Will Collecting Games and Other Things Decline?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ก.ย. 2024
- Will collecting games, toys, and other things decline due to less physical media and the closing of retail stores?
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What do you think? Will game collecting decline? Toy collecting, etc.? Will any new collecting fields be on the rise if physical media comes to an end? Let me know!
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Ian was right Pat, kids of the future never miss the things their parents had, it was never for them and I see this as the age old... you want the kids to have the same experiences.
Kids today don't care about the things we cared about, same as we don't care about out parent's 👍
Collecting will just change the thing that is being collected, not collecting itself ending, again, our parents collected totally different things than we do and so on.
Pat it sucks getting old but this is just how it is brother 😎👍
Pat Toy's R Us is back, your late to the game dude... Macy's owns the name and their toy section is Toys R Us now 😞 sadly
I think the only thing that would really impact game collecting in our lifetime is a big economic crash or some kind of crazy national event like civil war, etc. Without something big that impacts daily life and makes people reconsider their priorities, we will all continue to enjoy our hobbies.
To me, there will always be an interest in collecting things that bring back fun, nostalgic memories from one's childhood, especially those they hope to pass on to others like their kids, partner, etc.
I do think that a generation not raised on physical media will do that in a different way...maybe it's a digital picture frame that shows off their favorite/most absurd Fortnite dances, or some Fortnite toy busting a move, etc. vs the actual games themselves.
I also think that the current physical media collecting fad, which in part is driven by legitimate "I want to play and remember these games" interest, but also is driven by major speculative interest, will die down somewhat, but as someone who collects for fun vs investment purposes I don't see that necessarily being a bad thing.
Here in the UK, we have several dedicated large toy retailers that sell physical games, plus limited selections within supermarkets.
Targeted advertising still exists, it's just more likely pushed via younger TH-camrs who fail to disclose their advertainment deals, and present a shared experience as a trusted older influence.
I’m a 22 year old who has no nostalgia for any video game system older than a ps2 but I find myself gravitating for stuff older than me because it’s about discovering new games and as someone who loves art, older games tend to have a lot of creativity and it’s something very inspiring to me tbh
I actually find the console I should have the most nostalgia for (PS2 and Gamecube) in theory to be extremely boring to collect for. Hell consoles I didn't even know existed until I was adult I find allot more enjoyment in. Not always about nostalgia.
The main reason I stopped collecting was buying a house. It really put things into perspective, and I decided that because the vast majority of the games I was buying weren't getting played, continuing to collect would be pretty stupid.
totally with you on that.... need to prioritize spending money on family...especially now i don't even have time for games..
I feel like collecting nowadays is just way too expensive. You could justify it up through the first decade of the 2000's but after that, it became more popular and the games sometimes are just absurdly priced. I remember the late 90's, where there were a ton of used game stores and if an NES game was more than $30, that was considered expensive.
@bean420man that's another big part of it. But I was to the point at the height of my collecting where I was buying Super Rare Games switch releases and leaving them in the cellophane. It is literally the worst kind of collecting some of them have increased in value significantly, which I guess was the point of doing it in the first place, but I'm actually playing and enjoying more games now that I'm only purchasing games I have the intention of playing. I will still purchase certain games for their rarity from time to time, but only specific genres like classic shmups or if I find a really good deal. It's much healthier for me in general to do it that way.
Pat is transforming into a Cabbage Patch doll. I’d buy one tbh.
Omg he does look like a cabbage patch kid lol
Dude looking like one. He needs to get his health in check.
I havent watched this podcast for a while. Ians transforming into Jack Black
I'm an 80's kid. I remember my mom taking me to Kay Bee Toys to get me a Nintendo game for my birthday. Digital gaming can't compare to spending time with your parents and getting a physical copy of a game. That's a memory to hold on to forever. Digital gaming doesn't give you that.
🖨️🖨️🖨️💯💯💯💯💯
Miss kay bee toys
Today's kids will remember playing Pokemon Go with their Dad. Or perhaps Minecraft or Amibo.
If we force physical media on an Xbox owning kid, we'll look like dinosaurs out of touch with reality.
@TechRyze you're completely missing the point of what he said. He isn't talking about playing the games together , he is talking about going to a toy store to buy the game. Having a moment out with his parents and them purchasing it for him inside a store full of toys.
Reading the whole manual on the way home and then racing to the console the second the car stopped in the driveway. Good memories, but honestly I'd have traded that whole experience to just be able to download and play the game almost instantly, especially if it would have been online with friends.
I agree with them, GenX/Y were born in that sweet-spot where we experienced the coda of analog tech evolve into the infancy of digital tech. Living through that transition drives our nostalgia even further. Shopping in department stores pre-internet are some of my greatest memories tied to my collection.
I agree.
Comics are expensive so I didn't get into them until my 20s. There is no way I was paying $3 for a book I can read in 15 minutes when $3 got me an old snes or genesis game I could play for hours.
I think this is very similar to what happened when music transitioned from CDs to download and streaming. The disappearance inevitably leads to a reduction in sales because you have to actively search to find it rather than coming across them in the wild.
The telecommunications act of 1996 is what harmed the music industry
I am currently 39 years old. In 2017, I started getting into the Dragon Quest series. I never played the games as a kid, so there is no nostalgia factor. I just played the first game in 2017 after finding an NES cart at a garage sale for $7. I instantly fell in love with the game and sought out to find and play more. Now, I own physical copies of every main numbered game, with multiple versions of most of them (NES, GBC, PS, Switch, etc). I also bought a bunch of merch and books. Last year, after finding a Famicom at a used game store, I sought out Japanese copies of two of the games. I recently imported Japanese soundtrack cds for all 11 main games, even though I could just as easily listen to that shit for free on youtube. I have no nostalgic memories of this stuff from my childhood, nor am I trying to collect these things for monetary reasons, i.e. investing. I just fell in love with this series a few years ago and want to have all these things simply because I like them.
Same story here with Dragon Quest and Mother series
Dragon warrior 1 on nes was the first rpg I ever beat when I was 8, I wish I would have known about 2,3 and 4 when I was a kid, didn't find out that it was a series still going until years later, now I've beaten them all, all versions and lookin forward for the 3 remake on modern consoles, I really hope it's physical, if I can't own it I don't want it
Wow, almost the same story for me. I am 40 years old, and I never played or collected the DW/DQ series until early 2023. I started playing DW4 on the Nes and I loved it. I then bought all the mainline games released in North America, as well as a couple released in Japan. I have played through the first four games on the Nes, the fifth game on both the DS as well as on a Super nes multicart with an English patch…and I’m currently playing through DQ6 on the DS. After this, I’m going to play DW7 on ps1, then DQ8 on ps2, DQ9 on DS, and DQ11 on ps4.
So far, I rate DW1 an 8, DW2&DW3 get 9’s, and DW4&DQ5 both get 10’s.
I’m a little over half way done with DQ6, but it’s my least favorite so far. It seems like it will probably get a 6.5 or a 7. We’ll see. It’s okay, but a big step down from the utter masterpieces that were DW4 and DQ5.
I’m 43 and this is the very thing that scares me. No time, energy or money to dive into something new and be addicted to. Coming back to console gaming (just Nintendo) in 2017, I just stick to the few genre and franchises I’m familiar with. That means no Pokémon, JRPGs, Animal Crossing and 3D Zeldas (love 2D ones). These games are time sinkers which is a no-no with me because a wife (who doesn’t play games), young kids and a business to run are first priorities.
@@thelastdragon5551 Everybody needs time to forget the world, you can have kids and a wife and run a business and still play games, just have to find out if it helps out in your life, it's better than going out drinking and partying, some people don't like playing video games and that fine, it's up to you whether it helps or hurts you
There are a bunch of experiences my parents had as kids that I'll never have just like I had a bunch of experiences as a kid that my kids will never have. Time and culture just move that fast.
I do think collecting will decline as an investment but will still exist as a hobby. As future generations grow up less enamored with physical media and high collector prices create a barrier to entry it'll grow more and more niche.
If future generations grow up not caring about physical media, the market's overall value will dissipate, therefore creating a lower barrier to entry for the most part except for media that's aging out of functionality (things becoming no more than museum pieces due to disc rot, failing/irreplaceable parts, etc.).
@JZekis Very well said. Most of us feel ok not having had our parents' experience. I certainly do. Like-wise, future generations will feel perfectly fine downloading/streaming videogames. Many people often make the mistake of thinking that their childhood was somehow objectively better, but in reality most of it is actually very subjective. And if we don't realize this, we risk becoming that annoying old man constantly going on about the good old days and how everything was better.
However there is an issue with zoomers and gen alpha feeling cheated. I've had people ask me what it was like going to a midnight launch for a game waiting for the store to open and making friends. They were fascinated with it. I told them people could easily experience that again by just preordering a game at GameStop instead of Amazon but they refuse to get out of their house.
They want those experiences but don't at the same time. They're upset they don't have the community we had while refusing to put in the effort for it. Which shows when you look at the amount of gen z who have 0 friends vs older groups. Gen alpha is looking to have a higher % of 0 friends
I think you're right. Not every generation appreciates or cares about the previous generations' hobbies. Just look at previous generations trying to sell off their Elvis collections.
@backlogbuddies I had such a blast at midnight launches. Day 1 for consoles. I was 40+ when most of them happened. Luckily my kids got to experience toy stores.
Out of nowhere, I started collecting Starting Lineup figures a few months ago.
I’ve been recreating the fantasy toy store in my mind in my actual physical basement, without fully realizing it until it really took over the space.
1:48 - that was me about 10 years ago. I used to go on eBay and look at all this stuff I knew about but didn’t have as a kid and I bought a lot of it, plus new gaming-related merchandise that was coming out like World of Nintendo figures. Then about 5 years ago, we moved and I had accrued so much stuff that I could never hope to display despite literally doubling the amount of space I had for it, so after moving, I sold off 80% of it.
Someone on a TH-cam video used the term “landfill fodder” and that made a lightbulb click for me to recognize it was time to cash out before I had a bunch of worthless junk or it sits and becomes my kids’ problem way down the road.
I'm 42. I have complete sets of vintage G.I. Joe, M.A.S.K., Ghostbusters, He-Man, Thundercats, TMNT, Silverhawks, Star Wars....etc. All in expensive collectors cases like a museum. I never touch them just look. It is 100% because my parents were poor and I didn't have the stuff. When I started making six figures out of college in the early 2000s I went crazy and bought the childhood I wanted.
Toys R Us was dragged into a dark alley and beat to death.
;(
They actually did come back and even opened a store in the Houston Galleria. Thing is, Covid happened like a week later or so. So, as soon as they opened again, the pandemic shut it right back down. They just can't catch a break.
@@bean420man there is one in New Jersey, in the big mall they opened recently.
The experiences kids from the 1980s to late 90s had,with context to their childhood and Nostalgia; will never be the same as kids that were born after the year 2010, completely different
As someone born in 2000, I fondly remember buying and playing games like Simpson hit & run, battlefront 2, Minecraft and halo 3 to name a few as a kid but I don't feel compelled to buy anything older than the dreamcast.
Most of my toys r us memories or pre ordering games is of buying things like pokemon cards or preording a copy of dead rising riptide.
Don't think there's almost any overlap.
@@kelmanl4 I would agree and understand
Collecting will NEVER go away, it will fluctuate and shift over time but humans won't stop being human - there will always be those of us who crave to own vintage items they can touch and use. There will be new audiences for some of the stuff we grew up with, also, many kids ARE growing up with these consoles via the ubiquitous nature of retro gaming.
What about a scenario where we live in a dystopian future where we actually "own nothing"? Imagine all games and entertainment are digital or streaming, no physical media, people can't afford cars, and only the upper echelon of wealthy own things.
Digital store fronts will ruin a part of the brain in the future. Think about the whole process we had as kids. Now it's instant gratification.
As someone who is 24, it doesn't seem that old, but i am old enough to remember going to blockbuster k Mart Sears and a lot of those older chain stores that aren't really around anymore
Awesome conversation! Good news is that here in Japan, there are still a ton of stores with gigantic toy and game isles. Maybe that is one reason I moved here. Life size Panda at the checkout when Trekkers was released
Collecting anything will never end, certain people will get hooked onto something and that's what they'll attempt to get within their budget, most will have no real value outside of historical value and how old it may be. There's people who collect silverware, thimbles, dolls, coins, stamps, etc., so while it might be out of the major public interest in the next 50-100 years there will be those who will want them even if they can't use them anymore.
Adult video game collecting is about finally being the big kid on the block. That's why they always show off their collection.
I guess still being in college I'm not quite there yet lol
I'd say in most cases, nobody's going to care more about your collection than yourself.
What if I just collect to please myself? No need to show it to fiends/family members and certainly not for social media?
@@thelastdragon5551 Then you're collecting for a different reason... Aesthetics, most of all.
You could have worded this differently because it made me think you collect X rated games 😂
This generation does not have physical media, so they won't care about cartridges or disks
I mean, this generation *does* have physical media. Problem is that convenience has largely replaced what was once necessary, so the physical media we have isn’t very important to the younger folks.
I mean I am gen z but I fondly remember the 360, ps2 and OG Xbox so I'd be interested to collect for them but I'd much rather emulate anything older than the gamecube because I don't see a value in investing in old and slowly dying hardware.
@@samuellayton3539I think that's true, the experience of emulating old games that cost a fair chunk of change is so much cheaper and easier than buying the hardware that as times goes on will no longer be available.
People always say it takes up too much space or costs too much but what the hell else would you spend your money and time and space on than something you love most?
You could save that money, invest it appropriately (ie, not crypto) and maybe retire earlier and send more of your days enjoying gaming... just one idea.
That is on idea. The thing is money for this stuff shouldn't be eating into your retirement lol The money used for your hobby should be your surplus after priorities are taken care of. You can have a savings/retirement and collect games at the same time. People just dont realize that not everyone is entitled to own whatever they want. The market determines the price and if you cant afford it then its up to you to not buy it and go broke. @@ogre706
@ogre706 Good advice. When covid hit and prices rocketed, I sold a decent portion of my collection and invested the money. Never a bad idea to invest, the way the world's going most of us will never retire if we don't.
@@ogre706if I could go back in time I'd go to school or learn a skill
Lots of very very sad people care far too much about how their house looks to guests. That’s their measure of success. Tragic lmao
when I hear or watch your show, guys, I usually agree with Pat about stuff but today Ian has it: nostalgia is more like a fashion, collecting a hobby. Collecting can survive without nostalgia, but that feeling of nostalgia will fade as younger generations got less contact with that analogic "past".
Kids of the 70, 80's and 90's, were never saturated with video games or toys. Like with future kids were in later years, we didn't have the internet.
We made contact primarily at a store, we associated the nostalgia with the store by and large. Unless you caught a random commercial for a toy, you didn't really find out about it unless you went to the store. You really couldn't see all the games, and be able to read the back of the box and screen shots unless you went to a store.
I couldn't tell you the names of other stores in the mall back in the 80's, but I could walk to and around each of the toy stores and video game stores to this day blind folded.
Now you don't even need to buy 90% of these games, just watch one of the countless playthroughs online.
I don't know what to say about newer toys, do they even have toys for kids now days? Most kids I see are sitting with a tablet or phone in hand.
Exactly! 💯 I am not sure what is the obsession with our generation (Elder-Millenials and Younger-Gen X) trying to recreate ourselves in our kids and other people's' children. The world is very different now. It was very different then (god knows). We are not the same.
Each generation is shaped by the environment of these times they live. They will value things when they are much older, that you and I would probably not be able to relate too or predict. Just as there were actually older people a few decades back who were nostalgic for the times of paddles in schools and child labor.
Toy Stores do not even hit the same with kids (like me) who also grew up in the 80s and 90s... but did not experience growing up going to them. Alot of kids either grew up poor, didn't live near a Toys' R Us (as they were somewhat regional in places), or they did not have parents who bought them things.
I have more nostalgia for renting a single videogame (usually nes, gb or snes) every week for $3 from my various local mom and pop video stores, or playing with toys at cousins and friends houses. I've never been in a Toys'R Us in my entire life, and growing up I only really saw toys at WALMART and KMART. And rarely did my mom (as my dad was not around) approve of them, as she thought toys were too expensive. She encouraged me to focus my birthday and Christmases on Gameboy games and rentals - because she thought that was a cheaper way to occupy myself.
And just saying that might sound horrible and sad to most people our age... but I am actually grateful I wasn't bought the toys I wanted (even if it meant I cried alot in stores as a kid). Because I have an attachment to those experiences, and my passion for gaming might have never manifested as it did, had I also shared my attention with other things. And as a result, everytime I see an old Walmart (or Kmart) or an abandoned building that clearly used to be a Rental Store.... those are the spaces which I personally get those 'feel goods' and flashes of nostalgia when I encounter them.
I have even been known to stop on the side of the road at old dilapidated husks of Video rental stores, and go in them and imagine what they must have been like 25 or 30 years ago, on a busy friday night after some big release. It's a almost religious experience for me to stand in those haunting places and remember my own experiences as a dirty kid with 3 or 4 buck in quarters clanking together in my shorts pocket... and finding new hole-in-the wall rental place I had never visited... usually discovering some wonderful game of movie I had never seen before.
I don't reminisce about toy stores, but rather Star Night Video, or Video World 2... or 80/90s Walmart back when they had arcade machines out in the front of the store lobby, people smoked in the store, and they had elderly greeters in blue vests with those giant Pins. People can glow over their toy collections or places like Kiddie City.... and I legitimately will (apparently) never know what I missed out on as a kid (and I don't care in the least).
And can you imagine hearing someone say their childhood nostalgia is for going to Walmart? ...exactly. And that just goes to show how 'tailored' our personal upbringings really are. We each have our own specifically tuned rose-tinted glasses of the past. The notion that everyone had the same upbringings and feel the same way about these stores... it's naive. And it's the fundamental reason why so many middle-aged men can't understand today's children growing up without those same experiences.... which must feel to them like they are almost 'integral' to growing up.
My friends all grew up better off than me, and I STILL regularly hear about their toy collections growing up, and I have for years listened to them converse about their current collections. When Toys 'R US closed a bunch of years back... a few of my buddies actually camped out all night at the last one in our area and and took photos for social media and livestreamed it for a online toy group. I never understood the appeal or doing that in a cold February.
And no matter how much they have tried to get me into their hobby... it has literally no appeal to me. They talk about their parents taking them out for good grades to eat out at pizza hut and buy a toy or two. They talk about receiving toys randomly by their parents. Going to the mall on christmas and buying a big play sets... and it's so alien to me.
I stopped caring about them at 12, when my mom turned down my request for a few bucks to get a Red Ranger at Magic Mart. That was the last time I ever asked for a toy, and after that I only cared about was renting games and watching bad martial arts movies. I appreciated every game I played, every game I borrowed from friends, each game trade, and every one of my handful of game cartridges that I actually owned. Something that neither pat, nor future generations of kids could understand.
My own appreciation and attachment to the past is unique to my own situation... and (again) THAT is the heart of this issue.
Too many people in our generation have these conversations, and reflect their own life experiences onto the situation as the default (unalienable) truth of the world. They are unable to understand that their experiences and values are not universal, and very specific to their own upbringing (even if they share it with many people who had similar childhoods). There are people (like myself) from their own generation, who grew up back then, who don't share their feelings because what they describe does not reflect my own childhood.
These frequent conversations (usually by childless middle-aged men) about other people's' kids missing out on toy stores and saturday cartoons... it is really out-of-touch. It's the first step towards waving at clouds and 'back in my day' conversations at the nursing home. The narrative changes when we dive into socio political, the nuclear family unit, environmental or economical comparisons.... but these "we had better toys" conversations are misplaced, and show a fundamental lack of understanding of how the world works.
_PS: Sorry for the rambling Post. lol._
lol communist spy slab
I'm done collecting games. With all the reproductions and prices going up due to retro games/consoles being a modern day gold rush it's not worth the trouble anymore. I see a lot of reproduction carts for Nintendo systems more often then I thought I would. Also, once the servers shut down on the PS4/X-Box, all the physical discs I bought are going to be drink coasters. Most modern games need to connect to the servers to download the whole game. There are a few exceptions but not many. I used to love game collecting but I feel like it's been ruined by the examples I wrote about above. Depending on where you live can make collecting a head ache. In the Midwest where I live, everyone wants top dollar for retro games. Out West, you guys got it good on finding fair prices. Happy I got to collect some real cool retro games/consoles before it was tarnished. We're also heading into an all digital future. The writing is on the wall. Remedy didn't release Alan Wake 2 physical. Once one company does it the rest fall in line. X-Box also shut down their physical games division, so pretty soon, there will be no physical games to collect for kids to collect.
Unless you’re talking PUBG or Xbox or something, there are tons of physical games on ps4 and ps5 that will run on a day 1 console with no internet just fine. I had your same mentality for a while but when I actually looked into it, I realized there’s an opportunity for me to have those games and be prepared for the day when I just lose interest in whatever gaming turns into. Between ps4 and ps5 there’s enough interesting stuff to keep me entertained for another few decades.
Kids nowadays will go through the same feelings we did. The difference is I think that things change quicker for them now as we had things for years before they got old and played out. Kids now have TOO much and there are so many options that there wont be as many people nostalgic for those things. We had millions of kids with maybe 100 options for toys where maybe 10 of those toys most kids liked. Now there are infinite amount of things for kids to get into (with the internet it opens up international interests). There will just be less people nostalgic for certain things in the future
I was thinking the same thing. Todays kids and even adults are living in a time of fast media. There’s always something new, and we get bored of shit really fast as well.
if you really love collecting, you shouldn't care about it being popular. except if you want to resell
Pat and Ian discussing the nostalgia connection while sitting in, what is in effect, Pat’s dream-version of Toys-R-Us.
I agree with 100% about taking the person and buying them a gift in person, because even to this day I still have my Hercules the legendary journey toys and I remember going to the toy store with my parents when they bought them for me.
Aren't some of them really just retooled kevin Costner robin hood toys?
@@kurtshastany1945 lol I don’t know if there was a Robin Hood toy. You would probably have to ask the toy expert about that.
@@michaeldietz2648 oh I just looked again. They are too biz not Kenner. They reused certain molds n pieces from the old xmen xforce and spiderman toylines
@@kurtshastany1945 thanks that’s pretty cool I never knew that!!
I am totally in agreement that there just is nowhere to have the experiences that I and many others my age had. Going into Toys R Us, KB, Babbages or any other toy or video game store just isn't a thing that kids now can experience. Toys R Us was just this humongous building filled with every toy and video game imaginable. You could easily lose half a day in there. It was like going on a field trip or an expedition for kids.
We live in a world where there are youtube channels of 20 somethings collecting and maintaining vintage toilets....I think the future generation will be fine in regards to finding something to collect that floats their boat. Alot of this worrying about the future of collection scenes seems like people are wondering who they will pawn off their stuff to when its time to cash out.
Also Toys R us still exists in Macy's stateside but its sadly an unorganized mess. They really need to get Macy's to maintain their section of the store or don't even bother.
Before Toys R Us closed for good I made it a priority to take my daughter who was around two at that time to the store to run around and look at everything. She had a blast, and I am so glad I was able to give her something close to what I had at her age.
Awesome idea.
You created amazing memories that she will randomly remember throughout her life and make her smile.
To Pat’s indoctrination point, we were indoctrinated with curated 30-minute long commercials called cartoons. Which would’ve been illegal prior to the 80s.
I’ve said it once I’ll say it again. Eventually there will be less and less attachment to older consoles. The games will always be tied to a generation just like everything else. Without the nostalgia and connection it will begin to loose interest that’s just how it goes. Trains were huge at one point and now they’re not much. You can sit here and try to say they’re not the same, but as someone that has children the interest they have in older games is nowhere near what they can enjoy with current gen graphics/gameplay etc
I think if you have seen kids - today's children - it's INSANE how much they LOVE Mario and Sonic characters. Mario and Sonic are getting current, very successful brand deals with Oreos and Capri Sun. Even if collecting becomes not about the physical media, I think it's certain characters and stories we love. Peanuts characters and Garfield are making a big comeback because of Tiktok and most of that generation probably has no memory of newspaper comics or the 80's/90's tv shows of Snoopy/Garfield.
i think it has. My collection on price charting has declined pretty big from what it was in even 2020.
Prices were heavily inflated during covid I would argue they just came back to normal. Video games are not declining
As long as there are people that have the sentiment and attachment to their past, people always collect things; however that's where it ends
Seriously how many 20-something year olds have you met that or into collecting VHS or records?.. it's the same with old video games.
And I hate to say it, but the way technology and trends move nowadays, we've come to the sentiment of; "If it's old, it sucks.."
@@SuperIcarusmanthat’s not the same there are better ways to watch those movies or listen to that music. There are many games that are stuck on older systems. As long as there are still certain franchises putting out new games there will always be an interest to see where it started. So people will always go back to the earlier games
For me I never had a toy store in my town to go buy games. My nostalgia/consumer indoctrination is tied to gaming magazines. I think today's kids see games and things they can't have online all the time, maybe they see their favorite streamers or youtubers play them or something. I think collecting will die out but it will be more because of physical media dying out than because of stores.
Larry "Fat Lard" Bundy is looking at this now in pure hate.
I think he's right that it's largely driven by nostalgia and that's reflected by looking at the historical sales prices. With a few exceptions, NES, SNES and N64 prices all peaked and are mostly on the decline as those people nostalgic for those eras bought in and have mostly had their fill. Now we're seeing ATHs in the gamecube era where 20-somethings nostalgic for that are also getting into the market for that era.
Agree. I think higher GC prices will linger longer for quantity reasons for the top titles compared to say NES, but to your greater point that demand for some earlier systems may have peaked/gotten close to their peak, I agree...I'm not quite sure about putting N64 in that group yet but definitely for most systems that came before it.
Re GCN prices: there's also the issue of it being really easy to emulate cartridge systems because their BIOS' aren't protected via trademarks. Sure setting up dolphin is easy but you still need to hunt down the proper bios files compared to just downloading an nes, snes, or 64 emulator. Even getting a switch emulator up and running is easier than getting a CD based system, until the ps3, running.
@backlogbuddies the bios is protected by copyright, not trademark. Second, retroarch for the longest time had cores to run cd base games. Only I think the sega cd was the biggest issue. I don't think you know what you are talking about.
@krusk
I misspoke big whoop. As someone who has had to help lots of people set to RetroArch because it's a pointlessly confusing mess I'm not sure you know what you're talking about.
It's easier, and better, to snag a bios and set up a fine tuned emulator than it is to deal with RetroArch cores. RetroArch has improved but it still pales in comparison for ease of use and quality of emulation comapred to dedicated emulators. Even then getting the bios is too much for a lot of people. Even getting the update files for rpcs3 is too much for some and that's just going to Sony's website.
You came in wanting to sound smug and smart while not understanding what i said.
@@backlogbuddies No, I didn't come in smug and as well as between bios and cores, they aren't that hard to set up as well as the cores barely need any configuration unless it's a speciality game. It also isn't a big whoop because you don't need a bios to play GCN games on dolphin lol. It's helpful to have especially something like paper mario but trust me, most games don't need a fine tune as much as you claim.
These too putz are obsessed with not being called 'collectors' of any speculator flavor. They go in really round about ways to try to disprove that point. They're obsessed with promoting the idea that collecting = bad unless some type of previous connection with a product or IP.
Nail on the head, I'm collecting things my parents could never afford to get me when I was a kid.
Game collecting lost its fun when it became more about money than about games
Totally agree with you about it being a memorable experience for your kid if you take them to the shop in person. It's funny you mention Sonic 2 because I still remember the day my parents took me to get Sonic 2. I'm pretty sure I could still draw a (rough) floor plan of the Toys R Us we got it from.
all forms of collecting will decline but not for any of these reasons imo. more impactful will be the continuing stagnation of wages and increase in cost of living. most kids today will never own a house so where are they supposed to store their collections?
Toys R Us is still alive and well here in Canada but it's worth mentioning that they stopped selling video games about a year ago
Agree with Ian. I collect vintage toys, vintage toys from Japan, lobby cards, books. Most of this stuff was made and released before I was born. I agree nostalgia plays a part in lots of facets of collecting, but it’s not cut and dry.
Same here. Been collecting Japanese books, vinyl, VHS, etc. mostly from before I was born and discovered within the past 2 or 3 years. I used to be into game collecting when prices were still reasonable but have completely lost interest in it and playing games in general. I plan to sell what remains of my collection and only keep the games I've had since childhood and have a sentimental attachment to.
In my (small) town, there are zero toy stores, yet 4 board game/collectible card game stores. They kind of have taken up the retail "toy" market space, where you can walk the rows of products.
probably. it'll take a while if large portion of the collecting market gets burnt out on it.. so you have 2 rooms full of sh*t, you have your mancave with comics, toys, games or whatever - and now what?
Now you sit. And look at it, and nod.
What we have to keep in mind is collecting comes in waves. Nostalgic collecting is wave 2 after speculation for future sales collecting. Wave 3 is probably people who find it and enjoy it years after it's new. Wave 4 is distant and probably historical.
Nostalgia isn't new and it isn't going anywhere, it just changes with the times. Today's kids will still grow up to have nostalgia about their gaming experiences, they will just be different kinds of experiences
I walked into a best buy last week at 6 in the evening and I was the only one there. It was a ghost town. Retail is dead.
I think those of us that are collectors and have kids will create that next generation of people who are interested in the hobby. I'd like to think my daughter will one day look back at my videogame shelves, pulling a game out, and playing it with fondness.
Yes! True that regarding nostalgia and physical copies of media. I remember being a kid in elementary school and my mom taking me to Toy’s R Us or GameStop to look at game boy advance and PSP games. I remember every detail of our trips like it was yesterday. The weather, the car ride etc.
It was a truly memorable experience the few times a year when I would get a new game. Now that I’m older, I can buy any game I want from online retailers like eBay, but that same feeling just isn’t there. I’m glad I have those memories with my mom in which I will never forget. ❤️
Remember Toys R Us went out of business in the United States but not here in Canada.
Still loving your NES bible Pat. Still got my NES collection always will.
Fun fact:extinct businesses like Toys R' Us and Bob's Big Boy only failed in America. They're still alive here in Japan. I go to Big Boy restaurants and take my kids to Toys R' Us all the time. Damn you Merica. You made me do this.
I believe it will decline once our generation is old or die off, as depressing as that sounds. This generation already don't care about that era of gaming, so they won't be buying or seeking it out. Some people of this generation will want it, but nowhere near what people born in the 70s, 80s, and 90s would.
Once our generation is gone, all those game will just fade away. This generation will be wanting games THEY grew up with, which would be PS2 and up, or XBOX 360 and up.
Being able to touch, smell and see things right there in person, is always going to give you a stronger link to your past. And for shopping it was just nice to see it and make your decision and within minutes your playing it at home.
Yes, and it already has.. I hate to say but with media moving so fast and kids wanting the next best thing, we've come to the sentiment that, "If it's old, it sucks."
I think what was lost can be summarized as the story, the mystery, and the adventure of eventuallty acquiring whichever toy or game we wanted. It was a stable, tried and true process of exposure (cartoons, magazines, physical stores), followed by family members actually going out to those stores to buy those items and talking about how hard at times it was to get them. Also, the lack of knowing the entire world of whichever toy or game played a large part - most of us really had a small bubble of knowledge in the 80's and the 90's. Now the internet exposes everything, and the mystery is completely gone. All of that together made some permanent positive unforgetable experiences.
Nothing today will replace the feeling I hold in my heart of my mom taking me to Toys'R'Us and buying a new gameboy game cuz I did good on my grades, no greater high then hearing my mom say "pick one" with no thought in my head of "is this game good or not" just "I want that one"
My mom did the same thing with me, but the Gameboy game I picked out was a no-brainer: The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening.
Mannn... havent watched yall since HS. Amazing clip, glad TH-cam put this on my feed! Stay going boys
I myself don't collect games for nostalgia or for buying games my mom said no to. I didn't even know most of the games i have right now even existed back then. I have my childhood games, but i'm buying games i've never heard of. Seen gameplay of some games and heard of some and that makes me want to buy them.
I agree with everything that Ian said.
As a kid, the toy store down the street had a TG16 display in the window and a demo station inside where I got to sample half a dozen games. I wanted it so bad but never got one, and it definitely fueled my nostalgia for TG16 when the early 2000s rolled around and I had expendable income. But the prices eventually got so silly that I turned to emulation, though I still have my collection. This extends to most retro systems, haven't bought many new games since prices got goofy over the last decade.
I'm 40 now and I honestly believe you can collect any way you want, but I tend to respect someone more who has amassed a collection simply on games they loved playing growing up, rather than someone who collects for monetary gain.
2:00 100% agree with Ian, I'm 23, have collected NES since about 12, I don't have nostalgia for the games being on store shelves but it's cool buying the games I couldn't buy when I first started playing
Hey same here, I recently started collecting for the Atari 2600
Yes I finally got my MEGAZORD! LOL
My goal with record collecting has been to be able to close my eyes and randomly choose a record off the shelf, knowing it's something I'd actually want to listen to. This has meant getting rid of things I've impulse bought when first getting into the hobby and mostly purging records that were given to me for free from other people once they knew I was into it. My initial for record collecting was having a gigantic library so anyone that came over could find something they liked, but realistically no one comes over our house and when they do we rarely listen to records. It's mostly a solo activity or something I do with my girl. Same deal with videogames, I only collect what I'll actually play.
It's been a real treat, discovering games I never could have imagined. Really been getting into GameBoy lately. Lots of really cool, experimental ideas, and ways that system limitations led to creativity. I think there will always be people who want to experience that whimsical feeling. There's something almost surreal, or ethereal about playing retro games on original hardware.
Hear me out: I'm not from USA, im fron an eastern european country (living in Europe right now). All these speculative "is this just a connection/Nostalgia" arguments break over simple examples of tons and tons of collectors that are not from states and never "went to buy Sonic 2 and then ate at McDonalds with mom".
1) i never had any other consoles than MegaDrive as a kid
2) i never had that many toys (so i basically NEVER seen a 80-90s toys as a kid in stores like peopl from USA that connected to TMNT/He-Man and etc.).
Yet still i have a huge collection of video games and action figures.
I collect things that are cool and great - not things i have a nostalgia connection to. We live in a world that is driven by pop culture. come on.
I would hope people wise up soon and get out of the delusion that these aging electronics are not gold. For those who grew up in the 80s and 90s, we're wayyyyyy past the point of living out fleeting puddle deep levels of nostalgia, and now into Peter Pan syndrome of "I don't wanna grow" up kind of awkwardness. It's beyond time to let go, I did awhile ago and am much happier, richer and healthier to not be bogged down with borderline cringe manbaby collections of stuff I was holding onto from my youth.
I would imagine when people from that 80s to late 90s time period stop caring about these consoles and games, then the prices will go down. It happened with comics, beanie babies, sports cards, etc. The majority of kids today born from 2000 onwards don't have any nostalgic connection or history to the NES, SNES, and Genesis era, so they would really only buy it as a "retro" novelty, and that isn't enough to drive up prices.
it is a very interesting topic and i think what it means to collect between your generation and someone more my age who literally grew up watching avgn and Pat and so on is a very different thing. gaming is such a unique medium right now because of how relatively young it is, someone really not all that much older than me could have lived through basically the entirety of video games so far, where as i started with an n64 and my first real console was a GameCube. i personally collect games made before the n64 with obviously zero nostalgic connection whatsoever and i would imagine that is shared with a large portion of current collectors who have finally found themselves with enough cash to start collecting games from before their time. i think among many other reasons to collect games, some sort of historical curiosity has probably at this point matched nostalgia at this point in regards to reasons for purchasing old games. i myself would probably say interest in the medium as a whole and historical curiosity is my main reason for collecting and that reason also gives me faith that collecting will most likely not die out any time soon
We just stream the good times and memories now, I remember looking at all the games and toys that if I had time and money to invest in I would, I also remember saying I need another life time to take a different path to play every thing I missed out on, I love the memories of playing Mario kart, and going to the go cart track on the occasional Saturday
Hello, I collect CD´s, DVD´s,Bluray´s, LP´s, Comics, Videogames and Watches. I will never give these collections up because they are part of my life. And of course I have memories and nostalgia connected to them. My oldest watch is 82 years old and she looks very nice and runs perfect (after some repairing and service). This watch is 30 years older than me and I´m sure she will exist and run when I´m dead. So the thing is, this watch is part of my life, but we also can say, I´m only part of this watches life (kinda strange thinking about that). I´m trying this with all my collections and I like to imagining about all this previous owners and people who will get my stuff in future...
I don't see how collecting will decline. If Snatcher is 600 now it's gonna be the same if not more in 15 years same for every other game just because of places like ebay
In regards to nostalgia, most of the nostalgia I have is related to happy memories. I'm 38 and have nostalgia for games I played with my dad or brothers. Then also for mid late 90s WWF and other TV shows. Now, having an almost 8 year old the show Bubble Guppies gives me nostalgia for the very young version of my kid.
I have occasionally picked some shows from my childhood Saturday morning cartoon lineups and been trying to start that tradition back up which could inspire some nostalgia in my child in the future. So to me I agree with Ian where new ways for nostalgia to show up will for future generations.
10:13 I think the point here is really interesting, as it's not as much "younger generations are missing out" and more "children were more heavily marketed to in the 80s and it had a lasting impact on those kids going into adulthood."
Though a lot of kids from my generation have strong memories of getting digital games off of the Wii Shop Channel. Hell, I have a distinct memory of when the Kick the Cheat plush from Homestar Runner sold out online right before my sister was gonna order me one. I guess the quirky and fun online storefronts leave more of a lasting memory lol. I think a big ol gap in this conversation is it's a bunch of people from an older generation assuming what younger ones are and are not going to remember.
I do think though a lack of tangible things in the digital era will make people wanna cling more to the few physical objects they can get of things. Though it might not lead to a large collection and more a box of keepsakes.
Remember kiddy city toys?
I mean there is a good chance that I wont see much of a decline in my lifetime for video games. I think eventually these games will be gone by the wayside decades later.
Game collecting is definitely going to decline.
I was born in 1996 and grew up with the PS1 and Gamecube. Never touched a non-Game Boy cartridge based game until I started "collecting" when I was 13. Me collecting NES, SNES, etc has nothing to do with nostalgia, it's just because I love video games.
I think collecting of physical goods will die off and collections will soon become "amasses of digital libraries to pick from." I've seen younger folks have less and less care of physical possession of things. They have been molded and trained to accept and enjoy streaming services and instant-delivery methods. Physical cartridges containing full games just don't appeal to them. Nor do owning movies or songs when you can just pull up a streaming service. In a way, I feel bad for them since when they get older this current progression towards streaming services and on-demand-delivery only will make it so they can't re-experience the joys of their childhood. (At least not for less than $19.99 per month).
I still remember going to ToysRus, as a kid, to make the hardest decision of all kid, choosing between Pokemon Red or Blue version. Also I remember seeing al the SNES game boxes, getting my first Tamagotchi. Thank you mom and dad for all those beautiful childhood memories!
There are still a few functional Toys R Us's here in Canada. I was actually surprised when I was in a neighboring city in BC two months ago and saw one still open.
Yes it will. As older generations age out of collecting the markets will become saturated when large collections that have been sitting in peoples' homes hit second hand markets.
Younger generations are not going to care about collecting old games they did not grow up with. More and more younger people also buy digital games and have no interest in collecting physical media.
So when the market is saturated with games and there is little demand to buy these older games by younger generations the value of older games will drop drastically.
So what you're saying is I just have to outlive all the other collectors.
@@Balzacx I think it is going to be about 30 years before this happens.
Hopefully you are not too old now and can outlive them collectors.
We still have big toy shops, one called Smyths here in the UK have really big shops chock full of toys and games. My young son is overloaded with things to look at and want. They have some brands to collect or want for (minecraft, roblox, pokemon) linked to an IP. The fact there is so much stuff just all lumped together means nothing stands out to remember or want. I am sad Transformers has dwindled to almost nothing! Kids these days have a different experience to us. As for collecting up to a point it will literally die off and people will throw out all our beloved consoles, computers and games.
I still collect some what but only what I will play or has nostalgia to me
Good topic. I think it will. 8/16 bit stuff is mostly collected by people born around that era. Once we are gone. It will probably be just old trash for most people. Of course there will be some people into old games but not as many as nowadays
Call it whatever, to me it’s art. I collect games that I don’t play but the art resonates with me. I even collect famicom games and I grew up on the PlayStation 1. I was raised in the US btw.
Short answer: yes. We are already seeing prices hike, and and interest in the hobby declining.
recently went to Toy r us at the Mall of America. Unfortunately isn't as good as the old stores since is a mall sized store but I got to buy my 5 year little girl a Barbie at Toy r us and that was awesome.
This whole conversation is weird.... yes its not the same, but walmart n target still have massive toy sections n nintendos set up to play rt next to physical goods to buy. Its smaller than a toys r us, but the classic retail experience to share with a child is still out there
I started collecting long box PS1 games around 12 years ago, because I was an early adopter of the PS1, and had a few of them back then (later sold). I gave up around 7 years ago, as the rarer and/or bigger named games were starting to get expensive. Most of the games that I have "collected" for other classic consoles are the ones I traded back in the day. I think I'm good, as far as those go.
I'd imagine like coin or stamp collecting, it will never fully die out as a collecting thing, but it will decline like those did. Modern gaming will have no future physical nostalgia.
Another issue with games is disc/cart rot.
Stamps and coins can be eternal. Even if you seal a game and slab it the cart/disc can rot away. Meaning in the future the only thing that people could antique for are boxes and manuals.
Sadly the same is true for movies too and even some modern books as publishers have cheapened out on materials
Future adults will wanna fund and relive a hobby their parents couldn’t afford. Question is what will be the specific category that grown kids with money will want.
Yes, I even stopped collecting Kamen Rider toys since they took up too much space.
Nostalgia is absolutely part of collecting, but i agree with what I said i collect several things movie posters vinyl blu rays magazines but i also started when i was like 15 so that wasn't all of it if i found something i liked for a decent price i usually bought it. Collecting has gotten this stigma for some people it really doesnt deserve there are those out there that are extreme some people i know think i have too much stuff which i dont deney that but most of us aren't hoarders i have sold stuff multiple times do what makes you happy dont let others decide that for you..
Seems like collectibles are most valuable when the people nostalgic for them are in their late 30s and 40s. They have money to spend. Once these people start to age out and die off the nostalgia declines. Like the big GI Joe's used to be in great demand but now the smaller ones from the 80s are more in demand. Right now 80s and early 90s toys are peaking. Then it will be 2000s and so on.
In my opinion, physical media collecting is also motivated by identifying with the novelty of the object itself, and is a way to socialize with people with same interests and values. Nostalgia is an aspect to collecting, but from my experience collecting VHS tapes, for example, the majority of the tapes I own have nothing to do with movies that I had growing up. My collection consist of tapes that I like right now, with some that I feel nostalgic for, and some that were recommended to me by other vhs collectors. In short, physical media collecting will continue despite nostalgia because it is also a social system by which we construct our identities.
3:34 not true at all. There are so many people nostalgic for those types of things because they grew up with their grandparents or their parents collecting that stuff. You don’t have to be born in that era to be nostalgic for it Patricia.
I still think collecting will exist. It'll find its audience in time. Especially if people like you continue to share your hobby with the work. :)