As a buyer and seller of retro games and hardware, I can’t help but notice the upward trend in prices of late. I have purchased some fantastic bargains over the years from various sources such as car boot sales, jumble sales, charity shops and ebay. Whereas a few years back I could browse my local car boot sale or jumble sale and could buy a ZX Spectrum with a box of games thrown in for a £5 note, now I’d be lucky to even see a ZX Spectrum let alone pay less than £20 for it. The prices on ebay have soared and its almost impossible to bag a bargain there any longer and even charity shops seem to have cottoned on and now charge retail prices for their retro gaming stock. There are exceptions to this rule of course, with car boot stall holders still practically begging you to take away their Nintendo 64 for a pittance.

It got me thinking as to why retro gaming should be getting more expensive and I came up with the following possibilities:

Education

People are just too aware that the computer or console in the loft is worth some money nowadays. We can thank magazines like Retro Gamer for that. Not that I’m against a magazine dedicated to our beloved pastime, (I’ve even advertised within it’s pages in the past). No, I’m just concluding that it’s pages are spreading the potential worth of retro consoles and games to a previously disinterested group of people who now see that ‘theres gold in them there hills’. Consequently they use the often inflated (and misguided) price guides these magazines publish or hold on to their retro goodies as a future investment and put them back in the loft.

Increased Interest

More people wanting stuff drives the price up. Simple economics may be part of the answer and the mere fact that our pastime is becoming more popular is making it more expensive too. Maybe the Credit Crunch is now fueling this and people that are baulking at buying that latest £40 Xbox game have now turned to good old retro gaming as a cheaper alternative. Again, magazines could play a part and their exposure of our hobby could be attracting otherwise disinterested parties to the potential money making aspect of their loft finds.

What are your thoughts? Do you agree that retro gaming is getting more expensive? Why do you think this is? Let us know.

Some collectors concentrate on a certain manufacturer such as Sega or Commodore and collect anything and everything to do with their chosen marque. I fall into this category as I collect anything Sinclair related. Others zero in on a particular machine, such as the Oric Atmos and collect only things that relate to that particular computer. Many are just casual collectors who are just after a fix of retro gaming after years of playing modern machines and realising that sometimes gameplay is more important than how a game looks.

If you fall into any of the categories above, have an interest in retro gaming, retro games collecting or just want to see what all this ‘retro games’ fuss is all about – hopefully this blog will become the place for you.

Ant Harper – Retro Games Collector