I’ve always been a video game enthusiast, combined with my nostalgic pursuits, the combination has always felt more of a lonelier activity, but a passion nonetheless!
My first instances of gaming memories were in the family basement, I think my parents actually got the Nintendo console for my sister. I remember my grandmother watching me play Mega Man (1987) on the NES, feeling the seasons changing as I played through Earthbound (1994) and Harvest Moon (1996), swapping discs on Final Fantasy VII’s (1997) four-part game. I think a large part that keeps me connected to these games, is the physical feeling of handling the controllers for each system, as force and emotions were fingered and pressed, rotated and flipped, as each command and input told a story; which are narratives that are apparently very dear to others as well. While I had a few friends growing up, I also spent a lot of time playing games and filling my head with wonderous and often mindless narratives, memorable nonetheless.
The basic concept of economic supply and demand applies to my following observations, the more something is in demand, the more supply is needed, and If the supply is scarce, then the price of demand goes up. Same applies to generations in gaming, currently, the majority of games have shifted to digital copies of ownership, as physical copies begin to phase out through console iterations, production of the copies eventually stop, same fate as vhs, cd, dvd, vinyl’s, bluray, etc, which some copies may still be made today as their existence is still valuable to some.
www.pricecharter.com
Currently (Nov 11, 2021), a loose copy of Earthbound (1994) for the SNES was last sold for $349.51, with the graph indicating a sharp wave and rise for the game in 2020. We can assume the pandemic played a case in the price increase.
www.pricecharter.com
While not quite matching Earthbound’s fetching price, Silent Hill 2 (2001), which sees a similar graphic increase, the last selling price was $98.40. The two highs on the graph are a consistent trend among previously sought after video games.
I will refer the The Daily’s previous episode titled “The Great Supply Train Disription”, an episode were Global economist Peter Goodman, outlines the rippling economic effect the global pandemic has put on supply distribution and increasing demand resulting in higher prices for food, goods and materials. While not edible and necessary to live, gaming nostalgia appears to be alive and well, cherished and valued enough to be worth its asking price.
www.pricecharter.com
Earthbound 64 (1999) shows some interesting activity as its popularity has been fairly consistent since its release, I can only assume from the Nintendo 64’s unique console and gameplay, the specific game’s fan-base whose loyalty trends towards the “better” or most cherished game, and it may also be attributed to it’s lower asking value price.
www.pricecharter.com
Harvest moon (1994) for the SNES shows a steadier graph, with its value steadily trending in the 10’s and then suddenly seeing a recent rise in demand and value.
An interesting observation is that many of these consoles and games predate the internet and so require a very solo experience, as well as co-operative if you’re lucky enough! I would assume isolation and lock-down regulations would also attribute to seeking more nostalgic feelings that were at some point experienced by many. Like waves coming up to shore, sometimes there are the ones that surprise you and catch up to you.
These days I’ve been getting into selling the games of lesser value that I’ve accumulated over my life, or are now available through digital versions. And nothing beats revisiting those older games that mean so much to me, I imagine passing my experiences on to my children and then I think will it even be a thing that they would enjoy?? Before my head gets ahead of me, I look at that chart can only see positives as the graph and game values continue to trend upwards.
I would like to observe how this surge in gaming interest is affected by our economic situation? A word cloud perhaps showing keywords of interest on Reddit or gaming forums, though this may take a little more crawling and investigating.
I thought I would share this little interest of mine, which is apparently worth a little more than I thought!
Definitely to be continued.
