Are PC games harder to find?

[Erik_Twice]

Taken from another thread. Are old PC games harder to find? What are your experiences with it?

I think this is and isn't the case. While I can find cartridges in pawn shops, bix box era games tend to be rarish and even though it was hugely popular I don't see Commodore games in them. Finding them on the internet isn't too hard, specially since the games tend to be in far better shape than consoles' and often complete.

What do you think about it?

[sabrage]

Depends on the game.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Go to Goodwill or a similar thrift store. You will find tons of DOS and Win 95/98 games. I assume a lot of people discard these because they mistakenly believe they won't run on modern computers. Just yesterday I picked up StarCraft for a buck.

Now non-Windows games are much harder to find. I've never found Commodore 64 games outside of the internet and random craigslist people.

[BoringSupreez]

In thrift stores, PC games from all eras are easier fr me to find than console games. New, it's hard to find a good selection except online.

[KDub]

I've rarely ever seen a classic computer game (outside of shovel ware) in the wild. I think most retail shops don't want to bother selling them fearing the stigma that they won't run or have some sort of old DRM on them anyway. Probably the same idea is in the average consumer so they just toss them instead of donate them or try and sell them.

[J T]

I think a lot of people may have thrown out their old software when the hardware updated. A lot of people didn't know what to do with their old floppy discs when the fully upgraded to CD-rom, DVD-rom, etc. so they just trashed their old stuff.

[Nemoide]

This is a broad interpretation of "PC" but I've only ever seen Apple II games for sale at one place. I assume most folks threw out their floppies.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

I think a lot of people may have thrown out their old software when the hardware updated. A lot of people didn't know what to do with their old floppy discs when the fully upgraded to CD-rom, DVD-rom, etc. so they just trashed their old stuff.

Yeah, unlike console games, I feel a lot of people just trashed their old PC games.

I still see older PC games in Goodwill from time to time but I've never found a game store that carried them.

[BoringSupreez]

I think a lot of people may have thrown out their old software when the hardware updated. A lot of people didn't know what to do with their old floppy discs when the fully upgraded to CD-rom, DVD-rom, etc. so they just trashed their old stuff.

Yeah, unlike console games, I feel a lot of people just trashed their old PC games.

I still see older PC games in Goodwill from time to time but I've never found a game store that carried them.

It's because of piracy, especially with older PC games that install the entire game to the drive and don't require that the disc be in the machine to play.

[Menegrothx]

Sure you can at times find common stuff from the 1990s (CD games that are compatible with modern computers), and many classic PC games like Diablo 2, Deus Ex, Fallout and Warcraft 3 are still being sold in game stores (atleast in the form of compliation discs), but good luck trying to find something more rare or older. For example Dragon32/64 or MSX stuff vs 32X or 3DO.
Even games that arent that old can be quite hard to find CIB, like Deus Ex or System Shock 2 (maybe not the best possible examples). The original big boxes and manuals, not just the jewel cases.