Originally Posted by
Bojay1997
Sure you can. Look at all the people scooping up collector's editions and "limited editions" and even just plain old current generation games and keeping them sealed or even having them graded. I was collecting comics for most of the 80s and that's exactly the same thing other collectors were doing with the exception of the grading back then. People were literally walking into the comic store on new release day and buying up multiple copies of every new release and every "limited edition" cover or variant and immediately sealing them up and boxing them and then waiting for the next price guide update so they could cash in. Yes, the cost of a video game is higher, but I knew plenty of people spending $50 or more a week on new comics in the 80s which is the same as $100 a week in 2012 dollars or about two new games. I'm not seeing much difference. It also seems like many more people have access to credit cards nowadays and certainly aren't afraid to rack up massive debts in support of their collecting.
You're right, there probably aren't thousands of copies of most of the early NES titles out there. Of course, there also aren't thousands of collectors looking for them. Most collectors here and elsewhere are perfectly happy with a loose copy or a complete copy or even a minty boxed complete copy. While it only takes two people to run a price up, you can never depend on those two people showing up at any given moment.
Your scenario about these alleged comic collectors looking to spend millions on games is cute, but it's not based in reality. For a totally disinterested collector to walk in and buy games as a pure speculator is far too risky. After all, if what you're claiming is accurate, what would be the potential financial benefit of scooping up what amounts to a tiny handful of games and trying to sell them for premium prices? You can't make millions off just five copies of something regardless of how rare it might be in sealed condition if it's a mass produced item that is available in substantially similar condition (i.e. mint, complete, boxed, etc...) for next to nothing.
You also have the added problem that a lot of collectors collect games because they can play them. It's not like a baseball card or coin where you can see everything the item has to offer even in a sealed case. Batteries can leak, metal can corrode, boxes can get moldy or brown, plastic shrinks and gets brittle and as I noted earlier, video games of the cartridge variety are a really volatile mix of all sorts of reactive materials that can't possibly remain stable over time. Is anyone really going to pay millions for something that won't be around in 75-100 years?
Continuing on your point, what guarantee would these alleged buyers have that another equally wealthy buyer would not only pay more than what they paid for something, but would do so right at the time they are looking to sell? You certainly aren't going to find enough buyers in the current crop of collectors who will spend tens of thousands of dollars on a single game, especially if there is no guarantee they can sell it for more when they move on. While the prices are interesting and generate discussion, they aren't really a reflection of the actual value these games will have over time. The only way to predict that future is to wait it out and see what happens when the NES generation ages just like the 2600 generation did. I'm certainly curious to see how the next few years play out and it seems like the wise path would be to wait and see rather than joining the speculation and risking huge financial losses.
Frankly, this really isn't that personal for me. If anything, I have a huge potential financial upside if your predictions are correct. I have hundreds of mint sealed NES games including a number of black box titles. I also have a lot of disposable income. It doesn't change the fact that I come to collecting with experience, wisdom and common sense. A sealed NES game is not worth tens of thousands of dollars as long as there are readily available copies of the same game simply missing a piece of shrinkwrap that can't be maintained in pristine condition no matter how hard you try 20 years from now (i.e. 50 years after these games were packaged). Comic books and other paper collectibles can be preserved for potentially hundreds of years given proper archival practices, there is no such means of doing so for video games, especially if you're keeping them in a regular suburban home or storage unit.
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