How long until a system becomes "vintage"?

[Northern Lights]

My friends and I wanted to take a PS1 back to university with us. Not sure where the ones that we originally had are, but that's a story for another day. Anyway, a couple of years ago I could have bought one with money that I found on the floor. Now, all of a sudden, the prices have started going up again.

Basically, what do you think the timelines are like on consoles? How long after a new console comes out until the previous generation hits the ground price-wise then how long until they become "classic" and the price rises again?

[Crazy Jamie]

It's not necessarily the case that the price will rise dramatically as a matter of course; it's just supply and demand. The PS1 sold so many consoles that it was never going to rise dramatically in price up to this point. You can still pick them up for very little money relative to what they cost when they were new. The same is true of most console units themselves.

In terms of classifying something as 'vintage', I would have thought that two generations is about right as a general rule. But that could well change with the more recent generations. The PS2, for example, sold so many units that I doubt it will ever be held in as high regard for collectors as the likes of the PS1, SNES, or even Gamecube.

[Northern Lights]

But I remember one of my friends trying to sell his PS1 a couple of years after the PS2 came out and GAME offered him £2 for that and about 10 games. Admittedly they have to mark-up the prices, but they still seem to have gone up a fair bit.

[Methos]

It really is supply and demand. PS ones are still worthless because of PS2 and ps3 backward compatibility. Not to mention the fact that the average household owned more than one PSone. I don't see those things ever going up in value. The times I have noticed a system's demand going up is usually 8-12 years after launch. The kids who grew up playing it are moving off to college and want to get one for the dorm room. I've seen it happen with nes, snes, and now n64 and playstation. Maybe that's part of it?

Then there's other systems like atari 2600. Those things are ancient so people assume that the one they have is worth money. That's not really the case either, because there are a ton out there, and not a lot of fun games to play if you did have one. People aren't rushing out to get them, or are jealous of the people who have them.

I think a system becomes valuable when it is rather rare, but still fun enough that you would want to play it from time to time. Maybe something like virtual boy or atari jaguar--they are harder to find, but have a few fun games worth revisiting. I think the case with the virtual boy is more of a curiosity factor--the games aren't that great, but it is a unique gaming experience anyway. People want to own it just to see what it's like. NES is going up in value too, because there are tons of fun games, but the systems break easy. People who have good games are hoarding them, so obviously the value of the games is increasing.


But, yeah. I wouldn't ever see the playstation gaining significant value any time. Some games are becoming collectors items, but still...you can download the best games for psone on the playstation network for a couple bucks. It's hard to warrant paying 60 bucks for a game you can download for $5

[Northern Lights]

True. Forgot about PSN. I've got a 360, so it's more for the games that I already have for PS1 and PS2. Might pick up a cheap PS2 for next year.

[Crazy Jamie]

To be fair, the release of PSN games doesn't seem to have reduced the value of the physical games on Ebay and other places. Mainly because people who buy games physically from so long ago now are predominantly collectors who want to own a physical copy of the game. Downloadable games make no difference to them.

[PsychoMantis]

Originally Posted by Crazy Jamie

To be fair, the release of PSN games doesn't seem to have reduced the value of the physical games on Ebay and other places. Mainly because people who buy games physically from so long ago now are predominantly collectors who want to own a physical copy of the game. Downloadable games make no difference to them.

This isn't true at all. Every time an old game is released as downloadable the prices always goes down. It is more significant in games that have only ever had one release before the downloadable release, but it is noticeable almost every time an old game is released. A recent example would be Vagrant Story, it was about $30 used before its release on PSN. After the release it dropped almost immediately down to $20 and it is now hovering around $15. Another good example is Marvel Vs Capcom 2. Before its downloadable release the Ps2 version was $80-100, you can now get it for around $40-50. The Xbox version was $60-70 and you can get that one for about $30 now.

[Crazy Jamie]

Originally Posted by PsychoMantis

This isn't true at all. Every time an old game is released as downloadable the prices always goes down. It is more significant in games that have only ever had one release before the downloadable release, but it is noticeable almost every time an old game is released. A recent example would be Vagrant Story, it was about $30 used before its release on PSN. After the release it dropped almost immediately down to $20 and it is now hovering around $15. Another good example is Marvel Vs Capcom 2. Before its downloadable release the Ps2 version was $80-100, you can now get it for around $40-50. The Xbox version was $60-70 and you can get that one for about $30 now.

I'm not seeing the same patterns on the UK version of Ebay. To use Vagrant story as an example, it has consistently been going for about £10-£15 ($15-$25 or so) on Ebay UK both before and since it has been released on PSN. I know that because I've been specifically looking to pick that up for a while.

There may well have been drops here and there on Ebay UK, because I certainly can't claim to have tracked every PSN released game, but I haven't seen any as dramatic as the ones that you describe.

[Alejery]

I'd say two generations later it becomes unique and vintage. We're on ps3 now, so ps1 is vintage. when we are on ps4, ps2 will become vintage. At least thats how i feel

[Sanjuro]

Originally Posted by PsychoMantis

This isn't true at all. Every time an old game is released as downloadable the prices always goes down. It is more significant in games that have only ever had one release before the downloadable release, but it is noticeable almost every time an old game is released. A recent example would be Vagrant Story, it was about $30 used before its release on PSN. After the release it dropped almost immediately down to $20 and it is now hovering around $15. Another good example is Marvel Vs Capcom 2. Before its downloadable release the Ps2 version was $80-100, you can now get it for around $40-50. The Xbox version was $60-70 and you can get that one for about $30 now.

The price reducing on a game since a digital release isn't always true, just look at Radiant Silvergun(amazing game thats worth the money), it is still expensive on ebay/amazon...despite a digital release. Same thing is true with Ikaruga(import DC version) and if games like Hyper Duel ever did get released digitally, it still would command hundreds.