Getting Influenced

[DarkTone | 985]

Does anyone know any times where a youtuber or Internet influencer helped increase the value of a game? I've heard it mentioned on forums but no names included with it. 

[a3quit4s | 4,102]

1 hour ago, DarkTone said:

Does anyone know any times where a youtuber or Internet influencer helped increase the value of a game? I've heard it mentioned on forums but no names included with it. 

Every time AVGN did one or MetalJesusRocks featured one I’m pretty sure there is a correlation in spike prices. I’m sure there are others. Pat the NES Punk probably ruined flea markets for all of us lmao

Edited July 9, 2023 by a3quit4s

[Tanooki | 4,934]

If you flash back a dozen years almost a dead to rights move was Cinemassacre and the realization they could monetize their video game collections by making hidden gem and rare gem videos and spamming them to YT and any media caring to cover it as a buzz piece for clicks.  You could back then track when they'd drop another gem video to seeing what was a $10 game become a $100 game and largely would just escalate and get worse, a few would peak for a week or month then flounder largely but not all the way back.   Take a game like Hagane, pre-video it was in a good $50-70 range, post video it went upwards of $250+, fell back slightly after the rise to around $200 and then went back to escalation.

Yet on the other end of the spectrum but same system Run Saber about a $10 game, video popped it up to over $40, but soon lost down to $20 and took another 2-3 years to get back to $40 and upwards since in the $60-70 range until the asinine pandemic pricing hell ensued ($150) yet even now retracting back into the 70s.

 

Around their time the lame Game Chasers used to manufacture videos to do hidden gems at flea markets for a dollar style pricing WOWZ for subs.  Go find their old video where at the same place I think they got both Flinstones 2 and Samson for almost nothing, so called crapped their pants in amazement, and that got everyone fishing for such amazing rares. They were already high though(for then), but got utterly absurd after.  It's why then (NA back then) and now I detest clowns like this because it makes it harder on both game players and collectors when they fish for speculators and investors to increase their collections values.

[inasuma | 1,203]

Yeah this wouldn't surprise me at all (I haven't seen data, but I'm sure someone has analyzed it). I've also definitely found myself responding to a video by thinking, "Oh I should have bought this game already. Let me check it out."

[Reed Rothchild | 9,533]

2 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Around their time the lame Game Chasers used to manufacture videos to do hidden gems at flea markets for a dollar style pricing WOWZ for subs.  Go find their old video where at the same place I think they got both Flinstones 2 and Samson for almost nothing, so called crapped their pants in amazement, and that got everyone fishing for such amazing rares. They were already high though(for then), but got utterly absurd after.  It's why then (NA back then) and now I detest clowns like this because it makes it harder on both game players and collectors when they fish for speculators and investors to increase their collections values

So Game Chasers "manufactured" the two videos, and spent another 90 episodes failing to find anything like that again?  And spent 10+ years documenting it?

They struck gold a few times, just like many of us do, but they were only able to do it long ago.  Their "subs" have languished this entire time because their show is realistic: mostly not finding shit.

[a3quit4s | 4,102]

8 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

So Game Chasers "manufactured" the two videos, and spent another 90 episodes failing to find anything like that again?  And spent 10+ years documenting it?

They struck gold a few times, just like many of us do, but they were only able to do it long ago.  Their "subs" have languished this entire time because their show is realistic: mostly not finding shit.

I always enjoyed watching them. They just seemed like average Joe ass guys really not finding anything crazy besides a couple videos and spending all day in the hot ass Texas sun finding mostly common stuff. My favorite was that game store they would hit up with that country ass dude and I think his son that would let them go upstairs. Billy’s cousin was always good for a laugh as well   
 

Oh and of course being at @Ferris Buellers house lmao

Edited July 10, 2023 by a3quit4s

[Tanooki | 4,934]

Go ahead defend it whatever floats your boat, they're just more chum in the spun up shit show on streaming media that has helped sour the market.  It's just the video game hot take version of storage wars and their like that have had a huge ripple effect over time with values on old stuff and the grift that grew from it.

[Brickman | 3,987]

Those guys at Collectors Quest are totally manipulating things  @DefaultGen @Johnny

[Reed Rothchild | 9,533]

4 minutes ago, Brickman said:

Those guys at Collectors Quest are totally manipulating things  @DefaultGen @Johnny

Anyone who makes video about retro games shares the blame.

Anyone who maintained the database at NA shares blame. 

Anyone who posts in the haul thread here shares blame.

I was gonna build a Sega Saturn set for $200, and you all had to ruin it for me.

[Ankos | 442]

I've seen people hype up carts like a 45 in 1 Famicom multi with a rare Super Mario World port on it, acting like it was worth thousands of dollars. I do expect that a larger chunk of listings for it in the future are now going to be priced higher, which is inconvenient because there aren't exactly a lot of listings for it to begin with. I don't think many people are maliciously trying to boost the value of a game they only own one or two copies of. In the grand scheme of things, it would be a lot of effort for mild payout. In the case of the multi I mentioned earlier I think that the creator of that video I mentioned earlier was just not knowledgeable on how much those usually go for. It makes more sense to me that people hype up games because that makes for better content, letting them rake in more revenue that way. I don't think that entertainers are blind to how their videos affect prices, but unless you're hoarding copies of a game it seems like a pretty inefficient hustle

[LutherDestroysTheGond | 690]

Cinemassacre, AVGN, the Mike Matei hidden gem videos, and Metal Jesus videos were usually to blame for prices spiking of games they covered.  Last year, some youtuber did a big review video of Phantom Dust on Xbox and it jumped from a $15 game to $100+ basically overnight.  It's been in slow decline to around $50 since but that was the most recent one I'm aware of with an easily trackable video/event inflating the price.  

For me it was always the Mike Matei hidden gems videos that seemed to define/inflate a chunk of the NES/SNES heavy hitters that are still expensive to this day and were mostly very cheap prior to those videos.

[Link | 2,713]

I heard Isolated Warrior is the next hidden gem. Buy now! 

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,013]

What about the God Teir controller thread on NA?

[T-Pac | 7,550]

I generally don't begrudge content-creators when a game gets more expensive after they highlight it. We all want to share the games we like, and it would be pretty self-defeating for the community to restrict that for someone just because they have a wide audience and could potentially influence the market (which I doubt they do on purpose most of the time).

Sure - I get frustrated when I end up paying more for a game I want because I saw it on a popular YouTube video. But by the same token, I may have never discovered that game if the YouTube video didn't share it with me in the first place. 

[T-Pac]

[Tanooki | 4,934]

@Link  As if, it's all about first party exploitation, and as soon as people figure out Nintendo made a fighting game years before Smash Bros, it's over man...just over.  Get Joy Mech Fight now or regret it later!

 

[Link | 2,713]

2 hours ago, T-Pac said:

I generally don't begrudge content-creators when a game gets more expensive after they highlight it. We all want to share the games we like, and it would be pretty self-defeating for the community to restrict that for someone just because they have a wide audience and could potentially influence the market (which I doubt they do on purpose most of the time).

Sure - I get frustrated when I end up paying more for a game I want because I saw it on a popular YouTube video. But by the same token, I may have never discovered that game if the YouTube video didn't share it with me in the first place. 

[T-Pac]

This post is too positive. Go ahead and up your score  

 

@spacepup @T-Pac is gunning for your job! 

[T-Pac | 7,550]

20 hours ago, Link said:

This post is too positive. Go ahead and up your score  

@spacepup @T-Pac is gunning for your job! 

Gotta put my money where my mouth is, right?

[T-Pac]

[Andy_Bogomil | 815]

Most of the price pumps would have happened one way or the other... the hype just typically gets it there faster. There are some uncommon turds that would fly under the radar for longer but supply and demand eventually catches up.

 

Edited July 11, 2023 by Andy_Bogomil

[guitarzombie | 924]

Zombie Nation.  I know they did it on Cinemassacres channel but as a playthru.  I can't remember the details but either I was on the hunt for it when the video came out OR I got it right before the video dropped.  It was already expensive but I think the price jumped about a $100 once people saw how weird and cool the game was.  I think I bought my copy for $150, bought a cleaner one for $250 and sold my $150 one for $250. 

[RH | 4,904]

I don't follow many game collecting YouTubers but I do watch MJR from time to time just because I like the guy and he has connections with old Sierra workers and others in the former gaming industry from Seattle.

I think he's genuine and simply loves  making videos, showing off his collection and what he does when he goes into shops, plus he is always positive.  Man, it's even hard to watch him find an item to review that he has a negative opinion of.  He doesn't placate to sponsors, but I can tell when somethings bad he has a really tough time calling it for what it is, because he's genuinely a nice guy.

However, he does have a LOT of followers so when he posts his "Hidden Gems" videos, I don't think he's waiting in the wings with eBay auctions  for every title he lists.  Instead, he posts what he likes, but that then means the market for any specific game is going to see a flash-jump of 2x-10x current demand. 

[Tulpa | 3,505]

I know Quest once made a big deal over one of Mike Mattei's hidden gem videos, saying the prices on all the games went crazy after the vid dropped. Someone else did a pricecharting comparison and found that while a couple spiked, most were kind of normal general price increases we saw happening since about 2012.

Another time James and Mike did a Let's Play of Krazy Kreatures and all the cheap BINs disappeared in a few hours. Prices for that game aren't super outrageous, but it's hard to find a good label on that one, so those tend to go for a premium.

I remember Pat mentioned on his podcast years ago some rando managed to spike up Rampart for Game Boy by buying about twenty or so copies. Which kind of makes sense as there wouldn't be that many of that type of game on eBay at any given time, so if you buy that many, it'll make the game seem scarcer than it is, and so prices start to climb up. So if someone with thousands or millions of subscribers see a video about a game and it's cheap, then it only takes a small percentage of them to log onto the Bay and drop a few bucks and suddenly it's nowhere to be found for awhile.

Oh, and there was a user by the name of Polar Bear on NA who clearly was trying to spike up the price of Isolated Warrior. That's where the whole "last true hidden gem" phrase came from.

Edited July 11, 2023 by Tulpa

[Reed Rothchild | 9,533]

Our secret NA cabal tried to inflate War 2410.

I never bothered to see if it worked.  If it did I want all of the infamy and teeth gnashing.

[FireHazard51 | 2,043]

I wonder what your opinions are on companies that republish those games, digital or physical, and then the retro copies plummet in price.  I'm way more aware of this happening because I do watch those "hidden gem" videos and then try and find them as remakes/ports for cheap.  And then find out they are only available on the original console and how expensive it is.  As soon as a there is even and announcement of of an official digital release of the game  those old physical copies drop over night.  Nice thing for collectors .  NES should just make cheap digital copies of all of their stuff so the market can tank.  Not like Nintendo is making any money from those 3rd party resellers.  

In a more modern sense this happen with physical release of games that get put on the PlayStation Plus free monthly games list.  When that happens I'll do a double dip.  Get the digital for free and by the physical for cheap in case I like the game 

[RH | 4,904]

7 minutes ago, FireHazard51 said:

I wonder what your opinions are on companies that republish those games, digital or physical, and then the retro copies plummet in price.  I'm way more aware of this happening because I do watch those "hidden gem" videos and then try and find them as remakes/ports for cheap.  And then find out they are only available on the original console and how expensive it is.  As soon as a there is even and announcement of of an official digital release of the game  those old physical copies drop over night.  Nice thing for collectors .  NES should just make cheap digital copies of all of their stuff so the market can tank.  Not like Nintendo is making any money from those 3rd party resellers.  

In a more modern sense this happen with physical release of games that get put on the PlayStation Plus free monthly games list.  When that happens I'll do a double dip.  Get the digital for free and by the physical for cheap in case I like the game 

Funny, but I've seen the opposite happy (though probably for RPGs and maybe shmups since those are always hot genres.)

A remake is announced and all of a sudden people want to collect the original!

(At least, this is what's happened to a few old games I've wanted and then saw a re-release/remastered version was coming out.)

Edited July 11, 2023 by RH

[Gloves | 11,783]

28 minutes ago, FireHazard51 said:

As soon as a there is even and announcement of of an official digital release of the game  those old physical copies drop over night.

Do they? It's not guaranteed and there's plenty of cases of the opposite - the announcement of a remake is a good reminder for people that a game exists and if it's not in their collection, suddenly more people know about it, it becomes more scarce, or even just POTENTIALLY more scarce so they wanna be quick to pick it up. It's not hard to envision the sales tactic of "own the ORIGINAL!", in fact it's something people on here (myself included) prefer. 

Doom 64 for example - LRG announced the physical release of the Switch version and even put out a non-functional N64 cart in a box. The price has gone up on that game since that announcement, not down.