Video game

Collectors spending thousands on video games they’ll never play – Times of India


Retro video games have become the newest hot collectibles. Interest in factory-sealed video games has soared in the past year, with some companies aggressively targeting collectors from more established markets. The hottest investments are games for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), which popularised characters like Mega Man and Mario in the 1980s.
Collectors have been able to flip the most coveted titles, making thousands of dollars in profit and fuelling concerns of unsustainable hype. One collector, Donald Brock Jr, who runs the website Columbia Comics, said he had spent about $50,000 buying vintage video games since March. One sealed NES game cost nearly $1,500. He had its condition graded, and then sold it for $12,000.
In September, Eric Naierman, a dentist who had primarily collected sports cards, spearheaded a $1 million purchase of dozens of games, months after video game collectors jointly bought a rare Super Mario Bros game for more than $100,000.
Collectors say that multiple gold copies of Nintendo World Championships — only 26 were distributed, making it one of the rarest NES games — have reached the six-figure threshold in private sales.
“You almost can’t pay too much because stuff is going up so fast,” said Josh Hamblin, the owner of SideQuest Games in Oregon who advises comic book collectors seeking to diversify. Some longtime collectors are pleased, saying video games are an art form that deserves to be recognised. However, others say the higher prices are exaggerated and have raised ethical concerns.
“Market distortion, both legal and illegal… is rampant in the art world,” said Richard Lehun, a founding member of Stropheus, a firm that provides legal services for the arts community. Hamblin said some speculators visit his store without understanding the industry. “They are buying anything that is sealed,” he said. “To the point where I am saying, ‘Don’t buy this, it is not rare at all.’” When Dallas-based Heritage Auctions brokered a $100,150 private sale of a Super Mario Bros game last February, it called it the only known copy with an intact sticker seal. But the sale raised ethical questions among some collectors, who complained about inflated prices.





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