Your sealed copy of Outback Joey weeps.
In a tweet yesterday, Goldin Auctions cited a record breaking sale for a WATA-graded sealed copy of Sonic 1 for Genesis. The 9.4 rated box had a final auction price of $430,500, making it their highest recorded Genesis game sale, according to the tweet.
This comes at a time when the outrageous value of WATA-graded games sold on high-end auction sites is under skepticism following record breaking sales of high-graded but otherwise common games such as Super Mario Bros. for NES and Super Mario 64 for Nintendo 64.
Goldin Auctions itself specializes in auctioning sports memorabilia; however, the site does run auctions for sealed games and rare hardware. Other Genesis game sales on record include a sealed copy of Sonic 2, graded 9.6, for $6,600, a first production copy of Sonic 3, graded 9.6, for $7,995, and weirdly, a copy of Shaq Fu, graded 9.6, for $2,280.
Meanwhile, my copy of Genesis 6-Pak languishes at $5. I mean, come on. It’s got six games, including Revenge of Shinobi!
“This comes at a time when the outrageous value of WATA-graded games sold on high-end auction sites is under skepticism following record breaking sales of high-graded but otherwise common games such as Super Mario Bros. for NES and Super Mario 64 for Nintendo 64.”
Yeah if it is from WATA, consider it being possible fraud. Karl Jobst got really detailed video explaining the shady business behind the recent retro games auctions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A
This garbage is BAD and you need to stop drawing attention to it.
Speaking practically, the target audience for this kind of thing is not people within a small subculture who, generally speaking, know the value of what they have. Large auction and grading services want recognition in big mainstream publications, because that is the audience who doesn’t know better and is more likely to think they’re getting a big payday for mid-grade stuff.
I don’t have to like the news or agree with the news. I just acknowledge it is significant news, and I report it, hoping that some people read it and understand that I highlighted the value skepticism for a reason.
That’s fair, I’m not really directing my aggravation at you so much as the news itself. I do keep thinking the more people know about this the more they become overly-ambitious, though.
I can understand Sonic 1 being worth some money because it’s *sealed*, maybe not thousands of dollars though. This reminds me of those online articles with titles like “Have any of these things from the 90s laying around? You could have a fortune!” and then the articles talk about Disney VHS tapes being worth stupid amounts of money when you can just go to the local thrift store and buy the exact same videos for 50 cents. Things are only worth as much as what someone is willing to pay for them.