Could My Old Videogame Consoles And Cartridges Make Me Millions?

A Legend of Zelda videogame cartridge which plays on an old Nintendo console fetched US$ 870,000. A Super Mario videogame cartridge sold for US$ 1.56 million. These are just some high ticket items sold in the Heritage Auctions held in Europe.

Who could have ever thought that the videogame cartridges we enjoyed during our childhood years can in a manner of a few decades be worth the equivalent of our retirement savings? This is another proof that you shouldn’t throw away your childhood toys just yet!

There are in fact companies that specialize in refurbishing old videogame consoles and cartridges. There are also people who sell the boxes, manuals and all the other extras which came with videogame consoles and cartridges.

There are even counterfeit videogame consoles and cartridges being passed off as originals. So, if you’re planning to spend good money on these now collectible items, be wary, not all “old” looking videogame consoles and cartridges are really old.

The people who buy these old videogame consoles and cartridges belong mainly into three groups: collectors, middlemen and investors. As you can see, these three groups belong to the typical industry of collecting.

1. Collectors: are people who might be young or old but are nevertheless videogame enthusiasts. These are typically the type of people who buys the latest videogame consoles and videogames and don’t discard them.

2. Middlemen: They buy and sell videogame consoles and videogames. They usually have no qualms parting with their videogame consoles and videogames for the right price. Their focus is in retail and short term profit.

3. Investors: These people collect videogame consoles and cartridges for their long time value. They know that these videogame consoles and cartridges would probably increase in value as time goes by and are banking on it.

This is the reason why you see videogame cartridges being sold not just with several thousand dollar price tags but up to over millions. This is also the reason why counterfeiters have entered the market, because there is already big money involved in selling such products.

Videogames didn’t really get popular until the 1980s. For most children back then, they were expensive to attain and not many got to play with them for various reasons like many parents and moral activists back then prohibited them because they supposedly corrupt children.

There are even religious groups who condemned videogames as the work of the devil for allegedly inciting violence and laziness. Now, these same children are now in their 30s, 40s and even in their 50s and 60s who are nostalgic for the videogames they grew up with.

But it’s not only nostalgic old gamers who are buying these old videogame consoles and cartridges but also young people. 20 year olds and even younger are also buying them because they are genuine videogame enthusiasts and want to know the origins of videogames.

And videogame companies are capitalizing on this. For example, the recent re-release of the Nintendo and Megadrive in modernized versions where memory cards contain pre-installed videogames instead of using cartridges is one.

These old but modernized videogame consoles are introducing the young generation to ”Retrogaming”. This is the label given to the activity of playing old videogames using old videogame consoles.

While many gamers are looking mainly for old videogame consoles and cartridges, collectors are also collecting the boxes and the other extras that come with the videogame console and cartridge packaging.

For example, a videogame cartridge of “The Legend of Zelda” for the Nintendo might be priced five times higher if it comes with its original packaging. Of course, the packaging must be in good condition to attain this price.

The same goes for the manuals and other paraphernalia which originally came with these now old videogame consoles and cartridges. But this is not only unique to old videogame consoles and cartridges.

Even “not really old 2000s” playstation and Xbox boxes together with their manuals and other paraphernalia are sought after by collectors. The same is true with other electronics and old vintage watch collectibles.

So, it is safe to say that you shouldn’t necessarily dispose the packaging of the products you buy especially if they are electronics, watches and other high ticket items. There are even counterfeits packagings being sold as authentic packagings.

It’s no big secret that there is an oversupply of videogames out there. Just look at Google PlayStore and the Apple Store. Both stores are littered with games. You could also look at other games distributors such as Steam for further proof.

However, more and more gamers are getting frustrated with the state of the videogame industry because either the videogames are littered with ads or they are full of microtransactions all designed to bleed a gamer for all the money they’ve got.

This is also the reason why there are not many Xbox and Playstation games coming out. Gaming companies have found it more profitable to add in-game microtransactions than to create a new videogame regularly.

And this is the reason why there are lesser and lesser big videogames being made, and almost all videogame companies even the one man videogame development companies are following the same strategy.

Many gamers just want to play ad free games without microtransactions. These are the sort of videogames old videogame consoles and videogames provide. Gamers also want to own their games and not in digital form only.

If you Googled the search term: “modern retrogaming console” for example, you would find a lot of articles which show you that old videogame consoles are being modernized to cater to the retrogaming community.

There are even companies who retrofit original videogame consoles and modernize them in look and technology. Additionally, if you do a YouTube search for the search term: “retrogaming console”, you would come across plenty of retrogaming consoles.

This two simple searches would prove to you how popular retrogaming is. Time might come when the very videogames you play today would be considered retro games in the near future.

The first lesson you need to learn is to not dispose all of your old stuff right away which includes videogame consoles and cartridges. Treat them as some sort of investment. Time might come when they appreciate in value.

Remember that a few of these old videogame cartridges are now selling for more than a million US dollars. These cheap game cartridges might actually become your retirement/pension money one day if you are lucky.

Another thing you need to consider is that there are people who are collecting items that predates the age of digitization. This just basically means the time before the internet. So, the price of physical copies of some recorded media are likely to increase as time goes by.

This includes paper media and cartridges. Why cartridges? Because unlike tapes, CDs and DVDs they are sturdy and don’t get damaged easily. In short, they last a very long time with proper care.

I know I’m getting repetitive, but I’ll repeat it one more time: Don’t throw away all your stuff especially if they relate to popular culture like videogames. For example, Super Mario is a very old game yet a lot of people are still playing its old and new versions.

And again I like to restate that there are now old videogames that are reaching more than a million US dollar price tags. One of this million US dollar videogame cartridges might just be gathering dust in your storage.

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