.

Any thoughts?

 

Like always has been, there will be people who:

- Collects games and want mint condition games - price is not an issue
- Collects games, but is happy with regular condition and avoids high prices
- Just want to play a game. Buy the digital version and will be happy.
- Download from the internet for free.

Also, i don't see physical copies going away. Both companies and consumers can benefit from different distribution systems. Music, Movies, Books and Games will still be made available with physical copies. Going all digital is just insane.

 

I agree with Johnny's list. The only possible difference or change I see is that as time goes by, once new games will slowly turn into retro games. Seeing N64/PSone/Saturn games being considered retro is making me feel old though.

 

What some people don't understand is collection is part of Human Nature. We just Collect stuff. When we stopped being Hunters and Gatherers our nature required us to hunt for other things. That's when Man started to get hobbies.

This is why Physical media won't go away.

 

I like a good balance somewhere between physical media and digital. So to that end since I'm a cheap bastard with no room I just use files of old games on a flash cart. (I know. Me having ROMs without carts blah, blah, blah...) Creates happy medium between having digital content storage and physical game media.

 

Perhaps its a bit like vinyl and CD....(physical and digital)......vinyl is specialised and there's a revival...but the amount of it is limited - even though at the time there was millions of vinyl and it was common as muck.......times change......what seems unlikely today becomes the accepted tomorrow......

 

That's me all the way.

 

I've noticed prices going up on things a lot in the retro world. Sure there are plenty of retro games at a decent price, including a good amount of popular sellers... Consider how much easier it was to find Nes, Snes, and N64 games at yard sales and flea markets 5-10 years ago. Games like Pokemon Red's prices have gone up at least 10$, and you do have the occasional asshole who try's to sell a 20$ game for 30$ or 35$ USD. I don't think Killer Instinct Gold was considered rare 5-10 years ago, but it's around 20$ USD here in the US.

I know that the Mega Man nes games are a lot harder to find for Pal regardless of what country you live in. Here in the US Mega Man Nes.. while still rare, is a lot easier to find, and a lot cheaper.
I could sit here all day and list games that have gone up a good deal in price.
Then there are the games that won't go up in price, or if they do it will only be by a little. Games like the Mario/Duck hunt game will always be cheap, as well as Sonic the hedgehog 2 for Genesis, and ect.
I believe my collection as it is now could be worth at least 300$ more in 10 years. Mine mainly consist of Nes, and Snes, though I own total of 8 gamesystems with games.

 

Prices have increased over the years because items are becoming much harder to find in good condition. Basically anything from the 90s, whether it be toys, or games have rocketed up in price. I have so many 90s toys I should probably sell to a collector as I don't collect that stuff.

Previous generation stuff has already started to increase in value. Let alone anything before that.

 

The collection hobby is always at risk because someday you got something that gos up in values and another day it just insanely drop. That is why I stop collecting comic books because they go down in value to much I sell most of them. In video games is just the same I remember a time when neo geo aes just go down in price in the years 99 to 2000 you can found even on ebay a console for less than a $100, the same with some saturn games, now it go up in price again. This is an up-down hobby. That is why I always collect what I like and play and not for what it going to cost in a future. Another example thank god I bought xenoblade when it got release in US now the robbers of gamestop want to charge you for the game used $90 and that is a steal.

 

That's crazy haha, then again Gamestop will rob you blind. You are right, prices do rise up and go down out of nowhere. I got my copy of Mega Man x for 10$ Originally being at least 20-30$ though I think the price has gone back up again. I got that copy from a retro game store not long back, and they use amazon.com to price their games.
I did get another nice steal, apparently some women must have sold her sons old games online because I found Zelda OoT collectors edition complete in box with manual, I payed 30$ for it. I was very surprised when it arrived and I opened it up, the entire thing was in mint condition.

 

Funny u should mention comics. I used to collect them in the 90s when I was in school. Would save up & purchase all those variant copies. Most every one of them are worthless these days.

I sure hope that video games won't follow the path that comics went! I don't collect to profit...but it's nice to see that what we collect either hold their value..or better yet, increases in value over time.

 

Been thinking about this and I cant help but feel that alot of the younger people nowadays will not be interested in our "Classic Consoles" and the collecting/preserving of the games, systems etc. due to the fact most of them will be unfamiliar with them, generally people who were younger in the 80's have grown up with these consoles and they hold a special place in our hearts, the next few generations will be more used to Online, Emulated games through current consoles etc. so they may play the games (some of them) but i dont see them getting excited about the original consoles as much, im sure some will as theirs always people who are interested in the history of a subject but i dont think it will be as mainstream as it is now

just my 2p

 

I think because of "virtual console" and "ps1 classics" style digitally distributed games, more gamers will get into retro gaming than if they weren't offered.

Some teenager today is going to play Earthbound in a few months, find out there's a Mother/Earthbound Zero, and then go down the rabbit hole from there.

 

As a kid who grew up in the 80s, it's understandable how we'd be able to identify with older games & find them charming. I remembered flipping through the pages of gaming magazines & lusting after a Neo Geo...but it was so expensive back then & it was impossible to own with my meager allowance.

I'm wondering what the likelihood is of younger gamers being interested in the older consoles (ie. pre-PS1 era games). Maybe someone who's born after 1995 could weigh in on the discussion.

Would be interesting if we knew the demographics of retro game collectors.

 

I think the issue that none of us can predict, is how "future collectors" will perceive the idea of collecting physical media. I personally believe there is going to be a huge blow to ALL collectors markets, very soon, aside from fine art, classic cars and objects tied to historical events or people. The reason I feel there could be a problem is because collectors have always "aged out" of the market at some point and needed to be replaced by a future collector with the same or slight variation of the same interests. I'll give an example, currently there is a 60+ year old collector who likes the original "Lone Ranger" toys, records, etc. He likes it because he had that stuff when he was a kid. In the case of a collectors market like "Lone Ranger" I think the peak pricing has already come and gone, most 60+ year old's are selling now, not buying or hoarding. BUT, who is the next collector to replace them and buy this stuff? Is it older X'ers or Millennials? It certainly isn't generation Z or those after. There is also the disposable income issue. If young Millenials and people who are Gen Z or later don't have much money to spend, the last thing they will do is "collect things" that increase in value and are scarce. Take a look at the non-existent "collectables" market in places like Poland or Estonia, where people are not starving, nor are they living in the streets and homeless. They do have decent jobs that pay enough cover some entertainment, but not much else beyond daily necessities, let alone a collectables budget. I think that's where the USA is heading, BTW.

I honestly think that collectables in general, which do not have a current "popular iteration" are headed for the land fill, exceptions I think would be things like 12 inch GI Joe's and Super Hero Toys because they have a current "popular iteration". I'd even argue that things like Barbie may actually cease to be collectable in a decade. Sports cards are certainly on the bubble and only the rarest comic books will be worth anything in 20 years, since distribution will eventually be moved to all digital. I feel video games collections will have a value problem beyond 10+ years when the current NES era gamers "age-out", like my "lone ranger" example above. Who is going to come in and buy-out these future 60 years olds? Generation Z and those after will likely have bought very few games on physical mediums by that time and will certainly have been groomed to shun media clutter like DVD's, Blurays, CD's and books etc. Its almost like asking who in the future will collect VHS tapes or CED's (I know there are some VHS movies that have not been reprinted, not so with CED's). I guess it will also depend on if titles get re-released in thier original form on a wide scale. If they do re-release them, the physical game media will become as popular to collect as Capacitance Electronic Discs (CED) are today. Which is not very popular.

 

Looking for a CDX the other day I realized just how finite the number of old gaming hardware is right now.

I cant believe it, it seems like yesterday when there was a big pile of segaCD2s on a clearance bin at walmart for like $50 and I didnt even bother getting one because I was looking for a Saturn and didnt have enough space to bring 2 consoles with me (some context: I'm from Argentina and I was in Orlando at the time). I still remember that and yet it was before I finish elementary school. I also remember some guy on ebay selling like 50 dreamcasts and almost 100 psones, then I check and it was almost 10 years ago.

But somehow I always felt old consoles and games were always going to just be there. Not anymore, these days it's not just about the price, sometimes you just cant find an old console that isn't all beaten up or discolored. You are lucky to find a cart with its now broken and mushy cardboard box because most carts are found laying around in boxes these days, and jewel cases! when was the last time you found one without a crack on it?

All the mint items are already taken, the only way you are getting those is when a collector for some reason needs to sell it, and I dont see as many sales going on, not as many as before.

With all nextgen consoles having digital distribution at launch the number of physical copies is only going to get smaller in the coming years. I mean fuck, when was the last time you saw a boxed PC game? I dont think download cards count though.

 

To me, everything has a definitive life.

An item is only worth what someone will pay, in 10 years time people will probably be collecting everything PS3/XBox 360/Wii if they have a care for it, I don't think they will though. The younger generation these days looks to other interests but who knows.

Our generation will move on, the newer generation probably won't have any care for the NES, Master System and old Atari's.

The high prices now are all coming from people starting to collect and want to regain an area of their childhood/want to collect as a hobby etc. what happens in 5-10 years when the demand drops? Prices drop - that's providing our generation stops collecting which I don't see happening as the games are getting more expensive and taking longer to get. Give it 25 years though when some people are reaching their 50s, 60s, 70s, and I'd expect that these items would lose tremendous value. They aren't a 1-off Bugatti, the hardware will probably deteriorate entirely, cartridge ROM chips will deteriorate, new TV systems won't support any of it - IMO this stuff does have a death date, it's just not in the next 5-10 years. That doesn't mean there won't be someone in 25 years who's waiting for that last mint copy to pop up for sale and will spend tremendous amounts to finish their collection won't exist, there'll just be few of those people.

 

Is this true? The funny thing is that the cart based systems with no moving parts will probably outlast the cd based systems with lasers. Also, exactly how long does ROM last? Certainly longer than CD's, right? Even with a 5 year head start, I would think Gunstar Heroes will work longer than a Saturn version of Radiant Silvergun.

Also, the TV point is kinda moot. If people are still collecting videogames, they'll just turn into TV collectors as well, or after market parts will pop up to fix that issue. Think of the people consolizing MVS's or using VGA adapters on their Dreamcasts.

 

Well Cashconverters in the UK sells tons of good Retro stuff- I walked in and found a Boxed Saturn going for £38 in almost mint condition (alongside a huge amount of other stuff including Boxed Dreamcasts, N64s etc)! Plus they have rows and rows of PS2/PS1 games going for £2 each. It's heaven- screw GAME. This is my new place.