I am old enough to remember Stamp and Sports Card collecting. There are many examples of loss in values but very few total loss (88-89 Topps over production). I can see prices lowering on some uncommon titles but I don't expect NWC or possible SE to lower. Guess time will tell.
From what I have been noticing, seems after several years of prices being constantly on the rise they are at least finally starting to consistently plateau. You can corroborate this from the graphs on pricecharting.
My local area has a fair sized group of resellers and collectors that I frequently cross paths with at the swap meets and FB groups and I know a good portion of them got into the game late, around 2012 and after. My assessment is these guys are bandwagon collectors. They jumped in when it was getting hot. The majority of them may have gotten into it for the right reasons but its turning out they are not in it for the long haul, and have become bored and want to move on. I believe this is common in all hobbies. I now know of several local collectors that have sold off all or large portions of their collections this past year, and of course a lot of people here probably saw my thread about the massive collection that was recently donated at my local Salvation Army. Anecdotal as it might be, it is what it is.
I have been playing and collecting video games for over 30 years and I think the market is finally just leveling off. The price spikes over the past decade or so have been insane. There is no way the price spikes could have stayed at that pace. With that said I still find people getting into vintage collecting for the first time as well as kids, mine included, developing a passion for retro gaming. I personally think it will never die or burst, whatever you want to call it. I would consider the recent price reductions or leveling off a "correction" just like in the stock market.
^ I agree with that too. That, if anything, it might be a slight rebound from 2010ish to now. I've had absolutely no issues selling games and have even had a lot of backdoor offers (queue quoted out of context thread) on kijiji and ebay when posting ads. I'm surprised at the number of young people buying locally. I think Nintendo and other early playable systems will definitely hold.value even if they are leveling off. PS1 and Genesis still have room to increase as well IMO.
Comments
My local area has a fair sized group of resellers and collectors that I frequently cross paths with at the swap meets and FB groups and I know a good portion of them got into the game late, around 2012 and after. My assessment is these guys are bandwagon collectors. They jumped in when it was getting hot. The majority of them may have gotten into it for the right reasons but its turning out they are not in it for the long haul, and have become bored and want to move on. I believe this is common in all hobbies. I now know of several local collectors that have sold off all or large portions of their collections this past year, and of course a lot of people here probably saw my thread about the massive collection that was recently donated at my local Salvation Army. Anecdotal as it might be, it is what it is.