Where do you see the value of video games at in the future?

[VG_Maniac]

I was thinking about how much games are currently worth, and I was pondering over whether they will continue to go up in value as the years go by, or if they will decrease in value. Will a game (let's say, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!) that's worth around $10 now, be worth $40 in 20 years, or will it drop in value and sell for only $1 or $2? Will the value of someone's collection double over the next couple of decades, or will it be cut in half? Where do you personally see the overall value of video games going in the future...up or down?

[The 1 2 P]

As discussed in another thread for sealed games, the value for sealed games from the 16 bit gen and up has been going down substancially(barring a few exceptions like Chrono Trigger). Loose games will go down too except for the rarer in demand titles.

As for your analogy, I can't see a loose Mike Tyson cart going for $40 twenty years from now. Around here people who list it for more than $20 never sell it and you can sometimes find them for $3-6 each. Demand and availibility will be the key factors in determining what games move up or down(in value) in the future.

[izarate]

I think that value will go down over the next decades. With digital distribution and the ROM kiddie generation few people will care about physical copies. At best they would retain the same value they have now.

[skaar]

Watch Back to the Future II - that one shop will set all prices in the future. Someone have a frame grab or two to check some pricing?

[Clownzilla]

Emulators have destroyed the potential value of the vast majority of games. Although, those same emulators have vastly increased the interest of the retro gaming hobby. So I guess it's a double edged sword.

[otaku]

well as time goes by and games are destroyed, lost, die etc they will be more expensive assuming people want them. I mean think about buying a dreamcast or 360 10-20 years from now with all the ones that are killing over and consider how hard parts will be to find. And further imagine the really old systems and games 20 years from now.

[TheRealist50]

I will post my answer to this question in 20 years.

[ryborg]

I think the economy has a lot to do with it too. Discerning collectors, college kids, and families just don't have the money to throw away on games if they're struggling to pay their bills. If the economy rebounds, I can see sales jumping a bit. It'll never be the way it was 8-10 years ago, but I don't think the value of classic games are doomed simply because of the Virtual Console et al.

[Bojay1997]

I think there may be slow growth in prices of truly rare or really high grade stuff. The games that were produced in the millions, however, that are readily available in complete condition and have been available in emulation and re-releases will probably sharply decline in value. As I have stated in other threads, I believe there has been a lot of artificial price boosting and manipulation by a handful of Ebay resellers who have made some fairly common games seem very valuable. This economic downturn may have long-term impacts as people may change how they spend their money and people may be far less willing to ring up huge credit card debt or spend large amounts of their income on collectibles, especially when you can essentially play the same game for a few dollars as a download.

The fact that millions of people have gone from owning large homes to renting apartments or smaller homes makes the possibility of storing large amounts of stuff more of a luxury as well. I think overall, some items will maintain their value, rare stuff will go up and the vast majority of games and consoles will be next to worthless. That's how it is in many recorded media based hobbies like record collecting which have a far more established history than video game collecting.

[Tupin]

Watch Back to the Future II - that one shop will set all prices in the future. Someone have a frame grab or two to check some pricing?

Can't read the prices, but it gives a great insight to what people in the future like from the past, specifically, crappy LJN games and Burgertime.

[FxMercenary]

The prices for games will continue to rise.

Just like the current people entering their mid-life crises buy motorcycles, and record players, people that were kids in the late 80s early 90s will enter their mid-life crisis in about 10-20 years.

They will want what they used to have, so hang on to your games.

[Bojay1997]

The prices for games will continue to rise.

Just like the current people entering their mid-life crises buy motorcycles, and record players, people that were kids in the late 80s early 90s will enter their mid-life crisis in about 10-20 years.

They will want what they used to have, so hang on to your games.

Many of those kids have already reached middle age or at least their early to mid-30s which is the first bump of heavy disposable income in life, the second typically being after the kids graduate college but pre-retirement. I think that's one reason we have seen the value of NES stuff rise significantly in the past few years (although again, not to the levels you see some people on Ebay trying to sell stuff for) while older classic stuff has dropped in value. People collect what they remember and late 80s and early 90s kids are not necessarily going to be as interested in stuff from before they got into video games. On the other hand, the fact that many kids grew up with a collecting mentality with comic books, baseball cards, etc... all having assigned values and price guides probably means a lot more video games from the NES and later generations were saved and kept in nicer condition than earlier stuff. Ultimately, that means more supply and lower prices.

[Rickstilwell1]

The prices for games will continue to rise.

Just like the current people entering their mid-life crises buy motorcycles, and record players, people that were kids in the late 80s early 90s will enter their mid-life crisis in about 10-20 years.

They will want what they used to have, so hang on to your games.

I missed my real copies six months after I sold my retro games. I was 19 then, thinking that owning a laptop would be so much better.

I'm lucky that I couldn't spend more than six months without my real copies of old games. Or else it would have probably been harder to get them all back in better condition again. Some of those original systems were showing wear anyway though, so I don't think it was a really terrible move. The new stuff I bought off ebay worked better and I even got some of the exact same copies of things back from the local game store I traded them in at. They sat in there for up to a year and never sold, like my Game Boy Pocket and a few of the CIB games I traded in with it.

[Haoie]

Don't collect games for resale. Simple as that.

[Cryomancer]

I see the value of games in the future exactly where I see them now, in the good times you have playing them.

I really don't think they will be a viable "investment" within one person's lifetime at all.

[XYXZYZ]

In 2020, a SMB/Duck Hunt cart will go for $35,000.00. Just a little less than the hourly minimum wage.

[kaedesdisciple]

I see the value of games in the future exactly where I see them now, in the good times you have playing them.

I really don't think they will be a viable "investment" within one person's lifetime at all.

THIS

I don't even start to think about the value of the games until I want to start doing a little shuffling/re-focusing of my collection (coming again soon, btw). I'll look up some fair prices for things I don't want anymore and sell them for that, end of story. I'm not going to sit and speculate that maybe I'll get a bit more if I wait another 6 months to a year.

[crom]

just like cards and comics the prices will go down but probably more so...

I never was arround to see hank arron or babe ruth play but I can sure as hell appreciate one of their baseball cards, I think most ppl could...

I never was around for the odessey, I can appreciate it, I wouldnt go out of my way to get one, and I think most ppl are the same...

so there you have it... systems will hold no value in the future

[jjgames]

First off I don't think you should collect games to make money. Collect them because you enjoy it.

That being said, I do think some games will go up in value quite a bit from where they are now. Some of that will be inflation which just makes stuff more expensive. But I think it will be a popular collectors item like comics and baseball cards are now. Regular games that have millions of copies won't all of a sudden be really expensive, but games that are rare and sought after will increase in value.

Just like comic books and cards, most will not be worth much but there will be some that are very expensive. Look at the difference between top card and comic prices today vs the most expensive video games. Games have a long ways to go to even get close.

[jdc]

Remember, not all people are rabid videogame collectors. Also, we're living in a time where the average person thinks out of their wallet, non-collectors and collectors alike. There is a trend towards increasing cheapness....disguised as thrift. People want everything for the lowest price, which is why Walmart, Ebay, Craigslist and Kijiji are popular.....and have managed to destroy the perceived value of everything. You might have that rare mint title, but not many are willing to give you what its true value may be. They want it "for a really good deal".....which is becoming the most irritating catchphrase of this decade. Even though not being able to afford it, people want to own everything....but don't want to pay true value for it anymore. The collecting of anything for future financial gain isn't a wise prospect anymore. Just ask my collection of rare mint comic books. Pretty sad when you can't sell a mint complete Star Wars series. Might as well let my kid read them.