That’s the difference between the new comic collectors and video game collectors. We don’t have a price guide that tells us within a certain percentage what a game is worth. It’s worth what the owner will sell it for. For the most part. It’s the Wild West on some of this stuff. 

I’ll be honest, and I haven't said anything until now, but some of the new collectors have personally bad mouthed me for what I’ve asked for on some of my games. Here’s the deal, you want the highest graded copy of a first print Ice Climber, or Urban Champion? I’m going to ask an exorbitant amount if I’m attached to the game. I’m a COLLECTOR. You either pay it or you don’t. Doesn’t matter to me. No reason to whine about it to your buds or try to sway buyers away from me. It took me years to find some of these. And many I’ve had for years and years. There’s a value on that history alone. Go find another one at a better price. 

 

 

Agreed, but the safer bet is paying under market for lower end items. Paying well above market for 40-50 incredibly high-end games is incredibly risky. Not saying he isn’t going to cash in. Just making a point. Like I said, I sincerely hope he makes tons of money. 
 

It's one thing to think the hobby as a whole will go a certain way.  But all along that way, individual titles will spike and fall.  And niche items are always hard to sell regardless.

Also, stuff doesn't always move at the same rates.  $100 games?  Any collector can afford that if they needed too.  $1000 games?  People get more selective, some drop out due to cost.  $10,000 games?  Same thing, even less buyers in the pool.  $100,000 games?  $1,000,000 games?  Basically no one.

So, you could live in an environment where $100 games are becoming $200-$300 overnight, or even $1000 games are taking off rapidly to $2k and $3k.  But that doesn't mean your $10k games are now $20k-$30k or your $100k game is $200-$300k.  Not all of the jumps will be equal.  Because there are more buyers at the lower levels and less at the higher levels.  Prices are driven by demand and less buyers = less demand naturally.  

Either way, it's interesting but clearly wrote as a clickbait / hype article. 

I believe some really hot guy wrote about something called "The NA Effect" some time ago. These guys are taking it to a whole other level.

Someone sell me a copy of silent service for $3 million so I can have the first $3 million collection

PM coming.

 

Why does this article piss me off so much!? Can't put my finger on it

Let me tell you a story of my group of highschool friends who started colleting games over 20 years ago.  One of them played games a little but never really collected.  Fast forward 20 years and most of my friends had very nice retro collections.  We had spent years hunting down deals, hunting for the thrift store finds, and wheeling and dealing on eBay.  The one who never really collected didn't have much of a collection but he had a better career than all of us and was getting promotions left and right.  One day he invites us over and he has a HUGE collection of retro games and systems.  He went out and bought a couple of very expensive and big lots.  I persoanlly didn't care but it did rub some of my friends the wrong way.  To them he wasn't a "true" collector as he didn't work for his collection or have the same connection with the games.

 

It takes money to make money.  He needed a million to make 2 more?  Did he really need it in the first place?  I don't see it as that.  I dont think people will care.  They are not timeless and incredibly niche.  I think people with money are trying to strong arm the hobby and hype it to say "I paid this and its worth this now because I set the price for it".  Great.  
 

Bingo. I think that's exactly what it is. Honestly, I think having millions to throw at the hobby would kill the fun for me... Takes away all the thrill of the hunt, not to mention makes trading worthless. The new collectors entering the field are starting to diminish what was special about it in the first place

Is your friend a dentist? 

 

LMAO, no.  He is an accountant and now he is also a CFO.

 

Fuck him.  What kind of sick bastard becomes a dentist anyway?

Eh, can't blame the accountant friend. Most everyone else would do the same thing if they had that cash to burn.

If he's just collecting for his own enjoyment, I don't see anything wrong. To me that's separate from people who deliberately speculate on the market in an effort to boost their own investment.

 

I'd like to see a follow up article where this guy's story goes down hill.

This 
 

Yeah but who is to say this dentist isn't an old school collector and just wanted those super high grade games in his collection.  We are only speculating he is doing this for profit.  What if he keeps them the rest of his life and then gives them to his kids.  Who knows...

 

1.02 million for 40 sealed games. This would equate to $25,500 per game.

What I want to know is this...on what part of this planet, on what auction site, on what indication or historical evidence, is paying that much making any sense?

There's speculation and then there's downright ridiculousness. 40 sealed games for the price of a mansion?

--------------------
Picture the final scene of the bartering:

Dentist: my best offer $900,000. My wife is not going to be pleased when I fly back home..

1M selller: sorry mate. Can't let it go for anything less than 1 Million

Dentist: how about we make it $950,000. Means I will have to starve myself for the next month of salary.

1M seller: no can do mate. Too much nostalgia for me to let go under 1 Million.

Dentist: my balls are starting to turn blue, but I don't want to fly home empty..

1M seller: best I can do is $1,050,000. That's a steal you're getting.

Dentist: ok fine, 1 Million it is!

1M seller: $1,020,000 is the lowest I can do..

Dentist: fuck it, you got yourself a deal!

--------------------------

Theres $600k worth of halo's alone!   Epic!

Because it looks like he SPECIFICALLY bought the type of games that are getting hype from newbies. 

I think the expected value on a blackjack hand are much better than this guy's   

"Holy grail" is possibly one of the stupidest terms in game collecting. In fact, everything about that article makes my skin crawl. How is this dude "one of the worlds most avid game collectors"? Just because he decided baseball cards were too expensive so he jumped over to games and dropped a million dollars with a group of investors?

Also, LMAO at asking John Riggs or Metal Jesus to give their input. 

I wasted my life not becoming a dentist

And he spent $1m on the reprints instead of like $200 on the FDS originals  

Not gonna drop names but there are a couple of guys on here that own a looooot of original video game art and I'm pretty sure they BOTH have more epic collection than this guys.