How will "Collector's Editions" affect future collecting?

[BumbleChump]

We all know there are a ton of special versions of games out there now. Special, Collector's, Limited, Deluxe, Premium, it goes on and on. Do you guys think these will someday become valuable? Or will no one really care? There's SO MANY games that have special editions out there! And at the same time, the people buying these are either 1: Huge fans of the game, and probably won't want to sell it, or 2: People who have lots of money to throw around and get the special edition just because they can.




Look at this stuff! Who wants to collect all this? Are there people out there that want to get every single limited edition item? Not only will it be expensive, but it will be difficult to catalog every version of every game. And there's consoles too!



I am aware of a few special edition items that are worth quite a bit, such as the Mother 3 GB Micro above, and the Uncharted 2 Fortune Hunter's Edition which is currently at $750 on ebay. But that had a good reason, as you couldn't buy it and had to win it.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Uncharted-2-Amo ... 3f2246b14c

Edit: If someone could, please point out some older limited edition items that have become valuable now. I know it was never at the scale it is now, but it would be interesting to know!

So what do you guys think of all this? These will someday become retro far, far from now. Will they actually become Collector's items just like they're advertised? Or useless junk?

[Hazerd]

From the way i see it, only when a Console/Handheld is a limited edition, do they become valuable.

The last collector's edition i bought was the Darksiders 2 with the mask, which you cant wear...

I would of bought the Fire Emblem 3DS but only if it had been a XL.

I love all the Gameboy Advance/SP/Micro special editions they have, too bad most were in Japan. Japan gets all the good limited editions.

[CRTGAMER]

Collectors Editions tend to be more sought after by game collectors and usually are higher priced even as used. A good point that when there are so many different releases that are collectors editions, this kills the value of Holy Grails. I go for collector editions not for the trinkets, but mainly for added documentation and especially if a game has extra features not found in the regular edition.

Do themed collectors edition consoles increase in value? I guess it would depend on the popularity and long term durability of a game series. I suspect a Mario themed console would increase in value over a lesser historical run game.

There are some games that are not even collector editions per say, look at San Andreas (Coffee) or Greatest Hits Midnight Club 3. These for example are more valuable to knowing collectors. I think Silent Hill 2 is the strongest argument why some Greatest Hits are way more valuable then the original black label edition.

PS2 Special Edition List - http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... 91#p398591

[saturnfan]

GTA San Andreas, the original "hot coffee" print run isn't, rare, valuable or collectable in any sense of the word.

[BoneSnapDeez]

I never cared for these things. I'm not dropping an extra $30 on a game at launch to get a few trinkets. Plus, this shit takes up too much space.

But yeah, most of these end up worth a significant amount of money. Most. Some games seem to have about a billion Collector's Editions printed and/or the game doesn't sell well so there are many cheap Collector's Editions left over (see Deathsmiles and FF XIV).

Then of course there are games that only have a Collector's Editon (the US release of Ar tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel).

[Forlorn Drifter]

Are we talking COLLECTOR'S editions, or LIMITED editions?

In the case of the former, I am in no way a fan. In the case of the latter, I think there's something there. I'm still attempting to find a good price on a Bioshock Limited Edition. I like me some Limited Big Daddy action!

[AppleQueso]

I can't imagine a scenario where these won't be worth at least a little bit more than the standard versions.

[BoringSupreez]

They almost always are worth a little extra, but I can think of a few cases where the price gap is very small. Splinter Cell Double Agent and Jade Empire LE are only like $3 more than the standard edition.

Come to think of it, most last-gen LE's aren't worth much. Maybe because they usually came in standard size boxes and came with lame bonuses like "making of" videos.