Original Retail Prices

[Ricochet]

Are there any resources for the original retail prices of games/systems?

If not, does anyone else think there should be?

[Agressivadue]

None that I know of, and yes. Do it.

[jb143]

I don't know it it would be original retail price or not but there are scans of old catalogs out there that could be helpful.

Here's an example of some early ads for game systems you can get prices off of.
http://www.huguesjohnson.com/features/sears_catalog/

[Nescollector]

Saw this in the past, seems very accurate to me (as far as prices I paid)
http://home.comcast.net/~dwtjr3/imgdisplay.png

[j_factor]

Obviously that graph is wrong when it comes to CDi. jb143's link above has a scan that shows the CDi being $599, and that's not even at launch. It also says "save $200!", so maybe it was originally 800 bucks? Wikipedia says "around $700" and it's actually cited, from the New York Times.

[calistarwind]

I could see doing systems just because it would be fun to look at how much a system 10 years ago compares in value to a system now. However game prices fluctuate from store to store even when they first come out. First party titles tend to stay the same for quite some time but third party titles depending on popularity drop pretty fast.

[Push Upstairs]

I'd like to know what the prices are with inflation taken into consideration.

It seems that Channel F equates to (roughly) $645 in today's money. Ouch.

[Spartacus]

I was on a kick awhile ago trying to find every budget PS2 game that originally retailed for 29.99 or less. The PS2 isn't ancient history and I figured it would be fairly simple to do. I quickly discovered that Half.com, Amazon.com and IGN.com provided MSRP's for practically every title. Unfortunately, these MSRP's were not accurate. I think they reflected discounting of the original MSRP over time as titles got older. In Amazon's case, I suspected that they were often completely bogus. In fact I've read that Amazon is often accused of using bogus MSRP's.

I did get some help at http://www.vgrebirth.org/
Nice site, but MSRP's are often missing for many titles.

Searching Google news for Publisher release blurbs was the most accurate way, but it was time consuming and often fruitless.

I stumbled onto http://www.jjgames.com/ and found it covered a reasonably broad swath of titles and seemed to match up pretty good with the Publisher release blurbs I could Google.

Some other sites that seemed to have reasonably accurate MSRP's were...
http://search.a1books.com/greet/gamesGreet/Games/12
and..
http://www.bookpriceshop.com/exec/0/Search/Products?sectionid=7&keyword=Aqua+Aqua+&submit.x=6&submit.y=8
I used them in an attempt to double and triple check veracity


In the end though, I was rather suprised at how difficult it was to find the original MSRP's for a library as current as the PS2. If you’re interested in finding MSRP's for even older titles, I think you'll have your work cut out for you. I'm not trying to discourage you, I'm just basing this on my experience.

[SPAZ-12]

I'd like to know what the prices are with inflation taken into consideration.

It seems that Channel F equates to (roughly) $645 in today's money. Ouch.

The page that nesCollector got that graph from also has a graph of the prices with inflation taken into account (circa 2006).

http://curmudgeongamer.com/2006/05/history-of-console-prices-or-500-aint.html

[bacteria]

When the Nintendo N64 was released, initial prices were considerably higher for the console for a short while. As I recall, in the UK, on release, it was £375 and no game, then after a couple of months or less the prices dropped. to just over half that. It annoyed a lot of early takers!

[Rob2600]

When the Nintendo N64 was released, initial prices were considerably higher for the console for a short while.

The N64 was $199 at Toys R Us in the U.S. from day one.

Also, I remember the Sega Genesis costing more than $190 at launch. I think it was $250. The price was a little higher than the TurboGrafx-16.

[jb143]

I could see doing systems just because it would be fun to look at how much a system 10 years ago compares in value to a system now. However game prices fluctuate from store to store even when they first come out. First party titles tend to stay the same for quite some time but third party titles depending on popularity drop pretty fast.

What we would be looking for though would be the manufacturer's original suggested retail price. That wouldn't fluctuate from store to store and should be very close to actual launch price. I seem to recall some companies (probably Nintendo) setting the prices and the stores weren't allowed to deviate from that. Does anyone know it's I'm remembering right or am I just making that up?

[Gabriel]

The N64 was $199 at Toys R Us in the U.S. from day one.


It was $249.99 + tax from day one and for at least 6 months afterwards. I still remember buying that festering piece of shit. I might still have the godforsaken receipt in one of my old records boxes.

[Rob2600]

It was $249.99 + tax from day one and for at least 6 months afterwards. I still remember buying that festering piece of shit. I might still have the godforsaken receipt in one of my old records boxes.

Then you got ripped off. In NJ, the N64 was $199.99 at launch. Super Mario 64 was an additional $59.99.

[j_factor]

When Peter Main announced (http://www.gamezero.com/team-0/whats_new/past/nintendo_64_delay.html)* the N64 launch, its price was given as "under $250". That E3, the launch price was reiterated as $249. However, at the same E3, both Playstation and Saturn announced price drops to $199. In August, Nintendo announced a new price of $199, and moved the launch date forward by one day (in order to have it on a Sunday, they said they didn't want kids skipping school to get it). Then some stores broke the street date. The MSRP on Super Mario 64 was actually $69.99, but some stores were selling it at a lower price.

* I love how he says they have no intention of "rushing" too many games out. True to their word, N64 didn't have a third game until over a month after its launch, and ended up with a grand total of 12 games for 1996. I guess they met their goal. LOL

[Rob2600]

N64 didn't have a third game until over a month after its launch, and ended up with a grand total of 12 games for 1996. ... LOL

In the U.S., the N64 only had eight games out in 1996:

Super Mario 64
Pilotwings 64
Cruis'n USA
Killer Instinct Gold
Mortal Kombat Trilogy
Wave Race 64
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
Wayne Gretzky 3D Kockey

To be fair though, the N64 was only out for three months in the U.S., not the entire year...and two of those games - Super Mario 64 and Wave Race 64 - are amazing, timeless classics.

(And at least the rest were solid at the time...not one outright stinker in the bunch.)

[j_factor]

In the U.S., the N64 only had eight games out in 1996:

Oops. The number 12 came from an article I found on the launch of the system, and named an additional 10 titles scheduled for 1996. Obviously a few got pushed back.


To be fair though, the N64 was only out for three months in the U.S., not the entire year

Well, yeah, but that's how most systems launch. Eight games in a system's first calendar year (or launch to first holiday period, however you wish to phrase it) is terrible. The next console launch after N64 had more than twice as many games available on day one than N64 had from its launch to the end of the year. And I don't recall the exact launch day lineup of the Playstation, but the Playstation '95 lineup undoubtedly trounces the N64's '96 lineup, and both systems launched in September. Same goes for Saturn if you recognize its official launch as its launch.

[RPG_Fanatic]

If you check old EGM's they had big ads from EB that had a ton of original pricing. They usually ran Oct thru Jan. issues.

[duffmanth]

Wikipedia has some good info. depending on what you're looking for.