If your thinking about buying and selling used video games, one very common issue you will run into is what games do you want to buy. Very early on, you will realize that sports videogames, of almost any variety, are worth almost nothing. Regardless of where you go to buy games (GameStop, pawn shops, yard sales), you will typically see these games on sale for a few dollars. If you check the lowest prices online, the lowest price will usually be a few cents.
With the life cycle of used sports games, they usually sell new for the standard price of $50. After a few months, the drop to $30. After a year, the value plummets to $5 or $10. Any longer than a year, the value drops down to pennies without any possibility of increasing in value.
With sports video games, the main gameplay mechanics never change however a new game in the franchise gets released every year for the sake of updating team rosters and a minor (if any) graphics upgrade. For this reason, only the most recent edition of any sports game has any value. In the used game market, sports games absolutely flood the market and no particular year offers anything unique or different.
A market flood of used games defines the sports genres however I've also noticed other game franchises that suffer from this same phenomena. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, and Assassin's Creed are all franchises that flooded the market by releasing a title year after year after year.
I'm sure that there might be a profit to be made with sports games but the only way would be to sell tons of volume with razor thin margins. Unfortunately, I'm not in the position to take that opportunity.
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