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Discussion How probable it is for Switch games to reach SNES/N64/GC prices in the future?

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Declaimer: Personally, I will keep collecting Switch games even if they are not expected to increase in price. Collecting is my hobby not speculating for possible resells, although is nice to know that you are setting in a gold mine LOL.

I've notice that as years pass, games from Nintendo consoles in particular tend to increase in price over time and maintain that price, either for games publish/made by Nintendo or third-party exclusives in its consoles.

How probable is for that to happen for games release on Switch? I’m checking prices in pricecharting.com and the more expensive game right now is Gris [Signature Edition] for some reason, with a whooping new price of $1,270.32. The most "Normal" game that is currently very expensive is Shantae And The Pirate's Curse

But, how probable will be to see these kind of prices for the Pokemons, Marios and Zeldas released on Switch within the next 10 or so years? like it happened for SNES,N64, GC and in some cases the DS.
 
I doubt it. Maybe a price increase, in physical media, but not second hand, so much.
 
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Some Switch games could be rare and collectible in 10/20/30 years, why not? Don't think I could predict which ones though.
 
It's inevitable, but I wouldn't worry about prices for those games starting to climb until we're at least two generations removed from the current gen and they're no longer accessible through backwards compatiblity or ports.

Nintendo games may hold their value for a long time to come but also simply because they often sell so much in vast quantities they'll never exactly be hard to find.
 
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Xenoblade 2 Torna: The Golden Country already goes for quite a bit second-hand, so I could see some other Switch games reaching that level or more in the future.
 
Some games with super limited print runs will probably be worth a pretty penny one day, but I don't think it will be nearly as wide-spread as you see with other systems.

A big reason why retro games are so expensive today is that they are not accessible on modern platforms. Take Gamecube for example. Most of the popular games not named Mario or Zelda are still locked on that system. If games like Pikmin 1 & 2, Melee, and Double Dash came out on the Switch, you better believe that their prices will drop. Don't believe me? Just look at Super Mario Sunshine prices before and after it was released on the Switch.

There is still a market for collectors and and some games continue to remain high, even though they are accessible today. Earthbound is a good example of that, although it is an outlier as well. It doesn't have a super low print run, but it being a cult classic helps push up the price. I'd imagine that Nintendo could offer a free download of Earthbound to every Switch owner, and the price of the SNES cartridges would stay up.

There is a good chance that we will see the "nostalgia boost" in 10-15 years time, but again, if games are still playable on future hardware eshops, it would be that big. The Pokémon and Dragon Quest games from the DS era are still super expensive on the used market, but I am willing to bet that if those games were playable on Switch and other systems, that the price.

Bottom line, there will be that off game that is worth a lot more, but most games (like 99%) will not reach triple digits. I'm a collector just like you, but I'm not using it as my retirement plan (at least monetarily lol)
 
I would guess the price increase will come with the next generation version of the Switch, assuming they make a hard successor rather than go the iPhone route.

EDIT: Misinterpreted this, though my comment still applies.

We're already seeing some games rise in price physically and they go out of print
 
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Pretty low unless its a rare or limited run game. Unless it's in a cardboard box it doesn't tend to go super high. I have a feeling switch games will also been on the lower end even for rare games because you're buying rare games to put them on a shelf, and switch boxes look bad on a shelf.
 
I mean, Nintendo games either maintain their value or increase if it is brand new or used but complete and and good condition.

For example, 5 years ago I bought Thousand Year Door for the third time (lol), used, but CIB. I paid 50 bucks for it as if it was still new.

That will always be common with first party titles.
 
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I've been collecting Nintendo products / games for many years, and so far you can always depend on the 15 year bubble.

15 years the release of a console finds that console's games bubbling in value as those who grew up on the games reach adulthood and start spending their disposable income on nostalgic products from their childhood.

However, none of these products had a digital library option and their physical media was 100% the only way you could play these games. These days, physical media is simply a second option to the much more easier to access digital library.

But 15 years from now, the Breath of the Wild nostalgia will be real, the Switch library will (possibly?) be down, and lordt knows Nintendo fans will probably have to be begging Nintendo to port BotW to whatever the current console is at the time.

In short: who knows!
 
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Another angle to consider is that half of all game sales (much more in some cases) are usually digital. For example, If you go to a secondhand store, the switch section is usually pretty small considering how huge of a software seller it is. You aren't seeing physical games pilling up like you did (and still do) with Wii and PS2.

So if we reach a point 15 -20 years down the road where digital Switch software is no longer accessible for redownload (which we will), demand for physical Switch games could be very high. I fully expect a lot of popular Switch games aimed at enthusiasts to reach the triple digits when that happens.
 
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I think we are in uncharted territory as digital platforms now exist and a generation of players is growing up without any attachment to physical media. Having said that, a big part of Nintendo fan culture is memorabilia, whether it's systems, games, figurines or something else entirely. I think this is very unique to Nintendo. Just compare GameCube prices to PS2 and Xbox prices as an example. If this continues, and I don't see why it wouldn't, then I expect Switch games to be quite sought after in the future.
 
Pretty low unless its a rare or limited run game. Unless it's in a cardboard box it doesn't tend to go super high. I have a feeling switch games will also been on the lower end even for rare games because you're buying rare games to put them on a shelf, and switch boxes look bad on a shelf.


I'm kinda hesitant to count LRG , because even that i know they will be pretty costly in the future, i also think some of their prices are (and will be) artificially inflated , as a collector i'm not really a fan of them.
 
Maybe. I think one thing that could really prevent, aside from the digital platform, this is reprints. If the Switch "ecosystem" really does last decades, then we could be seeing games like Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey continue into production for a very long time since they'd still technically be releases for an active family of platforms.

A lot of more niche games will definitely be rare and expensive though. Honestly might not even take that long for some of them.
 
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As we are already seeing with some low print run games like Atelier Ryza they will definitely increase in value, and even some of the games which weren’t super limited but not evergreen like Xenoblade 2 and Torna will too. However things like Breath of the Wild or any other 30M+ seller is unlikely to sell above RRP for a significant amount of time (multiple decades imo) because there are so many copies out there.
 
How probable is for that to happen for games release on Switch?
I wouldn't count on it as "investments" since you never can be sure where the market will go. Myself, I feel like we are still in a bit of a bubble pricing-wise.

But I figure if its just something that you like to collect, and they are games that interest you anyway so worst case you get the enjoyment of playing them, its all good.

With the switch generation I find I am buying a lot more games, and almost always favoring the physical editions. Something about those switch cases look so nice. 👌
For one, I appreciate how the cover doesn't have that color-stripe platform branding at the top like PS retail games do.

Better grab your copies of Deadly Premonition 2 and Travis Strikes Again while you can.
Check and check 😎

One physical limited I've been eyeballing is Namco's .Hack release:

I can see that getting hard to come by soon, and meanwhile the underlying collection of games are actually pretty good.
 
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As we are already seeing with some low print run games like Atelier Ryza they will definitely increase in value, and even some of the games which weren’t super limited but not evergreen like Xenoblade 2 and Torna will too. However things like Breath of the Wild or any other 30M+ seller is unlikely to sell above RRP for a significant amount of time (multiple decades imo) because there are so many copies out there.

Keep in mind that there aren't 30M physical copies of BOTW in the world. Digital sales are included in that total. That being said, there are still tens of millions of copies out there so your point still largely stands, even if the Pokemon DS games would suggest otherwise lol.
 
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I think the games that will see high prices (and I mean kinda double the retail price rather than massively inflated) are the usual ones- games with low print runs, existing fan bases that collect the stuff in general, and rpgs. So pretty much anything by Atlus or Falcom almost by definition, but also Xenoblade. Pokemon and Zelda always seem to command a high price too, and so does Fire Emblem, as collectors/fans seem to keep them forever rather than trade them in.
 
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Xenoblade 2 Torna: The Golden Country already goes for quite a bit second-hand, so I could see some other Switch games reaching that level or more in the future.
Xenoblade 2 in general has been absurdly expensive for awhile.It's actually been slowly decreasing for a long time.It one point a copy would go for around 100 dollars.
More to the point I doubt switch games in general are ever gonna reach those kinds of prices when the current situation is being driven almost entirely by market speculators.
 
Unlikely. Switch games are generally printed in much higher quantities than NES SNES and N64 games ever were. Outside of games with intentionally low print runs (Limited Run, Strictly Limited etc), 3DS and Switch games will never become particularily valuable.
 
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Considering how it's often late-stage releases, close to or after the successor's release, that end up overlooked/printed in lower numbers and eventually pricey, it's probable that if there is one day a Switch game spike, a number of those games aren't out yet.
 
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