The price of sealed games

[JakeHC]

Hey everyone,

What are your thoughts on sealed games and do you think prices will continue to rise?

Over the last couple of years I've been importing games from overseas from sellers such as MusicMagpie. Every now and then, I'll get extremely lucky and open the package to find that it's brand new and sealed. I usually put it to the side and forget about it and I'll buy another copy.

As of now, I'm stuck at a cross roads of selling them now and using the funds to purchase a couple of new systems or just hold on for a few more years.

What would you do in this position?

[Tech13]

it sounds like you may have an emotional attachment to the games you are thinking about selling.

Personally I am very mercenary when it comes to possessions. Even tho I still have the NES my grandmother game me for christmas. I would sell it. I would sell it for far above market value like $250 but that is the price to pry it from my hands.

You need to determine what price your would let it go and not feel bad about it. If there is no price that will make you not feel bad, then don;t sell.

[RealPlumpBox]

I think it is cool to get older games sealed (PS2/Xbox/GC or older).  I have a few and at this point i just keep them sealed especially if I can nab a copy open for cheap.  Just something about an older game that nobody has ever touched or played.  Kind of sad, like finding a wedding dress at a pawn shop.  Anyway, I will play and open if I REALLY have the urge to play bu that would be rare.  Oh and for the price, I do not actively follow price trends nor do I care about them since I do not collect for that reason.  One thing about sealed games I will never ever ever understand is the VGA grading of sealed games.  It is all artificial and not real.  Fake inflated prices and a fake grading system that means fuck all.

[breakmanexe]

I have an older game still in its original shrink-wrap? Selling it. I want to play my games, and an open copy is at least half the price. Recently sold a sealed copy of Sonic 3 that has been in my collection for years, just taking up space. Got a nice price for it. I still have an open copy that I can play whenever I want.

[JakeHC]

it sounds like you may have an emotional attachment to the games you are thinking about selling.

Personally I am very mercenary when it comes to possessions. Even tho I still have the NES my grandmother game me for christmas. I would sell it. I would sell it for far above market value like $250 but that is the price to pry it from my hands.

You need to determine what price your would let it go and not feel bad about it. If there is no price that will make you not feel bad, then don;t sell.

I wouldn't say super attached. I guess more just realising that there's not a lot of these out there and that they may be worth more in future, just caught up on that potential haha. However, it might be good to sell them off and get some more hardware.

I think it is cool to get older games sealed (PS2/Xbox/GC or older).  I have a few and at this point i just keep them sealed especially if I can nab a copy open for cheap.  Just something about an older game that nobody has ever touched or played.  Kind of sad, like finding a wedding dress at a pawn shop.  Anyway, I will play and open if I REALLY have the urge to play bu that would be rare.  Oh and for the price, I do not actively follow price trends nor do I care about them since I do not collect for that reason.  One thing about sealed games I will never ever ever understand is the VGA grading of sealed games.  It is all artificial and not real.  Fake inflated prices and a fake grading system that means fuck all.

It's kind of like the lottery for me since I'm importing these games, all I'm provided is with a stock photo. I'm not into the VGA grading scene, that seems a bit silly to me. I think all the sealed games I do have, I have an unsealed version. Might have to use them as trade bait haha.

I have an older game still in its original shrink-wrap? Selling it. I want to play my games, and an open copy is at least half the price. Recently sold a sealed copy of Sonic 3 that has been in my collection for years, just taking up space. Got a nice price for it. I still have an open copy that I can play whenever I want.

Do you think it was worth holding onto all these years for the extra coin?

[wiggy]

Here’s my take on it.

I own plenty of sealed games, but not for the sake of simply owning sealed games. They’re sealed because I bought them new and haven’t had a chance to play them yet, not because I collect sealed games.  When I want to play one of them, I’ll check the value online.  If it’s rather valuable in sealed form and significantly more expensive than a used copy, then I sell it and buy a used copy.

I buy to play. Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of spare time to play lately

[breakmanexe]

I have an older game still in its original shrink-wrap? Selling it. I want to play my games, and an open copy is at least half the price. Recently sold a sealed copy of Sonic 3 that has been in my collection for years, just taking up space. Got a nice price for it. I still have an open copy that I can play whenever I want.

Do you think it was worth holding onto all these years for the extra coin?

It certainly didn't hurt, although that was absolutely not my intention when I originally picked it up. I just thought it was cool to have. Once I became a father my priorities changed a little bit. Now I can take the value of that game and put it towards my son's college fund. Works fine by me; I still have a copy of Sonic 3 to play, and I'm 3 digits richer.

[TDIRunner]

I don't collect sealed either.  When I acquire an older game that still sealed, I tend to keep it that way because if something has survived this long without being opened, I don't really want to be the person to do it.  I have done it on occasion when the game in question is pretty much worthless despite being sealed.  Otherwise, my plan is to sell it and use the funds to buy an open copy of the game which should yield me some money in my pocket. 

As far as current gen games go, I keep it sealed until I have time to play it.  Like Wiggy said, if it takes a while to play it and by that time the game has become valuable, you might as well sell it and buy an open copy at a discount. 

With that being said, if you get an opportunity to open a really old game that's still sealed, it's a pretty cool experience.  I bought a sealed copy of one of the Madden games for the Game Gear for $1 at Goodwill several years ago.  I opened it just because.  It was really cool seeing a brand new Game Gear game with perfect label and manual even though it wasn't worth jack. 

[Tech13]

Some games get damaged despite being sealed.

I know that Lunar silver start story complete has a coth map where the ink likes to dissolve plastic, and the map is in direct contact with the game disc.

I pulled mine and have placed it in a paper envelope inside a plastic bag.

[EVILSANTA777]

I don't collect sealed, but I definitely understand the appeal of it. It's the "perfect" collection in a sense. I think it's really more about what your goals are as a gamer/collector. Do you like seeing your sealed games and does having more of them bring you enjoyment? I'd personally sell them and buy either open box or just games + manuals because I love the playing aspect as much as the collecting.