Collector's Universe (owners of PSA) has Purchased WATA

[ZeldaFan042 | 1,181]

Seeing Mario 64 sell for $1.5m makes me wonder how much my copy of Shaq Fu could sell for.. 

[Aatos | 35]

55 minutes ago, Shmup said:

People taking complete in box games and putting them in a plastic tomb. 

Well, this practice for CIB I find quite distasteful too, but I’m not sure if it’s really gotten that much traction, even after how many years has Wata being around now? I mean has it really affected any CIB games supply and price meaningfully?

46 minutes ago, CodysGameRoom said:

I enjoy buying games I want at a reasonable price. Because of this part of the hobby, that is slowly being taken away from me. 

We all do buddy, but let’s be honest - the reason it’s happening is still not really the speculators or sealed collectors or wata or even scalpers - it’s the ever increasing popularity of the hobby. Besides reasonable price is really dependant on when you entered - I started in 2012 so no the prices today seem hardly reasonable to me, even though the guy who started in 2006 probably thought the same in 2012.. There’s still enough great games for all platforms to be discovered for all price ranges and interesting and affordable subcategories to collect too. 
 

Furthermore, the little attention that Keio Flying Squadron got despite the indisputable rarity & hidden gem status just proves the guys currently in this big money game aren’t even interested in the real gems/rarities that are out there, so there’s probably even lesser impact there to ”us real collectors/game aficianados”.  

Edited July 15, 2021 by Aatos

[docile tapeworm | 4,204]

for me. the only issue i have with wata is they are used car salesmen. one thing you gotta give that deniz guy credit for is he always said that from the begining saying things like, we feel like there is a place for this in the hobby. so, they created and sold an idea, to super wealthy, that sealed games are worth millions and obviously they are.

im not a salesman. i dont have that skill.

Edited July 15, 2021 by docile tapeworm

[ExplodedHamster | 404]

2 hours ago, CodysGameRoom said:

I enjoy buying games I want at a reasonable price. Because of this part of the hobby, that is slowly being taken away from me. 

People have said that forever, and sealed games over that span have very rarely had much of an impact on other prices. It could be happening over the next decade or so at this rate, but at least there will always be ways to play the games whenever we want. Loose carts should at least still be available at reasonable prices. CIBs of certain popular items probably will rise over time, though they have done that before WATA existed as well. Most of the minty CIBs have been snatched up by collectors over the past decade or so. I'm not sure if decent condition popular games like Mario 3 will ever be super desirable; I'd guess not, but we'll see.

Edited July 15, 2021 by ExplodedHamster

[kell | 102]

3 hours ago, ExplodedHamster said:

Sure, but I think a lot comes from people who never would buy or want to buy a sealed game ever for any reason. Before I started collecting sealed and way before WATA and these crazy prices, I saw these threads all the time with people fighting about it and it turned me off a ton. So I basically stopped reading the main forum and started posting more in Gamer’s Gauntlet and the off topic forum. I suppose it makes more sense now, but it’s been like this forever lol. Just seems like playing the games would be a more positive use of time. 
 

Tbh, outside of time with family, the thing I’m most excited about is adding some arcade stuff to my basement and building a game room with pins and stuff set up so I can get to games I never thought I’d be able to.

As a long time sealed collector I can relate. Always hesitate to post about some sealed gaming, values, etc.

Pins are the best!

[docile tapeworm | 4,204]

6 hours ago, ExplodedHamster said:

... I think a lot comes from people who never would buy or want to buy a sealed game ever for any reason. Before I started collecting sealed and way before WATA and these crazy prices, I saw these threads all the time with people fighting about it and it turned me off a ton.

this is true imo. people were hating on sealed collectors before wata and before $100,000 sales. and i collect loose, some cib (nostalgic/ favorite titles). the only time i would ever purchase a sealed game would be to flip. i think we are just a different breed and sometimes that and not understanding why, is enough for some to disagree with the practice.

seems like a pretty hard line has been drawn though. i think its fair to say sealed collecting has been seperated, perhaps seseded, from the rest of the collecting community.

[YOURTURN | 1,256]

I wonder how much of the money he made is given as a 'bonus' to his then head marketer. Her name eludes me, but I am constantly reminded that it was the only thing done right within that company. 

And utter bullshit claims made it this GoCollect post. Which I say it is because I only opt for Archival whenever I submitted something to CGA. And they never said that my submission had to use a slower option because it was not worth [insert amount here].

In all cases the whole belief that having something graded makes it worth more is something first started with AFA. This had those who opposed sealed collecting to hate this even more. With sealed collectors hating it because it made it harder for them to find nice samples of what they want. And both treated this as an overall "scam."

This goes into sealed video game territory because outdated facts and claims make the proverbial "plastic prison" be worse than just the wrap itself. Despite the reality is that if a graded collector wanted to plan the game, and not use a ROM dump, they have the money to buy either a loose or CIB copy.

Which takes me back to Wata, and the fact everything but their marketing division is a literal mess. And that is all I will say because that post alone did the company a disservice by misrepresenting its competition. 

[CodysGameRoom | 2,008]

16 hours ago, Aatos said:

it’s the ever increasing popularity of the hobby.

Ok, yes, I can agree with this, but every single one of these new grading companies are saying they are doing this to grow the hobby. check out that Goldin thread here on VGS. The guy (before he disappeared into thin air) was talking about how he was so excited to grow the hobby and make everyone here money. So wouldn't these companies claiming to be excited to grow the hobby and make money be a direct correlation to prices?

I get the difference between sealed collecting and everything else, but I still think it has had quite an effect,  even more than some people here are downplaying it to have had. 

[Link | 2,715]

17 hours ago, ZeldaFan042 said:

Seeing Mario 64 sell for $1.5m makes me wonder how much my copy of Shaq Fu could sell for.. 

I’ll take it off your hands for $20. I would prefer to be paid in cash.

[arch_8ngel | 1,597]

The interesting thing about this purchase, to me, is wondering about how the math is going to work out for Wata, given that their backlog on grading is all pre-paid activity to where "the work" of doing the grading and the explicit cost of return shipping are all going to be liabilities on their books.  (and where that backlog of work really offers no clear projection on unpaid "new work")

[docile tapeworm | 4,204]

when talking about releasing pop reports deniz has said "we arent purposely holding it back, we just want to make sure it tells a good enough story". "story" "sales pitch"...so your not purposely holding it back, but you are. deniz goes on to say another reason they havent released pop report is because they dont want it to "mislead people"...wow. i mean thank you mother teresa.

deniz then goes on to say his idea is to release pop info game to game by scanning the matrix. and if you want acces to all the pop info you can pay for that seperate.....amazing.

[docile tapeworm | 4,204]

On 7/14/2021 at 1:57 PM, a3quit4s said:

To be fair, it could have been about the love of games to start. Money does weird things to people. Either way WATA was created to be sold off, everyone realized it when they needed to scale up to meet demand and simply did nothing. Just waiting to cash out.

Edit: Although people said he comes from money so maybe it was just the success of what he created.

sold her out. Big Daddy CU got you girl.

[retro.magnus | 136]

3 hours ago, docile tapeworm said:

when talking about releasing pop reports deniz has said "we arent purposely holding it back, we just want to make sure it tells a good enough story". "story" "sales pitch"...so your not purposely holding it back, but you are. deniz goes on to say another reason they havent released pop report is because they dont want it to "mislead people"...wow. i mean thank you mother teresa.

deniz then goes on to say his idea is to release pop info game to game by scanning the matrix. and if you want acces to all the pop info you can pay for that seperate.....amazing.

Where has the second part been mentioned? I've heard the whole contradictory statements about why they aren't releasing in your first paragraph multiple times, but never the second part. Wouldn't doubt it, just wondering where he said that. 

[Gulag Joe | 584]

40 minutes ago, epiczail said:

Where has the second part been mentioned? I've heard the whole contradictory statements about why they aren't releasing in your first paragraph multiple times, but never the second part. Wouldn't doubt it, just wondering where he said that. 

Not exactly the same, but Wata told me in an email last year that they plan to make the pop report a merchandisable guide for their members. In other words, you gotta pay to see it.

[docile tapeworm | 4,204]

3 hours ago, epiczail said:

Where has the second part been mentioned? I've heard the whole contradictory statements about why they aren't releasing in your first paragraph multiple times, but never the second part. Wouldn't doubt it, just wondering where he said that. 

 

[docile tapeworm | 4,204]

3 hours ago, Gulag Joe said:

Not exactly the same, but Wata told me in an email last year that they plan to make the pop report a merchandisable guide for their members. In other words, you gotta pay to see it.

yup. i think you scan a matrix code on the slab somehow, thats free, to acces the pop reports on that title. if i understand it correctly you can pay more for more pop info.

Edited July 17, 2021 by docile tapeworm