The console games market.

[antray84]

Just curious how people are finding the console games market?

I realised last week that I actually have a retro games store near me (no names) which is great as I have always wanted somewhere I could browse and maybe chat to the staff.

I visited it today and it was an ok experience. Mainly the conversation was a bit downbeat though, talking about how nothing sells now and how hard it is. It was a shame but, they did have some nice stuff and the prices were within reason. However I was amazed at some of the prices I was quoted for my games. A LOZ Twilight Princess Special edition on WII U, all complete nicely in box, with amiibo (that was loose) I was offered £15 cash. or somewhere over £20 for a trade. I know ebay is not an exact science, but I struggled to see how it would make sense to sell to them over ebay where it seems to go for over £75

I would happily go again and buy stuff from them, but I felt like I was being lowballed on purpose as they just had no interest in buying more stock.

There were also odd anomalies. A battered copy of Link to the Past was listed at top money for that game, where as a lovely copy of Kung Fu on the Nes was only £40.

I have pretty much every game I want, and it seems (like myself) most people now want to sell. I guess bricks and mortar shops have to eventually say 'no' otherwise they will just be lumbered with things.

 

[Bods]

Was reading an interesting article called The End of Bricks and Mortar the other day

I've been buying a few Blurays from CEX, often cheaper than ones on ebay, not sure about the games as I've never really bothered with Consoles, PC since the mid 90s

Was surprised how much some people had paid the PC NFS Underground 1 and 2 on ebay when i looked recent, considering you can download them and run no CD patches to save messing with discs each time, why would you pay much for them, not like the console where people like to play it on original hardware so want originals

They are going to find it tough in shops currently, the chance of popping in a shop here and there and finding a game you want is so much harder than looking on ebay, facebook and it costs money to get to places. When I started collecting the Street Sounds Electro LPs in the 80's, I got a few new like 13 and 16 to 22 when released, I wanted all the older ones then to have them all, I used to go in every record shop and never find any hardly ever, I did buy a few off lad at school, I had to go NEC Record Fair where I got a few more, this took me years and still missing odd ones, then ebay came along and you could have the whole collection in a week

 

[antray84]

I think blue rays are on a bit if a revival. Everyone said why would you need movies on disc when Netflix and Love Film (Amazon) came along.

But now those services have basically ditched the idea of people subscribing for movies in a digital blockbuster model, in favour of making their own content. So you are left with tons of films that you have to now buy direct on digital or simply don't exist at all. A blue ray copy for £1 at Cex is a much better option.

 

[John Bennett]

I'm maybe the wrong sort of replier, in that I've slowly been trying to flog all my console stuff as it doesn't interest me anymore.
But anyway, I just remember going into Cex a few years ago and seeing a tatty Panzer Dragoon Saga for £250 and thinking ' on a high-street up here, no chance'. That's probably cheap compared to today's Ebay chancing-it prices.
You go to markets and you can tell the sellers have obviously (understandably) researched the price of every single thing, so there's no bargains at all.
I got excited once thinking there was a PS1 R-Type Delta for £20, but they'd kept an ancient price sticker on it, and it was twice that .
So kinda glad it's not really my thing, other than the odd lightgun game for the PS2/RPTV or playing an old game image via a memory stick.

 

[Bods]

Bluray prices have gone up on anything that's been out of print in years, stuff like House on Haunted Hill I had to pay like £20+ still get some cheapish but it's getting harder to get any cheap now, I bought some off ebay for couple of quid when first got my hd projector, ones like Jaws which sell for 3x now it's years older. trying to get more of my DVD's on Bluray is getting hard task, didn't bother selling the dvds as they wern't worth selling most, so put them in the bluray case as well and putting the covers in a box away, sell the empty cases

If your like my brother he doesn't wanna own anything, streams music and films so with less cds, blurays and 4ks being sold that will sure put the prices up too
he was telling me how amazing it is having all that music he can play on his phone anytime, he said pick a song so I said put on MC Lethal - The Rave Digger and he couldn't find it I said what use is that then, said what about 6 Bells All - Me The Mailman and that was a no too so I gave up and music streaming is no use to me

CEX were selling DVD's for 50p the other year now cheapest are £1 and thats just all the common crap, most they want £2 up

Remember guy at the tip years back get excited when he found Panzer Dragoon Saga

I was tiding up today and found xbox one game Wolfenstein 2 that came with dvd lot, looked on ebay and some on for £12 but ones sold are like £4-5 and it's not worth listing for that, by time i send it tracked else stuff doesn't arrive, the case is broken too so would have to sell cheaper it's not worth listing it

 

[CMYKhazi-Dan]

Not retro console related but modern consoles. Do I really need another inferior remake of Resident Evil or Final Fantasy or The Last Of Us etc.?

I play Street Fighter 3 (ranked against randoms), Golf with Friends, Wheel Of Futune(😆), PGA 2K23 with my mates. Tonight we are going for Party Animals. Beers and golf is great, all I need from a console.

 

[Marko697]

Retro game prices have been inflated since the pandemic, only natural they will start falling again back to more realistic levels.

 

[aeroflott]

I think the bricks and mortar game shops are on death row. It seems inevitable that next gen consoles will be digital downloads only or some sort of Spotify/Steam model. I can't see CEX/Game and the like positioning themselves as Retro Gaming only going forward and being as successful as they are currently.

 

[CMYKhazi-Dan]

It seems inevitable that next gen consoles will be digital downloads only or some sort of Spotify/Steam model.

I'm happy to pay £100 a year or whatever it is for Gamepass or the Sony one and just play whatever comes with it. Unlikely to ever buy a physical game again unless it's a gift.

 

[antray84]

I think the bricks and mortar game shops are on death row. It seems inevitable that next gen consoles will be digital downloads only or some sort of Spotify/Steam model. I can't see CEX/Game and the like positioning themselves as Retro Gaming only going forward and being as successful as they are currently.

They new XBOX leak seemed to show it as digital only.

I will be honest, I always preferred physical as I liked to have the games on a shelf and know that I could trade them in etc. But I never trade games anymore, as it is a hassle and the discs are basically worthless with all the updates required. Having retro games is cool, but apart from a few major franchises I don't really need them physical.