Something I've noticed for a while is that the original Playstation is always dirt cheap on ebay. Even decent bundles with controllers and games go for very little money. Why is that, especially compared to other consoles of that gen (N64/Saturn)? Is it because it was the most successful and therefore most people already have/had it? According to wikipedia it had over 100 million units sold worldwide, compared to 33 million N64 and 9.5 million Saturns.
100+ million PS1s, plus 100+ million PS2s, plus however many PS3s that all play PS1 games (And to save someone else the time, yes, all PS3s play PS1 games). That's a lot of units.
Probably the quantity of consoles that were sold. In Japan however, the PSone version is hard to find for anywhere near as cheap as it goes for in the West. I often see bundles with the screen selling for over $150
It being successful and having a large number out in the wild could be a factor. Not to mention that there are also plenty of PS2s out there, making having the original just for playing games even less important.
Hm, I bought one in 2012 from the Ikebukuro Super Potato of all places. It was an extremely clean PSone for ¥4000 with controller and AV cables, and they had like six others to choose from in various conditions and prices... Didn't see any with the LCD screen, however.
That is partly the reason but the main one I think is that the nostalgia for it just hasn't kicked in yet. Remember that once upon a time the same deals could be had for the NES.
I think it's a combination of high supply and low demand. Like others have said, if you have a PS2 or PS3, then you can already play PS1 games. Games are really cheap too, except for a few of the rarer titles. I think collectors are not very interested in PS1, though I couldn't say why. I think that will probably change in the near future. I already have 3 consoles (including an NTSC-J model) and a bunch of games, so I think I'm covered. There are a few Japan exclusives I'd like to own, though.
Exactly. But i think the emulation aspect helps as well, specially when it actually make the games look better.
It's cause a great portion of the ps1 games are of casual and average fair. Even though the 64 didn't do as well it had quite a lot of good games for a small library. Ps1 has a ton of games but a good chunk are extremely forgettable and considering that it was during the time when 3d was barely becoming standard most of the graphics are horrid to look at. Also as mentioned before if you own a ps2 or ps3 it's kinda pointless to own a ps1 unless you are trying to use accessories like the link cable or possibly a mod chip.
On the other hand, I think there is an unusually high demand (and accompanying high price) for certain consoles that are also incredibly common.
As stated before it's due to the extremely high supply. I'd like to say it's low demand as well, but I'm not 100% convinced on it. It may be low demand relative to the high supply, but some of the rarer PS1 consoles have reached some pretty high prices, which leads me to believe there is a good amount of demand for PS1, just not the console that everyone owns 18 of already. If there was very low demand I would guess even the rarer consoles wouldn't fetch that much money.
Usually I've seen the screens themselves go for about $50, and the PSone in the US is only slightly harder to find than the PSX (big grey, not the media center PS2) model. I think it could be that a lot of families bought it (and the N64, which is also incredibly cheap to find) and then sold/donated it when they bought a PS2.
They're common as dirt around here, in fact they are so numerous I think they even started using them as bricks to build new housing in certain parts.
