Who would have thought in 2020 that a Game Gear game could cost in excess of €4,000. Yes, you read that right. On Thursday, Hendrik Stabler, from Germany, purchased a complete in box Power Drive for Sega’s first handheld console. The purchase came after a frantic auction on a Facebook group for the Game Gear. The bids were expected to exceed the 1,000 euro mark but nobody was prepared for what was to unfold in the final hours of the auction. The winning bid was €4,122 and many watched with baited breath as the seconds ticked down.
Hendrik told Retro Faith that ‘I’m kinda in shock. Mid-dinner I saw [other bidder] didn’t bid any higher. Kind of forgot it to be honest. So that is fate i guess, ha. And initially i didn’t want to go any higher than 3k.’
Some will ask how we got here. Others will nod knowingly. The retro gaming market has exploded in the last year or so with huge prices being paid for seemingly worthless items. Thousands being laid out for old cardboard and plastic. But ask a collector what it means to fulfil their vision of a full set of a certain console’s games and the reasons behind it become apparent. Some of the games are just rare now, they hardly ever come up for sale. And there are those out there who are willing to pay the price to finish their collections.
Since the Covid pandemic prices have risen even higher. With lots of folk at home, twiddling their thumbs, many have turned to nostalgic gaming. The prices of a Nintendo Wii went through the roof before coming down again recently. And many retro collectors have been grumbling about how their hobby is being ruined by overpriced games. Many will hope that prices start to drop soon or at the very least stabilise. But for now prices are just continuing to rise.