The current and future economic state of the (“classic”) vid

[Kevin Listwan]

The current and future economic state of the (“classic”) video game market.

I am very curious about this. Often I like to watch from the outside as collecting trends rise and fall such as baseball cards, Magic, Pokemon, comic books, beanie babies, Yu-gi-oh, Star Wars toys, old toys, etc.

This got me to thinking how strong is this market we all seems to be in and what are its future prospects. Perhaps the “golden age” of collecting games has just ended or is tapering off.

What is your feelings on this and why, I would love to hear since I am a half-assed collector.

[dave2236]

I think the classic stuff is close to its peak now. pretty soon everyone who wants a classic system will own one and own the games they want. I think NES is topping out right now and the market is flooded with sellers and is short on buyers....EXCEPT in collectors NES items. ie. really rare games and books and boxes.

Over the next 5 years you will see genesis , SNES, and N64 collectors come to the market. A few PSX guys but thats a big collection to handle.

well thats my 2 cents

[Kevin Listwan]

Perhaps, the market has reached it's peak. I am a small time collector who just looks for games that are really cheap or that are just great games so I have a different perspective and that and thats why I am asking.

Although their is a good chance you may be right, but when this next wave of collctors starts up, the SNES, Genesis, N64 kids, I would assume that they would begin here and then start working their way back in time in regards for systems, thus making the market much stronger.

I grew up with the Atari 7800 and NES, later the SNES and GEN, and I really like to get the older systems and games tjust as much as the systems I played.

Do you think collecting will phase out once the CD based systems hit the market( in that, the main stream just doesn't give a damn about it, which is very near), most notably the PSX.

To me a cartridge just feels better.

[Nature Boy]

What's up with eBay lately - anybody monitoring prices and reading this thread care to comment?

eBay's importance is probably greatly exagerated, but if people are still buying games for way more than what they should be then the peak may still be in our future, as opposed to our past.

[christianscott27]

well i think that game collecting differs from pokemon, star wars, beanie babies- those were fad based collectibles that have a finite fan cycle. video games are more like comic books, that is there are new gamers coming into being everyday, and new games as well. there will always be people out there who want that rare complete RPG or the first version of bubble bobble. i think that possibly we're seeing the downward slide of atari era collecting, old schoolers are pushing into their mid 30s now and in general thats the age when people buckle down and give up their obssevive hobbies.

i'm one of those people who collects games from all eras, but most people i think are specificaly trying to get their childhood systems and will not become huge collectors. i also think that the 16 bit and on era is a weaker feild for collecting, so many of the games are sports franchises and other such ho-hum genres. when it became about having the most realistic game instead of the most fun game titles show their age badly. pac man is fun because its pac man but you cant say the same about NHL 97 can you? the only problem with CDs is that they are so much easier to destroy.

[RetroYoungen]

I would like to think that classic gaming will never truly go "out of style" since people who really truly care about those games will both always be around and always be able to program their own games, keeping the hobby fresh. The people who spend that much on any game on eBay will probably go away, but real collectors and creators will never go away.

Oh, and things like comic books have never really gone out of style, I know quite a few people who still collect them, even if just for old times' sake.

...anybody wanna buy some Pogs?

[NE146]

Economic status? ...Unless you're someone who regularly SELLS the stuff, I'm sure you're like me and just like it to be as nice and CHEAPas possible :D

[Darth Vader]

I wouldn't say it has peeked yet, but yeah the NES market is flooded right now. Think positive, the best is yet to come. :)

Summer is usually a better time to buy games anyway on ebay, starting around September and lasting through January that will be much different. The "uneducated" buyer starts hitting ebay hard looking for x-mas gifts for their chlildren and grandchildren.

Danny

[Kevin Listwan]

"well i think that game collecting differs from pokemon, star wars, beanie babies- those were fad based collectibles that have a finite fan cycle. video games are more like comic books, that is there are new gamers coming into being everyday, and new games as well."
-christianscott27


See the comic book market boomed in the late eighties to the mid-nineties and is now, for the most part dead. And Star Wars really wasn't a fad until Lucas flooded the market with new toys a bit prior to the episode I release (brilliant move on his part, tap into the collectiblity of the old toys by remaking them and selling new ones). Also what isn't a "fad collectible" look at baseball card, which have been around for quite some time, that market for the most part is dead as well, except for the super rare or very desirable card, but across the board is weak (but like Star Wars is mainly due to the card companies trying to maximize short term profits, nothing comparable in gaming though).

The only thing that might cause a major dip in the market (which as NE146 pointed out is not necessarily a bad thing, which I agree with) is if a company bought the rights to tons of old pathetic games and remarketed it for an existing system.