Are rare games now a thing of the past?

[Kitsune Sniper]

Seriously i don't see how reprinting games can be a problem for a collector? Bigger chance to find the game you want and you don't have to pay insane amounts to get it...

Reprints usually have different artwork or lack certain extras. To use Sierra as an example, they printed several copies of many of their games, each one lacking one or two different things. The boxes were -the same-; the contents were not. The only way to tell was usually a sticker or the product/UPC code. It's like getting a Greatest Hits without any indication of it being such.

[norkusa]

Seriously i don't see how reprinting games can be a problem for a collector? Bigger chance to find the game you want and you don't have to pay insane amounts to get it...

Even though it'd never happen, say for example Bandai sees how outrageously high prices are for Stadium Events on Ebay. To take advantage of the situation, they decide to manufacture a small batch of around 1,000 SE carts, 100% identical to the original ones, and sell them for $100 each on their site.

Now on one hand, it'd be great for all the NES collectors out there that don't already own it and don't want to pay ridiculous prices on Ebay for a copy. But if I already did own a copy, I'd be pissed as hell considering I most likely would have paid hundreds of dollars for it and that the rarity + value has now tanked.

Yeah, it's kind of a selfish mentality like Soviet Conscript pointed out, but collectors of anything would feel exactly the same if something similar happened to them in their field.

[cyberfluxor]

If they aren't rare you will see commons going for high prices due to demand. Look at Silent Hill and Final Fantasy 7 right now. They were highly printed and boom, stuff comes out that revives life into the game, but even before that they were still worth more than a $1 like Madden. But I'd hope there'll always be some rare title out there otherwise a consule just won't be difficult to collect for and may lose the interest of newer-generation game collectors.

[Captain Wrong]

Define rare.

[Oobgarm]

Define rare.

rare

(of meat) cooked just slightly.

[mailman187666]

even if there isn't any extremely rare games for current gen systems, that is not going to keep collectors from buying them. There are a bunch of R4s for dreamcast that can sometimes fetch up to $100 every now and again. Just think if there was a huge Gamecube rush and everybody collected for that system. So then you have say 30,000 people that are all looking for a copy of Ikaruga and we all know how often you find that one at the game stores. As all of the people who are ordering thier copies of Ikaruga there are another 10,000 people who hop onto the gamecube bandwagon and want a copy of that game. There are now that many less copies of the game and more of a demand for it. Thus making the value rise. I'd say as an educated guess that Ikaruga is probably either an R2 or R3. Same with Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 for PS2. So many people aren't willing to trade in thier copies of the game, leaving less of a chance to find it for people who don't already have it. Then you have to add in the fact that game eventually get broken lost or permanently stored and forgotten about. These all play a big roll.

[ProgrammingAce]

Namco has come out and said that they will need to sell at least 300,000 copies of a next gen title in order to even break even. If they're not going to sell that many, there's no point in making the game.

Even for smaller developers making smaller titles, Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo still has a minimum requriement before they'll even allow you to start working on the game. If every game out there has a minimum of (for example) 75,000 copies, then you've effectivly killed off half the ratings scale.

I think going into the future there will be far less R4-R8 out there, plenty of R1-R3, and still a few R9-R10 due to contests, giveaways etc.

[rhiohki]

Man, I haven't posted in a while. Been on a gaming hiatus so to speak. Anyway, I just noticed the price in Disgaea drop, so I figured someone on DP would post about.

If they reprint SMT nocturne that will suck, but I still have the sealed LE version.

OFF TOPIC: What happened to the value of Shadow Hearts 1. I remeber seeing this game for like $9.00 used, now gamestop has it at $30? Anyway, back on topic,

Rarity is only one side of the equation (supply). If there is no demand, monetary value doesn't really matter. There are plenty of hard to find games that are worth $6.00. Many of you know this.

I'm sure there is a thread about the value of some of the Turbo Games and SNES games considering the launch of the VC on the WII. Right now there is a Dynastic Hero on ebay sitting with no biters. That game used to command $400+ easy. But I digress

[roushimsx]

Anyway, I just noticed the price in Disgaea drop, so I figured someone on DP would post about.

Wow, must have been another reprint or something, because it was $70 there a few days ago. Either that or they realized that no one wanted to pay $70 for a beat up copy of the game

OFF TOPIC: What happened to the value of Shadow Hearts 1. I remeber seeing this game for like $9.00 used, now gamestop has it at $30?

GameQuestDirect commissioned another print run of it, thank god. I was having a bitch of a time finding a copy in decent shape until they started offering the package deal of the whole trilogy. Now I have all three sitting on my shelf (I just played through the first one a few months ago and I'm looking forward to sitting down with the second sometime in the new year).

[maxlords]

There's a simple solution to this....only buy the games you WANT and don't worry about whether they might be rare Blasphemy, I know, but give it a try.

As for rarity, it has NO bearing on the value. There will always be rare games but this is entirely a discussion about demand and value. Someone mentioned FFVII and Silent Hill earlier...both games with NO rarity but high demand. Many of the higher priced games aren't nearly as rare as you might think, but they have higher demand or they're good games so more people kept them. Think of it this way. Almost everything from PSX on had fairly high print runs. What we have now is more like an inner city orphanage. What you find on the shelf are the games that no one wants and the pawn shops/stores/thrifts (i.e. orphanages) are taking care of them until someone that wants them can adopt them. It's just that no one is getting rid of the SMT: Nocturnes and the Valkyrie Profiles and the Suikoden IIs. And everyone has mostly learned how valuable they are so they sell faster.

There are still just as many as there always were out there....Suikoden II wasn't underprinted, it's just got more demand. It's not rarer than, say, Silent Bomber or Philosoma or whatever, it's just that MORE PEOPLE WANT AND BUY IT. All about demand and what people prefer. I bet all of you would be stunned to see release numbers on most games...way higher than you'd think for most stuff.

And like the Cap'n said, define RARE. Is it print run? Is it demand? Is it scarcity in the wild? Is it how hot the press was when it pressed the disc? Is it that people THINK something is hard to find? This is a FAR more complex subject than you all are giving it credit for I think.
If rarity mattered, I wouldn't be able to sell FFVII for $50 a copy used GH. Simple as that.

[KingCobra]

Supply & Demand will be the new factor only outside of few Proto's, promotional games, Demos ect...

"Rare" = production #'s

I think the days of few hundred cart/Disc base days are over

"Price" is set by Supply & Demand, this is why many of the older stuff has come way down in price over time. Once the true collectors have all thier rares in the collections and the real gamers/players start to sell off the pieces that they've finnally been able to obtain and play and then recycle it, the prices drop hard.

[Flack]

But there are multiple reasons why a game becomes rare. Production numbers are only one of the possible reasons why a game may be rare in the future. For example, it could be more obscure than other games (the Burger King titles, for example). Also, it might become rare because of its price (Steel Battalion, etc). There may also be regional rarities (Japanese-only releases). And don't forget recalls like The Guy Game or the GTA "hot coffee" scandal -- all it'll take is one deal like that for a game to shoot up in price, especially in a few years. Then there are printing variations, errors, misprints, and other production errors that could affect a game's rarity as well.