Agreed, that’s like 5x what it would have sold for last year. 
 

I think Pinball was a great price overall, but I completely agree with the condition premium. Where is it?? Turd condition games selling for stupid money, but it’s minty counterpart is like a few hundred more tops? No. Just no. It’s one of the main reasons I haven’t moved a single mint game. Until that delta increases my games are just fine where they are. I’ve had offers of a few hundred more for my 9.0 game than what it sold for 6.0 to 7.0. Yeah, no thanks. 

Two things needs to happen. The sealed/CIB delta needs to close (especially on certain titles) and the mint vs average condition price needs to widen. It’s simply a matter of time. 
 

You think sealed/CIB delta should close? Id like to hear your reasons on that...?

unless you mean exceptions like matte sticker black box cib vs sealed rev A etc.?

 

I do, honestly it’s just demand. There are not enough sealed games to go around. There just isn’t. It will certainly come down to specific titles but overall it needs to close. 

I like to use hangtab Castlevania as my example. There are 3 known sealed copies. That’s it. 1 is on total lockdown and the other 2 would take 6 figures to move. But, a CIB counterpart is $1k? 1% of that? $99k for cello? That is just a fundamental breakdown. 

 

Makes perfect sense! Now where do prototypes fit in 
 

You just spelled it out. 99k is for one of three status not shrink wrap.

 

Gotcha. I think this makes sense although its the exception rather than the rule. I mean some turtles games cib sold for near a grand yesterday and people are freaking out... this kind of delta shouldnt really close the way you suggest for these games, unlike for higher end/unattainable type sealed games. 

thx for clarifying
 

CIB will definitely rise over time because more and more people are entering the hobby. Sealed is just so much harder to find and people will still want to buy things.

People remain skeptical for some reason, but I have been saying forever that everything has changed. We are transitioning to true collector's hobby. 8.5 TMNT for a grand seems crazy, and maybe for now it is, but finding a WATA 8.5 CIB turtles is tough. A few years from now, I don't think it'll seem so crazy. Same with an 8.0 Manhattan.

There is an insane amount of money out there focused on collectibles. INSANE. Start mentally transitioning video games into that context. Video games reach more people than other collectibles, too. There's more of an emotional connection.

No problem. I think sealed games are going to dry up, relatively speaking. People will have to make a choice. Do you go with a very expensive sealed early print, a later print sealed, or do you go with an early print CIB. I prefer the early print. I think others do too, but of course some will always choose sealed. But again, there’s just not enough to go around in any version. As those dry up CIB prices should rise. 

Those CIB TMNT’s are honestly ridiculous. I think if anything that’s the anomaly, and future TMNT CIB prices will be well off the ones that just sold on HA. 
 

Late print sealed seems like the loser category to me, sometimes scarce, relatively high priced, but the "wrong" actual thing. Maybe NES is an exception because of all the documented minor variants and later prints aren't always ugly AF, but when it comes to something like Player's Choice on SNES or Game Boy I wouldn't want a single one stinking up my shelves, let alone paying more for a sealed budget copy over a mint black label.

Not saying scarce later print sealed games won't maintain a value bump over mint early CIB just because of rarity alone, who knows, but in terms of collectible value to me personally I don't see it.

Sealed first print mint is king to the investment and speculating crowd. In some cases it wont exist or it will be insanely expensive and incredibly scarce. Then you wind up compromising on something.

You either compromise on condition (low grade), print variation (sealed later print) or medium (CIB instead of sealed). They're all compromises to an extent. Personally I'd rather have sealed as I find them to be much rarer for most titles. Heck you even see white seal resealed Tysons with wear going for $4500 and a white bullets CIB ain't touching that. Maybe a truly Mint CIB in 9.2 or higher on a first print, but once again just boils down to rarity.

But yes, greatest hits and players choice arent really collectible in my eyes. Same to inferior quality knock offs like Majesco overlap SNES games. But other stuff like white oval seal NES? Yeah, theyll always command solid value as the cost of entry to own a sealed NES title.

Eventually a gallon of gas will average $100. One day.
One day a CIB Turtles will be worth $1000. One day.
That day is not today.
 

I've been hearing this general sentiment for a year, and yet here we are...

High grade Turtles 1 CIB is no way akin to $100 gallon of gas. We are a hell of a lot closer to the former than the latter. You go on to Ebay now and there are zero Turtles CIB that would hit 8.5. It's a commodity in this market, which is only going to increase. A thousand for right now is an overpay, but not by as much as people are making it out to be.
 

Tetris already taking off this week...