By the end of 2014, I was looking for extra ways to pull in some money and see if I could turn it into an operation. In the past, I've found money and offers just lying around, but nothing was ever a permanent thing. I had a few Nintendo 64 games lying around and I had no intention of buying another Nintendo 64 so I decided to just list them for sale on Amazon.
The thing was though, I was really attached to my old games. As a kid, I spent countless hours playing Pokémon Stadium 2 and The Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask. Still, I'd rather have the cash so I decided to list the games on Amazon at overpriced levels. At the time, both games had a low price on Amazon of about $20 to $25. I decided to list the games at $50.
In 2015, to my surprise, both games sold and I got my asking price of $50. I was surprised because the low price, at the time the games sold was only about $30 to $40. It was a rare instance where demand actually met my price.
After selling these two games, I decided to list whatever game I had at overpriced levels to see if demand would catch up to my value. Quite recently, I sold the original red version of Pokémon for $50. This was very shocking considering the game is 20 years old and only cost $25 brand new in 1996. I like to joke that Pokémon beat out the Dow Jones Industrial Average but apparently I did beat out the DJIA by getting $50 for it.
After I sold Pokémon, I was surprised to find out that I could sell the Nintendo 64 expansion pak for $20 and the Nintendo 64. Even more silly was that two days ago, I sold the instruction booklet for Pokémon Stadium 2 for $20.
After selling a few products online, I had to ponder if buying and selling used video games might provide a good business idea. Over the last few years, I've noticed that the price of video games follows a particular cycle.
When a Triple A title comes out, it usually sells for $45 to $50 (home console) or $25 to $30 (handheld). For some reason, these prices don't really change. I remember new PlayStation games from 1998 went for $50 and today new PlayStation 3 games go for $50. For the first week, there will be some people that buy a new game and then return it because they don't like it. The game is used but it will still sell for $40 to $45 because the game was just released.
After a few months, or a year after the release date, the price may drop down to $25 to $35. Everyone who really wanted the game on release date or close to release date probably already played or owned it. More casual gamers or people less interested in the title will pick up the game when the price drops.
The next big price cut comes along when a new generation of home consoles gets released. When this happens, the price of the game can drop down to $10 to $20. This is one of the best times for gamers to catch up on all the different titles they thought were cool years earlier but didn't want to purchase because they were to expensive.
After 5, 6, 7, 8 and more years after the release date, all the copies will be used copies. Depending on the title, you can probably pick up the game for as cheap as $5.
After this point in time, a number of factors can change what the price will do. One thing I've noticed about the video game market is that games will not be published forever. Typically, when a gaming console doesn't get sold or supported anymore, the games for that system will no longer be made. Digital versions of the game could still be available via services like the PlayStation and Nintendo Store however physical copies will no longer be made. It is here where there is a niche market for people who like physical copies.
People who want to experience and play these great games from their childhoods may want a physical copy and will pay a premium to get it.
Since I've seen this cycle play out for the last 10 years, I've been making a habit to drive over to GameStop and pick up all the cool games I never bought from 2006 and 2007. I picked up a copy of Assassin's Creed Brotherhood for $3. After that point, it is just a matter of playing the waiting game to see what the lowest price on Amazon is in the next 5 years and seeing what someone will pay for it.
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