The state of the gaming industry and scalpers

[Jeff]

you could probably make a tv show out of that. 2 scalpers fight, only the best one is allowed to buy and resell the product in question. only the best scalpers allowed. might deter a few from engaging in the practice.

Coming this Thursday on History Channel. 2 greedy scalpers who want to "buy" the same item that were geared towards kids, but began in a brawl out battle. It's a one on one match between two overgrown 40 year old losers, Hood Guy who doesn't shows his face vs. Beard guy wearing a sweatshirt but also wearing a trucker's hat. Find out who would nab the item and resell it for an unforgiving price in a brand new series, 2 Scalpers Fight. Premiering this Summer on History Channel.

History Channel: "We used to show actual History and edutainment shows."

 

[rollobobo]

You see more and more of these "Youtubers" who are always going around to garage sales or thrift stores and buying everything and anything of value and then online flexing about it about how much they are going to make. It really has gotten to point it as to why bother collecting. Especially if you just wanna play the games, emulation is the way. Its crazy how much games like Pokemon go for and then you have to deal with bad potential batteries. I suppose its an easy fix for some with tech backgrounds but Id imagine most don't know how and run the risk of damaging the cart.

Nothing wrong with keeping a current collection but gone are the days of buying common NES/GENESIS/SNES games for cheap. Anything old people think its rare and valuable.

 

[Ikagura]

I saw this, they have been at it with eggs and toilet paper also, if i am not mistaken.

And i too miss the days of 1 per customer! If i needed more, i would have to go to 3 - 4 stores to get it, like if i was baking back in the day and needed a tone of eggs to make a batch for a school fare.

I'll be honest, I wouldn't defend rationing vital stuff like food, drink or TP. Sad that some people cannot act adult.

Emulation is the best thing we have for the preservation of retro games, I just favor original hardware due to the simplicity it brings (in theory at least).

Now I need to play armored core 2 again. I adore the graphics of third gen and the aesthetics of first gen combined.

Scalpers are the reason I exclusively use emulation or modded hardware if I don't already own it. I see no point in wasting my time and money on artificially inflated prices. You win by not playing by their rules.

I remember some guy telling how "emulation is devaluing his collection" just because he got mad that more people may enjoy a game. Radiant Silvergun shouldn't be locked on a console that didn't sell well.

I would personally wait 10 years for a console's existence before emulation is really for preservation.

To me both problems with gaming companies and scalpers stem from the same problem: gaming has become an investiment opportunity rather than a pastime.

The higher ups just want to know if the games are turning a profit, artistic vision be damned. Same with scalpers, they obey the old investiment adage: buy cheap and sell on high demand.

Truth be told, everything goes to shit when their reason for existing becames being a product

Retro game collection is becoming more like a ""hobby"" for the wealthier gamer out there (well, if we can call them gamers considering that they don't play their owned game since it would destroy the "mint condition").

You see more and more of these "Youtubers" who are always going around to garage sales or thrift stores and buying everything and anything of value and then online flexing about it about how much they are going to make. It really has gotten to point it as to why bother collecting. Especially if you just wanna play the games, emulation is the way. Its crazy how much games like Pokemon go for and then you have to deal with bad potential batteries. I suppose its an easy fix for some with tech backgrounds but Id imagine most don't know how and run the risk of damaging the cart.

Nothing wrong with keeping a current collection but gone are the days of buying common NES/GENESIS/SNES games for cheap. Anything old people think its rare and valuable.

Sadly they're technically allowed to do that since they're ultimately the owner of these products.

It's still bad, I won't defend it but that's free market: You buy a book at 1 buck you're allowed to sell it for 10x the price.

Of course, they still have to tell that to the IRS that they gained that amount after a while.

 

[Prism_Red]

The only way to fight scalpers is simply just don't buy from them, and don't ever feel like you're missing out.

That's it really, I've seen scalpers of all kinds on all sorts of hobbies that I'm into.

 

[NatalieZaki]

this thread being in an emulation forum is funny to be, like my man you got your solution right here. (but yeah i do agree it fucking sucks and theres not really anyone can do about it)

 

[cjl8336]

old games are veblen goods - it's the idea that demand increases for the games when the price increases

this is what 90s Jeep Wranglers turned into several years back once the weekend warriors started buying the old models because women started driving the new ones

 

[RageBurner]

Emulation is the cure.
More seriously, though, such exchanges need neutral arbitration, if you ask me. There has to be some measure of control to the retro market, as uncontrolled pricing policies benefit no one except scalpers.

I honestly feel if companies scrunch their noses at emulation, they should be responsible enough to drive demand down by providing alternatives that don't involve getting extorted by a random independent seller.

 

[Ikagura]

This thread being in an emulation forum is funny to be, like my man you got your solution right here. (but yeah i do agree it fucking sucks and there's not really anyone can do about it).

Emulation is mostly one solution but the existence of it should not excuse the presence of scalping either.

It's like telling that it doesn't matter if housing prices are high if you could afford a hotel room. It's not a great long term solution.

old games are veblen goods - it's the idea that demand increases for the games when the price increases

this is what 90s Jeep Wranglers turned into several years back once the weekend warriors started buying the old models because women started driving the new ones

This is ridiculous lol.

I will tell it but Tesla cars will probably get higher since people are starting to dislike the guy behind the company.

But I'd argue that the most sold games are also being sold at high prices.

 

[RageBurner]

Emulation is mostly one solution but the existence of it should not excuse the presence of scalping either.

It's like telling that it doesn't matter if housing prices are high if you could afford a hotel room. It's not a great long term solution.

Oh I agree, I was mostly being tongue in cheek. But really, there are only two ways of pushing back if companies won't act on their own volition to balance the market: you either emulate or refuse to participate in the retro collecting market when prices get unrealistically high (which is almost always).