5 ms·

Collection of 6,850 video games and 330 consoles up for sale on Ebay for $550K

51 points by mikek 14y ago

kristopher 14y ago
A lot of history here. Could be worth more than a mere half a million.
DigitalSea 14y ago
The inner child inside of me is screaming, "Bank loan, bank loan, bank loan you're an adult now the bank will gladly lend you money to relive your childhood!", but the inner and in debt mid twenty year old I really am is saying, "Keep dreaming" — a museum should buy these, $550K is probably a bargain considering the total collection could be close to a million maybe even more in a few short years.
- pfisch 14y ago
  I don't think the bank would loan an in debt mid twenty year old over half a million dollars to buy videogames.
  - DigitalSea 14y ago
    You'd be surprised... I recently got pre-approved with my girlfriend for over that amount from the bank for a home loan and it ain't easy getting a loan in Australia compared to other countries either. I say to your sarcasm, check mate.
    - pfisch 14y ago
      That is very different from a loan to buy videogames. They can take the house if you default.
  - malux85 14y ago
    You'd be surprised. Every time I walk into the bank here in the UK, they literally beg me to take out a loan because I have no debt and a good income. Last time I was in there, I had to get quite angry at the customer service person because she just wouldn't drop it. I did the polite "No thanks", "No, really, I'm not interested", "No THANK YOU", "Look, I'm going to start shouting in a minute, I have told you NO" and they STILL kept pushing
    - tomwalker 14y ago
      This is my experience too. Whenever I enter a bank to deposit an occasional cheque they are desperate to offer personal loans, investment advice, mortgages, credit cards etc. A polite decline is often ignored and they aggressively go for the sale.
- perry5000 14y ago
  Heck, someone could buy the lot, and turn around and sell them in pieces. You could very likely make more than a million bucks in total.
  - DigitalSea 14y ago
    Definitely man, easily. It would be good to see these go to a serious collector or someone who will treat them right and keep them in pristine condition. A gaming museum would be the best choice.
nestlequ1k 14y ago
Feel sorry for this dude. A lifetime collecting, imagine all the time organizing and buying these things, and the cost. Unless this goes for a lot over the initial asking price, he's sort of getting a raw deal. Sad to see a life wasted like that. But I guess he isn't the only person whose lives video games have ruined (WoW).
- treeface 14y ago
  How do you know this ruined his life?
- robryan 14y ago
  Who decides what is a worthy pursuit in life? Many would be envious of the amount of time he has had to spend on his passion.
- InclinedPlane 14y ago
  Go through your old tax returns for the last 10 years (or just extrapolate or use your memory). Add up all of your total gross income for those years then ask yourself where all that money has gone. The answer is: your life. If it was spent well, having fun, making friends, deepening relationships, making meaningful connections in life, etc. then it was worth it regardless of the cost. Money is just paper, the best use of it is in the service of creating happiness or well-being.
  - h0w412d 14y ago
    Well said. But I have to point out that buying experiences gives far more happiness and satisfaction than buying things. Sure he might have had great times with friends and family through those video games, but that's still a lot of stuff.
citricsquid 14y ago
The speculation on reddit is that the collection isn't worth close to $50k, let alone $550k, because the real gold in the collection has long since been sold off and what remains is just a collection of old games and consoles, games and consoles that aren't rare or hard to acquire elsewhere.
- klodolph 14y ago
  Or you could just, you know, check the list. From the pictures it looks like all the good consoles are in there, Playstations, Dreamcast, the Nintendos, Atari, plus handhelds. Then it seems there are a bunch of special edition consoles. As for games, I keep on seeing great games in there, including recent ones and old classics. Many are obviously imported and that's fairly expensive with the current Yen/Dollar exchange rate. Here's a picture of what appears to my eyes to be nearly every Zelda game: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/713/517ie.jpg/ http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/713/517ie.jpg/ Every Mario game: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/441/513ku.jpg/ http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/441/513ku.jpg/ and OH DEAR LORD it's the "Mother" series: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/525/506p.jpg/ http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/525/506p.jpg/ Let me tell you about "Mother". You have to sell your kidneys to get those games. They're some of the best games ever written and they're also some of the hardest to find. Update: Now that I have looked at the actual list I see it contains some other incredible pieces, such as a sealed copy of Chrono Trigger (in 2008 one such copy sold for $1,217), Bubble Bobble part 2 (at least $100), Sonic the Hedgehog ($300+), Suikoden II ($140+), Virtual Lab ($900+), SD Gundam Dimension Wars ($700+), Jack Bros. ($120+), sealed Ibara ($180+), ... Update 2: That sealed copy of Chrono Trigger is for the DS, sorry. But Virtual Lab looks legit.
  - meaty 14y ago
    These are all artificial values i.e. they are a niche and you have to find someone who wants to pay that for it. Technically, my signed (by Bill Gates and Paul Allen) copy of "The MS-DOS Encyclopedia" was supposedly worth about £500 but it went on eBay for £25. And for that I had a nice curry.
    - 14y ago
retrogradeorbit 14y ago
Is it all still in the original, unopened packaging? A lot of collectors like it like that. Personally I think it's way overpriced. The seller is factoring their own sentimentality into the price, something unlikely to be shared by others. At $50 a game and $200 a console, it's still only $408K. But then, maybe there's a sentimental billionaire who wants it...
- aeurielesn 14y ago
  There's no way that Limited and Collector's editions will cost $50 in this life. I believe he may even have the last available copies of some games laying over there and sentimentality plays a great part for those ones.
- readme 14y ago
  Your estimate doesn't factor in the labor cost of acquiring all the disparate items. That alone is worth the difference.
- gu 14y ago
  You have to consider the condition and rarity of some of the games. I only skimmed the listing, but he does has quite a few gems. In recent years, prices for "retro games" have ballooned. You'll be surprised what games in a great condition go for. Just to mention a couple of examples: - Earthbound (SNES) has a market value of up to over $300 - Chrono Trigger (SNES) normally sells for several hundred dollars as well. - Neo Geo AES carts are coveted by collectors. - Progear (CPS2) is one of the most sought after PCBs in the shmup scene, still selling for hundreds of dollars. Also, sealed games sell for quite a premium. I do think that if he took the time to sell the items individually, he would make more money. Then again, this would also involve a quite substantial investment of time.
nevster 14y ago
Anyone else with their mouth agape as they scroll down the listing looking at those images? 8-0
nevster 14y ago
What's up with having so many of one console? Eg, all these PS2s? http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/607/dsc03114h.jpg/ http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/607/dsc03114h.jpg/
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- weiran 14y ago
  All the different revisions? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_2#Hardware_revisions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_2#Hardware_revision...
supervillain 14y ago
I couldn't see the Steel Battalion controller for the original Xbox.
Irregardless 14y ago
This makes me wonder: How will today's games be preserved in a collection like this? I'm sure the DRM servers for games like Assassin's Creed won't be maintained for more than another decade, if that. Then, you have all kinds of PC games with limited authorizations. Most people also have numerous digital games tied to their Steam / Origin / Amazon accounts. If any of those disappear, you could lose a big chunk of your collection. There's no way to pass those games on to anyone else even if the services are still around. It seems piracy is the only hope of preserving today's games for future generations.
- rikacomet 14y ago
  Totally true, given the additional facts that a collector would pay a big amount for getting a mint piece of something he may have already, but in a bad shape. Plus, a lot of them are Japanese versions, which will appeal to those, who only have a USA version, after all, japanese voice-dubs are really world apart! I also found some pieces that I would pay a lot to have, but then again the problem is I can't have them individually. Maybe some gaming site or community or museum can pick this up?
rikacomet 14y ago
When I checked both the versions of his full list: Mega: running Dropbox: Error (509) This account's public links are generating too much traffic and have been temporarily disabled! http://i46.tinypic.com/w9jtia.png http://i46.tinypic.com/w9jtia.png
davidroberts 14y ago
My question is: why is he selling? lf he is wealthy enough to have accumulated all these games and consoles in the first place and not care about probably making twice as much by selling piece-by-piece, I don't think it's for the money. Maybe his SO said it's either me or the video games. The fact that he spent literally months of eight hour days lovingly cataloging and photographing everything seems to show that the flame still burns that led him to collect them in the first place.

51 points by mikek 14y ago

A lot of history here. Could be worth more than a mere half a million.

The inner child inside of me is screaming, "Bank loan, bank loan, bank loan you're an adult now the bank will gladly lend you money to relive your childhood!", but the inner and in debt mid twenty year old I really am is saying, "Keep dreaming" — a museum should buy these, $550K is probably a bargain considering the total collection could be close to a million maybe even more in a few short years.

pfisch 14y ago
I don't think the bank would loan an in debt mid twenty year old over half a million dollars to buy videogames.
- DigitalSea 14y ago
  You'd be surprised... I recently got pre-approved with my girlfriend for over that amount from the bank for a home loan and it ain't easy getting a loan in Australia compared to other countries either. I say to your sarcasm, check mate.
  - pfisch 14y ago
    That is very different from a loan to buy videogames. They can take the house if you default.
- malux85 14y ago
  You'd be surprised. Every time I walk into the bank here in the UK, they literally beg me to take out a loan because I have no debt and a good income. Last time I was in there, I had to get quite angry at the customer service person because she just wouldn't drop it. I did the polite "No thanks", "No, really, I'm not interested", "No THANK YOU", "Look, I'm going to start shouting in a minute, I have told you NO" and they STILL kept pushing
  - tomwalker 14y ago
    This is my experience too. Whenever I enter a bank to deposit an occasional cheque they are desperate to offer personal loans, investment advice, mortgages, credit cards etc. A polite decline is often ignored and they aggressively go for the sale.
perry5000 14y ago
Heck, someone could buy the lot, and turn around and sell them in pieces. You could very likely make more than a million bucks in total.
- DigitalSea 14y ago
  Definitely man, easily. It would be good to see these go to a serious collector or someone who will treat them right and keep them in pristine condition. A gaming museum would be the best choice.

nestlequ1k 14y ago

Feel sorry for this dude. A lifetime collecting, imagine all the time organizing and buying these things, and the cost. Unless this goes for a lot over the initial asking price, he's sort of getting a raw deal. Sad to see a life wasted like that. But I guess he isn't the only person whose lives video games have ruined (WoW).

treeface 14y ago
How do you know this ruined his life?
robryan 14y ago
Who decides what is a worthy pursuit in life? Many would be envious of the amount of time he has had to spend on his passion.
InclinedPlane 14y ago
Go through your old tax returns for the last 10 years (or just extrapolate or use your memory). Add up all of your total gross income for those years then ask yourself where all that money has gone. The answer is: your life. If it was spent well, having fun, making friends, deepening relationships, making meaningful connections in life, etc. then it was worth it regardless of the cost. Money is just paper, the best use of it is in the service of creating happiness or well-being.
- h0w412d 14y ago
  Well said. But I have to point out that buying experiences gives far more happiness and satisfaction than buying things. Sure he might have had great times with friends and family through those video games, but that's still a lot of stuff.

citricsquid 14y ago

The speculation on reddit is that the collection isn't worth close to $50k, let alone $550k, because the real gold in the collection has long since been sold off and what remains is just a collection of old games and consoles, games and consoles that aren't rare or hard to acquire elsewhere.

klodolph 14y ago
Or you could just, you know, check the list. From the pictures it looks like all the good consoles are in there, Playstations, Dreamcast, the Nintendos, Atari, plus handhelds. Then it seems there are a bunch of special edition consoles. As for games, I keep on seeing great games in there, including recent ones and old classics. Many are obviously imported and that's fairly expensive with the current Yen/Dollar exchange rate. Here's a picture of what appears to my eyes to be nearly every Zelda game: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/713/517ie.jpg/ http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/713/517ie.jpg/ Every Mario game: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/441/513ku.jpg/ http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/441/513ku.jpg/ and OH DEAR LORD it's the "Mother" series: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/525/506p.jpg/ http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/525/506p.jpg/ Let me tell you about "Mother". You have to sell your kidneys to get those games. They're some of the best games ever written and they're also some of the hardest to find. Update: Now that I have looked at the actual list I see it contains some other incredible pieces, such as a sealed copy of Chrono Trigger (in 2008 one such copy sold for $1,217), Bubble Bobble part 2 (at least $100), Sonic the Hedgehog ($300+), Suikoden II ($140+), Virtual Lab ($900+), SD Gundam Dimension Wars ($700+), Jack Bros. ($120+), sealed Ibara ($180+), ... Update 2: That sealed copy of Chrono Trigger is for the DS, sorry. But Virtual Lab looks legit.
- meaty 14y ago
  These are all artificial values i.e. they are a niche and you have to find someone who wants to pay that for it. Technically, my signed (by Bill Gates and Paul Allen) copy of "The MS-DOS Encyclopedia" was supposedly worth about £500 but it went on eBay for £25. And for that I had a nice curry.
  - 14y ago

retrogradeorbit 14y ago

Is it all still in the original, unopened packaging? A lot of collectors like it like that. Personally I think it's way overpriced. The seller is factoring their own sentimentality into the price, something unlikely to be shared by others. At $50 a game and $200 a console, it's still only $408K. But then, maybe there's a sentimental billionaire who wants it...

aeurielesn 14y ago
There's no way that Limited and Collector's editions will cost $50 in this life. I believe he may even have the last available copies of some games laying over there and sentimentality plays a great part for those ones.
readme 14y ago
Your estimate doesn't factor in the labor cost of acquiring all the disparate items. That alone is worth the difference.
gu 14y ago
You have to consider the condition and rarity of some of the games. I only skimmed the listing, but he does has quite a few gems. In recent years, prices for "retro games" have ballooned. You'll be surprised what games in a great condition go for. Just to mention a couple of examples: - Earthbound (SNES) has a market value of up to over $300 - Chrono Trigger (SNES) normally sells for several hundred dollars as well. - Neo Geo AES carts are coveted by collectors. - Progear (CPS2) is one of the most sought after PCBs in the shmup scene, still selling for hundreds of dollars. Also, sealed games sell for quite a premium. I do think that if he took the time to sell the items individually, he would make more money. Then again, this would also involve a quite substantial investment of time.

nevster 14y ago

Anyone else with their mouth agape as they scroll down the listing looking at those images? 8-0

nevster 14y ago

What's up with having so many of one console? Eg, all these PS2s? http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/607/dsc03114h.jpg/ http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/607/dsc03114h.jpg/

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
weiran 14y ago
All the different revisions? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_2#Hardware_revisions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_2#Hardware_revision...

supervillain 14y ago

I couldn't see the Steel Battalion controller for the original Xbox.

Irregardless 14y ago

This makes me wonder: How will today's games be preserved in a collection like this? I'm sure the DRM servers for games like Assassin's Creed won't be maintained for more than another decade, if that. Then, you have all kinds of PC games with limited authorizations. Most people also have numerous digital games tied to their Steam / Origin / Amazon accounts. If any of those disappear, you could lose a big chunk of your collection. There's no way to pass those games on to anyone else even if the services are still around. It seems piracy is the only hope of preserving today's games for future generations.

rikacomet 14y ago
Totally true, given the additional facts that a collector would pay a big amount for getting a mint piece of something he may have already, but in a bad shape. Plus, a lot of them are Japanese versions, which will appeal to those, who only have a USA version, after all, japanese voice-dubs are really world apart! I also found some pieces that I would pay a lot to have, but then again the problem is I can't have them individually. Maybe some gaming site or community or museum can pick this up?

rikacomet 14y ago

When I checked both the versions of his full list: Mega: running Dropbox: Error (509) This account's public links are generating too much traffic and have been temporarily disabled! http://i46.tinypic.com/w9jtia.png http://i46.tinypic.com/w9jtia.png

davidroberts 14y ago

My question is: why is he selling? lf he is wealthy enough to have accumulated all these games and consoles in the first place and not care about probably making twice as much by selling piece-by-piece, I don't think it's for the money. Maybe his SO said it's either me or the video games. The fact that he spent literally months of eight hour days lovingly cataloging and photographing everything seems to show that the flame still burns that led him to collect them in the first place.