***this is a repost from a conversation I had with DarkKobold on a different thread, and I stand by my thoughts/analysis of the whole game collecting boom***
From, jordan_hillman:
"Investments/business models based purely on speculation always have their bubbles burst. Game collecting is what comic book collecting was in the 90s, and that bubble burst bad! Once everyone "cashes" in on their "investments" the market will fall hard and fast, and the people who actually give a shit about owning games for the sole purpose of enjoying them will benefit."
From, DarkKobold:
"The situation isn't really the same. My understanding is that during the comic bubble burst, the recently released "collector's edition" comics, variant covers, and the fake-limited release comics had massive losses in value. The things that were truly collector's items, such as the first appearances of Wolverine, Superman, Spider-man, Hulk, and etc, were barely scratched by the bubble burst everyone loves to reflect on. Apparently, most "silver-age" comics were left untouched by this burst.
I think the equivalent would be thinks like "Xenoblade Chronicles" and the glut of recent collectors editions of games. Games from the 8bit through 32bit era won't be affected by the crash, because they are actually difficult to find. While yes, some people are hoarding Magical Chases and other rarities, it isn't going to prevent the price from continuing to go crazy.
As much as everyone wants people to stop treating video games like an investment, it just won't happen. Once real money gets involved, so do all the shitty parts of humanity that comes with it. This includes investments, market manipulation, fake games, eBay scams, and the like.
As ultimately depressing my post sounds, there is a silver lining. An everdrive costs around 100 bucks, and lets you play all these insanely expensive games for a one time purchase. If it really is about playing the game, and not the joy of ownership of the original hucard, than that should be sufficient."
From, jordan_hillman:
"It's definitely not a 1:1 comparison (the comic crash and the current video game collecting boom) but there are still a lot of valid comparisons. For example, the current glut of collectors editions, special editions, games with low print runs with subsequent reprints (as you mentioned Xenoblade Chronicles) are certainly the equivalent of the 90s X-Forces, Spider-Mans, and X-Men number ones. However, other than the clear exceptions you mentioned before (Amazing Fantasy 15, Hulk 181, Action Comics 1, Detective Comics 27), the value of several books, first appearances, and story lines of key silver age characters were effected by the 90s comic crash as well (e.g. the Phoenix Saga, early Avengers issues--until the releases of the current movies--and first appearances of C-level heroes and villains who were re-introduced/remodeled in the 90s). The "rarity" and "importance" of those "key" issues (other than the clear exceptions of first appearances of Spider-Man and the like) mirrors the "rarity" and "importance" of "key" titles like MC, Legend of Hero Tonma, and the like.
And the only thing that kept the value of legitimate key silver age and golden age books high, even throughout the 90s burst, was the fact that these characters had firmly implanted themselves in the fabric of pop-culture and generations of people's childhoods. Current niche system and game collecting (e.g. the Turbografx, Sega Saturn, Jaguar, etc.) do not have the benefit of having a wide sense of value and importance among the general populous; basically turbo collecting, and its value herein, is only valuable and relevant to that small niche of collectors who find it valuable and relevant. So when a small niche is buying and promptly reselling games for a profit (even if that profit is slim), and when subsequent buyers are quickly buying them up before the "value" goes up anymore, it's an unsustainable business model that will collapse on itself eventually. And the "ultra rares" like MC and Legend of Hero Tonma, although they will certainly retain a decent value, are not going to have the benefit of a general population of people understanding the importance and rarity of these titles.
Don't get me wrong; video game collecting isn't going anywhere, and speculative collecting of any good or service certainly isn't going anywhere. However, there isn't a single market, commodity, good, or service that can maintain a continuous upward trajectory driven almost entirely on speculation."
