General Sealed & Graded Discussion

[Gloves | 11,776]

Let's use this thread to discuss general thoughts, opinions, etc. on graded and sealed collecting. Obviously anyone can continue to make new threads on interesting topics, but there's been a fair bit of derailing in other threads (primarily the Heritage Auctions thread), and I think having this thread for those discussions will work better. A fair amount of useful details are in the HA thread and with it being SO huge now, those details can be buried easily.

So let's keep that thread to HA-related conversation specifically (e.g. new auction discussion), and use this one for other general discussion stuff; things can get chatty in here no problem.

[Nintegageo | 582]

It's dumb.

[Gloves | 11,776]

Just now, Nintegageo said:

It's dumb.

NO YOU!

[GPX | 1,369]

Off to a good start!

[GPX | 1,369]

I agree the HA thread is getting too chunky with too many side-topics and subplots. I think Heritage Auctions deserve 2 or 3 threads of its own:

1. Actual auctions prices/trends/ discussions - how legit, how awesome, how crazy etc. 

2. HA rumours/gossips/scandals.

3. Your experiences with HA - share it here!

Those are just suggestions only, but I think dialogues would be much easier to follow if splitting them into different threads, instead of an all-encompassing humongous gigantism thread!

[Hammerfestus | 3,836]

That’s a lot of that thing.

[OptOut | 8,883]

I have no problem with people grading sealed games to protect them, or even CIB or carts if that's what someone wants to do.

I have no problem with people collecting sealed games, if that's what they're passionate about, I have a healthy sealed game collection myself.

I don't think any commodity should have a fixed minimum or maximum price in a capitalist society, and games can and maybe SHOULD sell for a million dollars depending on the circumstances.

However...

I DON'T believe the current speculative hype in the sealed/graded videogame market is justified or sustainable. I believe many purchases being made in the frenzy are going to end up VERY badly for many of those involved if we look five or so years down the line.

I DON'T believe people buying video games PRIMARILY for INVESTMENT purposes are participating in the same hobby as those of us who collect for the passion of playing and collecting old games.

If you are collecting MONEY, you are not the same kind of collector as me.

 

I think that sums it up.

[GPX | 1,369]

18 minutes ago, OptOut said:

I have no problem with people grading sealed games to protect them, or even CIB or carts if that's what someone wants to do.

I have no problem with people collecting sealed games, if that's what they're passionate about, I have a healthy sealed game collection myself.

I don't think any commodity should have a fixed minimum or maximum price in a capitalist society, and games can and maybe SHOULD sell for a million dollars depending on the circumstances.

However...

I DON'T believe the current speculative hype in the sealed/graded videogame market is justified or sustainable. I believe many purchases being made in the frenzy are going to end up VERY badly for many of those involved if we look five or so years down the line.

I DON'T believe people buying video games PRIMARILY for INVESTMENT purposes are participating in the same hobby as those of us who collect for the passion of playing and collecting old games.

If you are collecting MONEY, you are not the same kind of collector as me.

 

I think that sums it up.

I think if you delve deeper into the sealed collecting community, you’d find that there are a large proportion of sealed collectors being some of the most humble and passionate collectors out there. Most aren’t chucking money around senseless, but their collections are built on a lot of time, effort and plenty of research. The ones going crazy with their spending and hyping up at every opportunity to the world aren’t representative of sealed collectors, I don’t believe.

[Jeevan | 8,910]

22 minutes ago, GPX said:

I think if you delve deeper into the sealed collecting community, you’d find that there are a large proportion of sealed collectors being some of the most humble and passionate collectors out there. Most aren’t chucking money around senseless, but their collections are built on a lot of time, effort and plenty of research. The ones going crazy with their spending and hyping up at every opportunity to the world aren’t representative of sealed collectors, I don’t believe.

Probably true!  Not saying that sealed collectors aren't collectors!  I think that our main thing is that the price jump over all the sealed.  Hobbies have their niches, and sealed is definitely one of them for Vidya Games.  I think most of us respect that.  It's the "new" money that makes us all get up in arms due to the fact that its really sacriligious to us.  Games going to folks who just look at them as $$$$.  Nothing makes me sadder than knowing that people are just trying to get rich off games.  It really is depressing when people who collected sealed are now saying there are games they want that they will never be able to afford.  I would want them to be able to afford them.  With all these speculators, they can not.

So all in all, I feel for all of us vidya game collectors, sealed and non alike!!!!!!

[GPX | 1,369]

34 minutes ago, Jeevan said:

Probably true!  Not saying that sealed collectors aren't collectors!  I think that our main thing is that the price jump over all the sealed.  Hobbies have their niches, and sealed is definitely one of them for Vidya Games.  I think most of us respect that.  It's the "new" money that makes us all get up in arms due to the fact that its really sacriligious to us.  Games going to folks who just look at them as $$$$.  Nothing makes me sadder than knowing that people are just trying to get rich off games.  It really is depressing when people who collected sealed are now saying there are games they want that they will never be able to afford.  I would want them to be able to afford them.  With all these speculators, they can not.

So all in all, I feel for all of us vidya game collectors, sealed and non alike!!!!!!

Speculation and profiteering has always been a part of collecting as a hobby. What’s new is the people who are coming in with fake overenthusiasm, world-wide hyping and trying to lay claim that they’re “collectors”. No they ain’t! They’re more the investor/hypist/market manipulators. They couldn’t care less if games all evaporated overnight, then they’d simply find something else to jump in and hype the crap out of their next “portfolio expansion”. 

Collectors (sealed or non-sealed), on the other hand, would mourn many days and nights if games all suddenly evaporated.

[Jeevan | 8,910]

13 minutes ago, GPX said:

Speculation and profiteering has always been a part of collecting as a hobby. What’s new is the people who are coming in with fake overenthusiasm, world-wide hyping and trying to lay claim that they’re “collectors”. No they ain’t! They’re more the investor/hypist/market manipulators. They couldn’t care less if games all evaporated overnight, then they’d simply find something else to jump in and hype the crap out of their next “portfolio expansion”. 

Collectors (sealed or non-sealed), on the other hand, would mourn many days and nights if games all suddenly evaporated.

agreed

[inasuma | 1,203]

Collecting sealed sucks and I love it.

[sp1nz | 611]

I've ragged on graded games ever since they've been a thing but I've always also said that everyone is free to collect however they want. I won't give much respect to people who view their collection as mere future dollar signs though. I own quite a few sealed games just from buying them at retail and not getting around to playing them but I've opened a lot too. Sometimes I buy a game sealed because the price is so close to a CIB that I might as well get it complete and minty. The most expensive sealed game I've opened is a sticker sealed PAL Primal Rage for 32X, which I had bought for 1000£. These days opening sealed games feels iffy even though I'm not a selling type because people put insane premium on a plastic wrap on a game; a component meant for the garbage. People appreciate the virginal aspect of games too much compared to a mint CIB. Interestingly enough in most cases I would keep sealed blister packs untouched - heck I might even consider grading sealed games if the companies were better... or maybe I'll just open them and sniff the brand new smell... or I do nothing at all.

Couple thoughts on population reports:

• The need for them is ultimately not about prices but transparency and trust in the market.
  • They will be inaccurate due to cross grading and re-slabbing.
  • They don't offer much to old hat sealed collectors.
  • It's not a problem if some games seem more rare or more common than they actually are.

[Alder | 243]

6 hours ago, GPX said:

Collectors (sealed or non-sealed), on the other hand, would mourn many days and nights if games all suddenly evaporated.

Put another way: if all games were suddenly worth pennies tomorrow, investors would see only a major loss, while collectors, despite the monetary loss, would rejoice at being able to finally complete their collections.

[Alder | 243]

In that 2-hour interview Karl said "if I want to know the condition of a box, I can use my eyes, and so can everyone else." That's kind of been my feelings on it. I wouldn't consider that Tomb Raider an A+, and grading companies have been shown to falsely authenticate things, so what service are they providing, exactly? If anything though, I see value in an authentication service more than grading of condition since it's so subjective.

[Gulag Joe | 582]

I think I saw in the heritage thread that someone said a sealed ps1 Resident Evil Long Box is going to be in the next heritage signature. I think that comment got buried though. I still do not see it in the HA search. I just wanted to know if that was still true and if it was, and you know any history on it, I'd be very interested in hearing about where and when that piece was found because that has been a game I've been looking for for a very long time.

[Awoken | 275]

8 hours ago, OptOut said:

I DON'T believe people buying video games PRIMARILY for INVESTMENT purposes are participating in the same hobby as those of us who collect for the passion of playing and collecting old games.

If you are collecting MONEY, you are not the same kind of collector as me.

 

This..... couldn't agree more

[AnimalHouse | 117]

5 hours ago, inasuma said:

Collecting sealed sucks and I love it.

Could be OCD. Like a love/hate relationship.

[Gulag Joe | 582]

8 hours ago, OptOut said:

I have no problem with people grading sealed games to protect them, or even CIB or carts if that's what someone wants to do.

I have no problem with people collecting sealed games, if that's what they're passionate about, I have a healthy sealed game collection myself.

I don't think any commodity should have a fixed minimum or maximum price in a capitalist society, and games can and maybe SHOULD sell for a million dollars depending on the circumstances.

However...

I DON'T believe the current speculative hype in the sealed/graded videogame market is justified or sustainable. I believe many purchases being made in the frenzy are going to end up VERY badly for many of those involved if we look five or so years down the line.

I DON'T believe people buying video games PRIMARILY for INVESTMENT purposes are participating in the same hobby as those of us who collect for the passion of playing and collecting old games.

If you are collecting MONEY, you are not the same kind of collector as me.

 

I think that sums it up.

Sounds to me like you don't want to sell and you're trying to convince yourself that it's OK not to sell because games won't be worth as much as they are right now in the long term.

Just sell now and buy them back later!

[OptOut | 8,883]

1 minute ago, Gulag Joe said:

Sounds to me like you don't want to sell and you're trying to convince yourself that it's OK not to sell because games won't be worth as much as they are right now in the long term.

Just sell now and buy them back later!

I don't really understand this comment. Why should I sell my games?

[Gulag Joe | 582]

1 minute ago, OptOut said:

I don't really understand this comment. Why should I sell my games?

I'm not suggesting to sell your entire sealed ps3 collection. I'm just suggesting to sell a few of them, like Uncharted not for resale. You know, just to have peace of mind knowing you were right to sell it now for $500 rather than later when you only might be able to get half of that or even less.

[OptOut | 8,883]

2 minutes ago, Gulag Joe said:

I'm not suggesting to sell your entire sealed ps3 collection. I'm just suggesting to sell a few of them, like Uncharted not for resale. You know, just to have peace of mind knowing you were right to sell it now for $500 rather than later when you only might be able to get half of that or even less.

I'm not planning on selling any of my games, I enjoy owning them. The "value" of my games is intrinsic to them, I do not consider the financial value of my games unless I am BUYING them, selling is not a consideration.

[Gulag Joe | 582]

3 minutes ago, OptOut said:

I'm not planning on selling any of my games, I enjoy owning them. The "value" of my games is intrinsic to them, I do not consider the financial value of my games unless I am BUYING them, selling is not a consideration.

Real question: which Uncharted 1 version do you think is better to have sealed over the long term? The NFR version or the retail version? Or rather, which version would you pay more money for?

[OptOut | 8,883]

Just now, Gulag Joe said:

Real question: which Uncharted 1 version do you think is better to have sealed over the long term? The NFR version or the retail version? Or rather, which version would you pay more money for?

Retail, it seems more authentic to me, like what the average guy would buy you know.

[Jim Jimmer | 234]

38 minutes ago, Gulag Joe said:

I think I saw in the heritage thread that someone said a sealed ps1 Resident Evil Long Box is going to be in the next heritage signature. I think that comment got buried though. I still do not see it in the HA search. I just wanted to know if that was still true and if it was, and you know any history on it, I'd be very interested in hearing about where and when that piece was found because that has been a game I've been looking for for a very long time.

Yes it has been graded 9.6 A+ and will likely be the front page if the catalogue. I dont know the story to it but i know there was a lot of sealed ps1 longboxes sent to HA raw and were subsequently graded (re1 being one of them). 
 

will be an interesting auction thats for sure.