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I think you will see retro hunting opportunities continue to go away as long as the demand and exposure from the following happens:

1. Big Bang Theory / Geek Culture

This rise coinciding with the generation of NES players being adults with disposable income = a lot of demand.

2. Storage Wars

Junk = $$$ has been perpetuated by numerous television shows. As more people get exposure to them, perception changes. This will only get worse.

3. AVGN/YouTube/Retroware

This group (which I'm a big fan of) targets existing gamers and can turn them into retro gamers. I noticed this from the TooManyGames convention. A ton of new retro gamers sifting through NES games and carrying around Retron systems. Keep in mind, I have no issue with this - people can enjoy whatever they would like. This increased interest affects demand though.

In this current economy it is very challenge for B&M stores to stay in business, and overall when you have that kind of overhead, you need to expect higher prices. Anyone that goes into a retro store and scoffs needs to understand economics. If something is grossly overpriced - so be it - it is their inventory that will sit. If they are not educated to their business they'll eventually go out of business anyway.

retrosportsgamer wrote:
In this current economy it is very challenge for B&M stores to stay in business, and overall when you have that kind of overhead, you need to expect higher prices. Anyone that goes into a retro store and scoffs needs to understand economics. If something is grossly overpriced - so be it - it is their inventory that will sit. If they are not educated to their business they'll eventually go out of business anyway.

I'd think that retro game stores can make a ton more money in buying games cheaply and selling at market value compared to a company like Gamestop since retro game prices are relatively stable as a whole and tend to go up, not down. They don't have to offer $30 for a newer title that will be sold for $15 in a month or two...they can offer $2-$3 for a cart that regularly sells for $6-$8 and probably know that even if it sits for a year, they will eventually make money on it.

MrPopo wrote:

Forlorn Drifter wrote:One of the bigger problems right now are hipsters.

Hipsters and El Niño, they're to blame for everything.

Global Warming is a lie, but Hipsters are real

dsheinem wrote:

retrosportsgamer wrote:
In this current economy it is very challenge for B&M stores to stay in business, and overall when you have that kind of overhead, you need to expect higher prices. Anyone that goes into a retro store and scoffs needs to understand economics. If something is grossly overpriced - so be it - it is their inventory that will sit. If they are not educated to their business they'll eventually go out of business anyway.

I'd think that retro game stores can make a ton more money in buying games cheaply and selling at market value compared to a company like Gamestop since retro game prices are relatively stable as a whole and tend to go up, not down. They don't have to offer $30 for a newer title that will be sold for $15 in a month or two...they can offer $2-$3 for a cart that regularly sells for $6-$8 and probably know that even if it sits for a year, they will eventually make money on it.

I agree that this model can work, but I think the companies most successful with it operate online.

retrosportsgamer wrote:I agree that this model can work, but I think the companies most successful with it operate online.

True, but there's also really no need to subscribe to it even there. If a business is able to comfortably let inventory sit, then they might as well try pricing it high at first.

retrosportsgamer wrote:

dsheinem wrote:

retrosportsgamer wrote:
In this current economy it is very challenge for B&M stores to stay in business, and overall when you have that kind of overhead, you need to expect higher prices. Anyone that goes into a retro store and scoffs needs to understand economics. If something is grossly overpriced - so be it - it is their inventory that will sit. If they are not educated to their business they'll eventually go out of business anyway.

I'd think that retro game stores can make a ton more money in buying games cheaply and selling at market value compared to a company like Gamestop since retro game prices are relatively stable as a whole and tend to go up, not down. They don't have to offer $30 for a newer title that will be sold for $15 in a month or two...they can offer $2-$3 for a cart that regularly sells for $6-$8 and probably know that even if it sits for a year, they will eventually make money on it.

I agree that this model can work, but I think the companies most successful with it operate online.

Rent is just to high priced now, unless you own the building. You will have to sell a lot to pay for just the $1000 rent, not including electricity and all the other overhead. If you sell online it cuts out a lot of expenses. If I was going to open a B&M store I would build a shopping center and rent out the other spaces too. One shopping center with 5 spaces could net $4000 to $5000 a month. My family used to have a few shopping centers, now down to just one. One furniture stores rent was $5000 a month. And before you ask I am not involved in my older family's business.

I have a huge collection of games, most of which are unplayed, or I'll never get to play. But I rest easy at night knowing that no one else in my area will get the stuff and sell it for high prices on Ebay. And then I just give my duplicates away to friends that are into retro.

Makes me feel good to know that I can piss people off. Muahahahaha. I fully agree about pricing though. Too damn much. Earthbound loose for close to $200? Are you joking me? What has this world come to? I'd love to find some Ebayers and smash my Earthbound right in front of them with a hammer.

I cannot say if retro hunting at yard sales is dying because of the fact that I don't really ever go to yard sales to look for games, mostly right now because I dunno....the weather in my hood resembles the sun right now. Not the best time to go outside to find games at yard sales.

That being said, if I can sum up any difficulty in finding retro games anywhere, including yard sales, I can attribute it to one word:

Demand

It causes the re-sellers to beat everyone else by snapping up the games and selling for prices way beyond what a normal/sane person would pay, because they know people want it. It causes us dedicated gamers/retro enthusiasts to get frustrated when we see mountains of overpriced Xbox sports titles at yard sales for double digits. It causes us to curse at Ebay and Amazon when you see games online being sold for much more than it should. It causes ME to shake my head when I look up prices of Mega Man X3 for the SNES and see that it's now being sold no cheaper than triple digits. This can also apply to basically anywhere else where you can possibly buy retro video games.

I know that other factors were mentioned too, but I honestly think that they in turn influence demand as well (basically what retrosportsgamer said with the Big Bang Theory/Storage Wars/AVGN).

But this isn't old. It's happened with other hobbies as well. Comics.....trading cards....etc.

I did the exact same thing with collecting trading cards a decade and a half ago. Of course that market went down in demand eventually. Will old video games do the same? As long as demand doesn't die down, it won't.

But don't theories like this:

CodeWhite29 wrote:4. Retro gaming collecting seems to be "in" right now. Its a combination of people that grew up with these games now being adults with money to spend and the attention the hobby gets from internet shows such as AVGN.

Imply that the demand will eventually go down? I mean, there will always be collectors, and to me it seems they/we? are the real reason why prices can keep going up. Some random kid who wants to play Mega Man X3 I'm sure would emulate it before he would spend $100 on the cartridge. Whereas collectors on the other hand would rather have the physical copy of the game, so they may not be willing to pay top dollar necessarily, but sellers know that eventually some collector will come along and pay a shit load of money for it because they really want it for their collection. At any rate, once it's no longer the "cool" thing to do and people have grown out of their "oh yeah, I remember that game, I miss it and want to play it again" phase, I'm pretty sure that shit will die down and become more easily accessible again because there won't be as big a market for it anymore. It's like the original Pokemon cards, that shit didn't last forever (though it kinda seemed to), and eventually it might become hip again, but it all comes and goes.

Having experienced each of the following bubbles:

* baseball cards
* beanie babies
* comic books
* internet stocks
* real estate

I am confident that I will see the prices of retro games fall significantly in the next 3 to 7 years. Once resellers learn that they cannot make much - if any - money trying to sell $200 loose copies of Earthbound, the prices will fall. Moreover, $200 for a video game is chump change compared to the value of most collectibles. (My wife, for example, collects antique art pottery and furniture. In those areas, $200 will not even get you a paper weight...http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-c-1910-GRUEBY-FAIENCE-Scarab-Paperweight-with-Lotus-Stamp-BOSTON-/190700733699?pt=Antiques_Decorative_Arts&hash=item2c66a64503).