why have prices increased so much for old video games?

[gbpxl]

Is it because children of the 80s and 90s only have video games to remember as far as toys that are still functional? Boomers have cars, comics, and baseball cards, gen x/millenials have video games and, I guess, Pokemon cards?

There's nothing else I really collect to be honest so it's easy to see why prices are what they are, but good God. $2,000+ for Scuptor's Cut. $400 for Stunt Racer. as someone who wants to save money for a house/retirement, I can't justify spending over $200 on a video game. I don't know who the CEOs are that are causing prices to have skyrocketed but this has become a rich man's hobby over night.

[fluid_matrix]

Is it because children of the 80s and 90s only have video games to remember as far as toys that are still functional? Boomers have cars, comics, and baseball cards, gen x/millenials have video games and, I guess, Pokemon cards?

There's nothing else I really collect to be honest so it's easy to see why prices are what they are, but good God. $2,000+ for Scuptor's Cut. $400 for Stunt Racer. as someone who wants to save money for a house/retirement, I can't justify spending over $200 on a video game. I don't know who the CEOs are that are causing prices to have skyrocketed but this has become a rich man's hobby over night.

It all comes down to people wanting to relive their childhood and/or buy the things they didn't have or couldn't afford when they were kids. They all have jobs now and can afford to have hobbies.

[Aussie2B]

There are plenty of other hobbies related to childhood nostalgia that our generation collects for, like people who buy tons of DVDs and BRs and such of shows and movies they watched as a kid.

Retro games have increased in price because they're only getting older, and there's a finite quantity of them (which is only going to decrease too). Meanwhile, the gaming populace is only growing, and collectors want to own more than they did as children, so the current demand doesn't match the demand when these games were new on store shelves. You've also got widespread information on retro games, so more and more people learn about hidden gems via Youtube videos and what have you and then jump on eBay to grab their own copy. Rarities are also determined in time, hence why rare rental exclusives like Sculptor's Cut and Stunt Racer shoot up in price. And then you've got modern day Nintendo, which makes nostalgia a central part of their marketing. So there's a whole bunch of different factors, and this isn't even a comprehensive list.

[Greg2600]

Have they? I think prices have come down on a lot of them from the last several years.

[Natty Bumppo]

Tulipmania has always existed in one form or another.

[Koa Zo]

Have they? I think prices have come down on a lot of them from the last several years.
Agreed. I think prices are approaching an accelerating decline across the board, with exceptions of course.
Things are all over the place really with spikes and blips, but form my sales and buying experience over the past 15 years I'm seeing a decline in prices. In the past couple years Im getting plenty of JPN PS and PS2 games for $10-20 where they used to be $20-40+ not long before. And some PS1 odds and ends like UK Bishi Bashi Special mint for $45 where I'd previously been seeing it for 70-100+

It just depends on what you're looking for. If you're going for the hottest recently media highlighted retro game, then sure the price is probably at a spike. There's tons to dig into for the $10-50 range> Heck, Pururin With Shape Up Girl (Shieipu Up Garuza) is regularly on US Amazon for $30-50, where just a few years ago sellers were trying to get $150-400 for it. I recently got Korokoro Post Nin for $70, which is just alright, but better then the $100+ being asked for years. Kaettekita Cyborg Kuro-Chan for $50 was bargain a year ago, I think it's available even lower now. I do wish I'd grabbed Konami's Gegege no Kitarou: Gyakushuu! Youma Daikessen for the $100 it was going for a handful of years ago, as sellers are asking $280 - $975 presently lol.
On DS I just got Futari wa Precure Max Hearts Danzen for $16 shipped.
There's tons of fun old games at affordable prices.

[Aussie2B]

From my experience, the import market and the market for domestic games have been following different courses. It seems to me that imports, on the whole, have only dropped as Western accessibility to them has increased. With domestic games, it's been the opposite. Availability has only decreased. Nobody cared much about NES, SNES, etc. in the early 00s, so people were dumping their systems and games in droves. Now more and more collectors are holding on to their copies, keeping them from circulating in the market, and people who do want to sell now see games as collectibles and try to get top dollar for them.

[gbpxl]

also dumbasses like me accidently clicking 'accept offer' on eBay when I meant to submit another counteroffer. it was at least 50% higher than what I wanted to spend. oops.

[Gameguy]

Prices started to increase significantly for old games because modern games started to become mediocre instead of mind-blowing advancement like with previous generations(people going nuts for the PS1 over 16-bit, then the PS2 over the PS1), people went back to older games instead. This was following the PS2. If any prices are starting to go down it's because the novelty of these older games are wearing off again and people are getting bored with them, it's the same reason why people started dumping them off cheap to begin with.

[bb_hood]

but good God. $2,000+ for Scuptor's Cut. $400 for Stunt Racer. as someone who wants to save money for a house/retirement, I can't justify spending over $200 on a video game. I don't know who the CEOs are that are causing prices to have skyrocketed but this has become a rich man's hobby over night.

You single out two of the rarest games for that system and you complain about them being expensive. So yeah, if you have to own the rarest video games and you want them shipped to your house you can expect to pay something substantial. The idea that some goofball CEO billionare is manipulating the vintage video game market is ridiculous. People have been hardcore seeking out and collecting video games for like 30 years now; so you just cant show up late to the party and expect to find stuff for what you want to pay.

[Slate]

Collecting's a lot more popular than it was from 2003-2008. In 2004/2005 I bought a working Virtual Boy on eBay with 3 games, a controller and the optional power adapter just for $50 (not counting shipping if I recall right) and I thought THAT was expensive.

- Austin

[WulfeLuer]

I think OP was thinking more that some CEOs are throwing money at the games they want, and thereby raising prices the old fashioned way instead of relatively convoluted manipulation.

The retro gaming market has always been pretty volatile, with all sorts of factors involved. A not very comprehensive list would include Ebay making instant buying for your goodies a thing, as well as facilitating and exacerbating shenanigans like price gouging, speculation, and bizarre spot prices. Another is that what used to be a thing for kids and nerds is slowly (or not so slowly) becoming mainstream and worse, trendy. Trendiness adds a whole new layer of insanity to things, almost like weaponized ADD with hints of bipolar disorder. One final factor that a lot of people miss is that (with certain exceptions), retro gaming has a relatively cheap and simple buy-in; most other hobbies require something like $200 (for cheap starter stuff) plus time and facilities to assemble your new obsession, a retro console and a couple of games for it can be nabbed for under $100, plus maybe an output adapter for your TV. This creates easy entry, and noobs plus money equals how the hell did that game's price start hopping around like a coked up Gollum?

[gbpxl]

You single out two of the rarest games for that system and you complain about them being expensive. So yeah, if you have to own the rarest video games and you want them shipped to your house you can expect to pay something substantial. The idea that some goofball CEO billionare is manipulating the vintage video game market is ridiculous. People have been hardcore seeking out and collecting video games for like 30 years now; so you just cant show up late to the party and expect to find stuff for what you want to pay.
I've been buying vintage video games as long as I've been old enough to work, so since around 2005- I wouldn't consider that "late to the party" considering that the collecting craze is generally accepted to have kicked off around 2011-2013. And I remember looking at Sculptor's Cut on PriceCharting.com not long ago and seeing it at $100-200 loose and thinking "man that's crazy, I'm just gonna hold off for now" and then next time I look, it's at least twice that price loose, and twice what it was going for previously for CIB.

those aren't the only two games I've noticed either. Just because I don't list off 80 different games doesn't mean I looked at price trends for only two games. Some others that come to mind- Mega Man 5. Probably got it for 20-35 in the mid 2000s, now it sells for around 80 typically. The Pokemon games CIB went up a lot as well

[Aussie2B]

When it comes to rare releases, you're already late to the party if you're not buying them while the system is still alive or immediately after its death. With games with limited availability like Sculptor's Cut, late releases like Mega Man 5, and CIB copies of games with commonly thrown away and easily damaged packaging, you gotta get in on them quick if you want the lowest price possible, short of getting lucky. Waiting on them, hoping for a decrease in value, is almost always going to be a bad idea.