In the far-flung past of July 2021, a sealed edition of Super Mario 64--perfectly immaculate and professionally graded--sold for a whopping $1.56 million dollars. That auction set a new record for the most expensive video game ever sold, until it promptly lost that title less than a month later. There's a new record-holder in town, and it's the original Super Mario Bros. The news comes from The New York Times, who reported on the sale of the game, discovering that it was sold not at auction, but on a website called Rally.

Described as "alternative investment", Rally lets its users invest in collectable items, rather than stocks or crypto. The investors buy "shares" of a given physical item, and then are able to vote amongst themselves on whether or not to sell it to prospective buyers. Rally acquired the sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. for $140,000 just last year, and the "shareholders" in the game rejected a buy offer for $300,000. However, when presented a bid for $2 million dollars, the collective majority--about 75%--voted in favor of selling the game to the anonymous buyer.

Graded at A+ level from grading service Wata, much like last month's pricey copy of Super Mario 64, this is the highest-graded version of the game ever. It's a dramatic increase in value compared to how much it was bought for less than a year ago, but regardless, this sale now marks the most expensive transaction of a video game ever.

Source

 

[Brigand]

Now let's sit back and watch as thrift stores bump up their game prices by 200% because they won't understand this is very obviously money laundering.

 

[Goku1992A]

Why yes. It's rare, but that doesn't mean there weren't rare things in 2000. In 2040, are we going to see games from now being sold for 5 million, or an equivalent amount of GDP or other metric? Does that mean it's suddenly "the record"? I argue it wouldn't.

It only apply to some people. Hence this is why emulation is so imporant because many people can enjoy class games without spending a fortune on old equipment. I'm only afraid that emulation will die after the PS3/360 era because nobody is working on emulation anymore except for retroarch

 

[Noctosphere]

It only apply to some people. Hence this is why emulation is so imporant because many people can enjoy class games without spending a fortune on old equipment. I'm only afraid that emulation will die after the PS3/360 era because nobody is working on emulation anymore except for retroarch

yea well... pretty much all nintendo's recent consoles emulators are still being worked on
Dolphin
Cemu
Yuzu and Ryujinx

 

[Goku1992A]

yea well... pretty much all nintendo's recent consoles emulators are still being worked on
Dolphin
Cemu
Yuzu and Ryujinx

I use Dolphin and Cemu and it's pretty solid.

Yuzu and Ryujinx I heard the compatablity isn't that great so it isn't something that you can replace your switch with.

 

[Noctosphere]

I use Dolphin and Cemu and it's pretty solid.

Yuzu and Ryujinx I heard the compatablity isn't that great so it isn't something that you can replace your switch with.

well as I said, they still are being worked on
Also, I heard Ryujinx got an update few months ago increasing its compatibility with old hardware by over 100%

 

[AbyssalMonkey]

It only apply to some people. Hence this is why emulation is so imporant because many people can enjoy class games without spending a fortune on old equipment. I'm only afraid that emulation will die after the PS3/360 era because nobody is working on emulation anymore except for retroarch

I think you've missed the point between my original post of "Thing is biggest" and it's relationship to the news about it being important, and the economic situation under which it is happening, and confused it for a general "why does this thing cost so much!?".
I am not confused about the reason why something like this is expensive, nor do I believe emulation is important in it's pricing. I am positing on whether or not this is actually the "biggest thing" and reflecting it back about how we are just going to see bigger and bigger things happening, just as we are literally watching numbers on a(n economic) calculator rise by hitting equals over and over again.

 

[stanleyopar2000]

I think it's rich collectors inflating the price of games

 

[Xzi]

I think it's rich collectors inflating the price of games

This does nothing to increase the price of used, non-graded cartridge-only copies on eBay. Not everything has an agenda behind it, it's just that some people have more money than sense, as others in the thread have pointed out. Probably Elon Musk buying up pristine copies of retro games for his kid with a robot's name.

 

[krueger96]

Everyone does whatever he wants with his own money, but i don't think i'd ever spend more than 50€ on a copy of super mario bros even if i was rich lmao

 

[raxadian]

Honesty, I think is insane; is not like is a prototype Super Mario Bros that has an early version of the game, is just the average Mario Bros only it was never opened and somehow it keep the plastic warp for decades.

A version of Sonic 1 USA that was never opened and doesn't have the "not for resale" stamp is not worth even half of this.

 

[shanefromoz]

What a serious waste of money. No game ever would be worth that

 

[Goku1992A]

I think you've missed the point between my original post of "Thing is biggest" and it's relationship to the news about it being important, and the economic situation under which it is happening, and confused it for a general "why does this thing cost so much!?".
I am not confused about the reason why something like this is expensive, nor do I believe emulation is important in it's pricing. I am positing on whether or not this is actually the "biggest thing" and reflecting it back about how we are just going to see bigger and bigger things happening, just as we are literally watching numbers on a(n economic) calculator rise by hitting equals over and over again.

Yeah but once again 2 million to Jeff Bezzos is like $2. So what may be expensive to you may not be expensive to the person who bought it. It's all about prestige

 

[MaxiBash]

If this shit happens again next month, it's safe to say this is a tactic to inflate the prices of sealed and new games in general.

 

[Sphaa]

I think Super Mario Bros is more worthy the title "most expensive game" than SM64, it's properly the most iconic game after pong. But 2M$ is insane!

 

[duwen]

As soon as WATA/Heritage get busted by the FBI the 'value' of all these sealed/graded games will drop to under 10% of the sale price... ie, their actual market value.
In the case of this title, it would likely drop to 2% of that price, if not less.

 

[ov3rkill]

I have this game here at my home. But sadly not sealed.

Have it sealed and let them inspect it for authenticity. It might fool them, who knows.

 

[smf]

This does nothing to increase the price of used, non-graded cartridge-only copies on eBay.

There does tend to be a knock on effect throughout the entire market when someone spends silly money on something.

However I don't think that was their intention. I don't buy the money laundering either, it's very likely some billionaire who just wanted it & doesn't care if they never get the money back.

 

[BaamAlex]

Have it sealed and let them inspect it for authenticity. It might fool them, who knows.

Good idea xD

 

[RunningSnakes]

Because Billionair's just happen to be in the market for old sealed copies of vintage video games? If i have learned anything from this thread, people cannot tell a fox from a wolf.

 

[smf]

Because Billionair's just happen to be in the market for old sealed copies of vintage video games?

Are you saying that it is impossible for a billionaire to want a sealed copy of a video game?

Now sure they could have bought an iphone 3gs for that kind of money https://stuarthughes.com/shop/luxury-mobile-phones/apple/iphone-3gs-supreme-rose/

But I'd say that was pretty dumb too