Wata Grades COUNTERFEIT Game & Releases More Population Reports 

2:50 Lol, the future of game collecting... Instead of label variants, grading variants. "I have a 9.8 copy." "Yeah, well mine is 9.0! That's even more rare than 9.8!"

I remember people defending wata as being experts and providing an important authentication service to justify their practices. And they keep 'autenthicating' bootlegs, burned cds and media cartridges as prototypes. At this point, trusting wata would be quite naive

I'm glad I will never take place in stuff like this. I just play games man... Those are the games I collect. The ones I want to play and enjoy.

I worked in a game shop in the late 90s early 00s, there were a couple of coustomers whom bought two copies of every game they believed would become "rare", one to play and one to sell sealed if it became valuable

The GTA numbers are massive due to the PS2 trilogy packs. People were cracking the large box open and sending in the 3 separate games endlessly becuase people were dumb enough to pay near 1000 for them - and of course, they were all mint, hence the high grades on all of them. That's why it's so important to open the tab and examine the variants. Trilogy editions are identifiable vs regular prints and are labelled separately on the pop report. Those trilogy packs are still very easy to find haha. There truly are an endless amount.

Saw mad little pixel's video on this nonsense It's completely ridiculous to charge that much money for a repro rondo a blood. And even when they're grading modern games, they're not going to be worth that much even after 20 years

in good coin dealerships they can have reference collections and a "black library" of fakes to weed them out

Mad Little Pixel did a video on this auction and the seller emailed him threatening to sue him for slander. He made a second video about that. Expect an email from the seller soon.

I wouldn't be surprised if there are stockpiles of sealed copies of Rule of Rose. It was one of those games that everyone already "knew" would be rare *before* it even reached store shelves, and I'm certain there are more than a few people that bought multiple copies entirely to set aside and sell years later.

This wasn’t even graded as sealed. I think it was graded just complete in box which is even worse.

Best Electronics in California had pallets of 2600 Spider-Man for $29.99 new. They've had them since the early '90s and only ran out in the last couple of years. I'm sure that's where these were sourced from. Video Games New York had sealed cases of N64 Perfect Dark last year. These games aren't rare.

The 9's or higher are way to common. Alot of the rare trading cards are usually more rare due to them being sets of 100. Or jersey cards that have maybe 50 cards total. And even then, trading cards generally harder to maintain and there are way lower grades. Average trading cards tend to be high sevens to eights. But low sevens and six's are normal too.

I find it so hilarious just how many graded copies they have of GTA V. That's gotta be one of the most common games in existence as it's really recent and one of the best selling games of all time. It's also gotta be one of the most worthless games too, because they have given away digital copies multiple times, and you can pick up a cib copy on ebay for around $10.

19:24 They even graded the disc too though. How they graded the disc that is supposedly sealed inside is anybody's guess.

Spending money for grading GTA is just insane😂

The WATA guys belong behind bars.

Damn, I need to get my copy of Sneak King graded!

This podcast really has been a greatest hits

I owned the Beyond Shadowgate of PCE Memories, I had NO IDEA it was a reproduction. The level of quality is staggeringly good.

The worst are the newer (ps3/xbox 360 onwards) where many of the sealed copies aren't even the full game since a huge number of games had important patches soon after release.

The reason why the number of copies of GTA 3 and GTA Vice City were the same when you looked, I imagine, has a LOT to do with the fact that as late as 2012 there were new copies of those games STILL being produced and sold in 3 packs with San Andreas, in original boxes with the manual and maps included.

This proves a good point what many have said for years.. There is a ton of these games sitting around in boxes still its not ultra rare..

Back in the day i had a brand new copy of Rule of Rose when it came out. Played it and sold it to gamestop for probably about 5-6 dollars. I kick myself in the ass often.

Looks like a GameStop Retro Quality Inspector decided to change gears and get a fresh start over at good old Wata! Keep living the dream, Steve!

Space Channel 5 on Dreamcast was given a 9.8 score 75% of the time that it is graded. 31 9.8s, 7 9.6s, and 3 8.5s. I think I am going to send something to wata, but I only want to send the cheapest, most useless, and worst looking sealed game I can find. I have some bad ones, but I want to get the lowest score I can get. Mostly because I want to see how bad the service is to actually use, but also receiving a 1.5 on a 360 game would be at least a little funny. But yeah, then I could tell people how bad the service is from someone that isn't a reseller looking to get rich

Some I was dating had her kid over and he opened a sealed game of mine :(

Their Pop Reports seem to be bogus to me. I looked up some of the lower quantity graded games in Price Charting to see if there had been any sales history. In looking up "Chronicles of the Sword", there was a sold Wata 9.8 in 2020, and there's only 1 in Wata's Pop Report with a grading level of 9.2. "Hercules" has 1 graded 9.4 on Wata, but 3 different versions in Price Charting sales history (none that match the grade in the Pop Report). Worse, given the link between Heritage Aurctions and Wata, Heritage sold a Wata graded copy of Hercules that Wata hasn't reported. (Or I suppose people could have faked the Wata grading, but given everything surounding Wata, I'll point my finger at them first lol).

I still want to know what percentage of games get re-graded in an attempt to hit a higher rating. This is fairly common with CCG grading and certainly makes the numbers less definitive.

I can't have enough news on WATA. These scumbags must be exposed.

How can you even grade a sealed game? I've returned sealed cd's and dvd's that didn't work or it was the wrong music on the cd.

I thought you guys were no longer making CU Podcast episodes? Please change your mind and continue making them!

I’ve always been told to manufacture a glass master cd is super expensive.

I enjoy these the most. Exposing these frauds doing grading. Thanks

Except for maybe Fighter Z now Budokai 3 is generally considered the best ZBZ game ever made. The thing that sucks about B3 on the collection though is that a lot of the music is different because many of the original tracks were plagiarized so they were replaced.

There could be a reason GTA 3 and vice city have the same number graded is cause on the original Xbox I believe it was only released in a double pack of both games

Where do you get the database they used in the video?

I used to play magic the gathering and speculators got their hooks into that hobby too.

The worst thing, is this was a CIB Rondo, NOT sealed!. All they had to do was look at the inner ring on the disc to know it was PCE Works.

Didn't know Ian was a part time auctioneer haha listing off those consoles I had to check and make sure it wasn't tech nine haha

Didn't Mad Little Pixel's last video say that Wata reached out to the seller, and the seller refused to send it back unless they also paid some amount for the game?

Now I can send in my copy of Secret Of Mana 2 on SNES!

I don’t think I’ve ever said “ooof” out loud before…

Surprised the amount of San Andreas also aren't on level with 3 and Vice City. I would assume they are close together in number because right near before PS2 titles became obsolete in retail Rockstar released a trilogy bundle with all 3 games in their seperate game covers.

I should get my GTA V signed by Steven Ogg graded lol. Oh and there are a lot of graded copies on eBay that have already sold for hundreds.

Pat, we both know that the Spiderman game is awesome! They should have got the Nerd to sign it first! Lol P.S. I really did have the Spiderman game growing up and it was fun to play. Although, just a little bit frustrating. A little ;)

That's exactly what I was trying to portray!!!! They're just like scratch offs!!!!!

I took the picture of that Spider-Man for Atari, I apologize for the lopsided seal info. They don’t pay me enough to take good pictures.

Did you guys mention Metroid A revision?

How long is it going to be until we see Tommy Tallarico and WATA on NBC’s American Greed? 🤑😂

Does anyone grade board games yet? I have my 1986 jeopardy ready to go!

Are these games going have to get regraded do to possible sunlight damage ect...

Pat should crack open his WATA game

Most of these are for sure speculators. But if I was a collector (I'm not) I could absolutely see the value in paying $50-$70 to get my game graded just for the extra allure. There is a difference for casuals to say "Check out my sealed copy of Mario Kart" vs. "Check out my sealed 9.8 pristine copy of Mario Kart". That would be well worth the additional cost just for the awe factor

even though your weekly podcast is going away, you should still do a video game news segment every week

WATA should grade NFTs...

Ian, you forgot to mention the console created by the guy who did the Micro Machine comercies. By the speed of your reading, I think you might be secretly working for Him! J K of course. Good, oration though :)

I'm going to get my vintage wallet WATA graded..

This ebay seller is definitly a scumbag seller though, they threatened to sue people who exposed it as a repro unless they deleted the videos exposing them. They had other Dracula X repro copies listed on ebay that weren't graded that they were trying to charging an absurd amount for as well, they just didnt get the same attention because theybwerent graded.

WATA should be forced to reimburse the seller of the repro for the full estimated fair market value of the item as if it were legitimate. WATA made the mistake. They should have to pay the price for it.

Correct me if I'm wrong, and I'm sincerely not being a hater here, but I believe Frank Cifaldi used to verify these games for WATA, as they also gave him access to protos that went through them. From my understanding he doesn't do it anymore

That Link "Vinyl costume & mask" in the background is creepy AF. 😅

I want to know what’s your opinion on dkoldies

I know people have their hate and love for PCWork produce game as they looked nearly 100% legit but they are marked with the PCWorks logo. Also I'd like to know that one of the great things about their repros are the fact that they're actually pressed cds and not just burnt CDR so they function just as good as the originals. I think that castlevania one is actually the English patch version too.

Isn’t there a chance the seller knew this was counterfeit and just got away with one? They have tons of pc engine works stuff for sale on their eBay site. When madlittle pixel brought this up on his RU-vid page the seller threatened to sue him.

Thinking sealed ps3 or xbox 360 is somehow rare to the point of grading them is such a joke. 50% of my xbox/ps3 collection is still sealed.

An actual professional grading company anywhere near the investigative expertise from Sotheby's and other well known experts would look more like this: 1. Is the box for the product, and any other boxes used to package the product, the exact material used to make the box(es) at the time of manufacturing. Exactly the same, right down to the chemical compounds? Are con artists today using materials of today to make products mimicking those boxes of the past? Materials were limited in the past. 2. Is the ink used for printing used to print any of the materials that are part of the product, from the box, posters, guide books, stickers on cartridge, and so on, the exact chemical compound of the ink from that time of original manufacturing? Are con artists using ink of today to print materials of the past? Ink was limited in type in the past. 3. Are the colours printed the exact same used to print any of the materials of product from the box, posters, guide books, sticker on the cartridge, and so on, the exact colours "possible" from the time of original manufacturing? As in, how many colours were possible to print with at the time of manufacturing? Are con artists using printers from colours today to print old game materials? Colours were limited in the past. 4. Is the paper used to make the booklets, pamphlets, stickers on cartridge, and other materials included in the product exactly the same chemical compound used at the time of original manufacturing? Are con artists using paper or materials of today to mimic materials used at the time of manufacturing in the past? 5. Is the plastic or materials used to make the cartridge and box or casing the same exact chemical compound at the time of original manufacturing? Are con artists using 3d printers or processes of today to mimic the product at the time of original manufacturing? 6. Is the video game in the cartridge, cd, or whatever data storage of the game the exact video game created at the time of manufacturing. Are con artists reintroducing roms of today onto a cartridge, cd, or whatever data storage being used for the game onto newly made or old cartridges because the original was corrupted, damaged, or lost? 7. Is the original program made for creating the game the same exact program with the same exact lines of programming used at the time original creation of the game? Are con artists using roms, programs or processes of today to mimic the video game at the time of the original creation or the game? Every single line of programming must be looked at by the original creators of the game, the original company that created the game, or an expert in the knowing of every single line of programming of the game. All efforts must be made to ensure the video game is the exact game in every way, right down to every line of programming. Even the parts of the game that are lacking in quality must appear to be the exact same at time of the creation of the game. 8. Every effort must be made to ensure that video games are the exact same at the time of the creation of the game with regards to the colours: colour palette, colour saturations, colour choices in any way shape or form. The colours throughout the entire video game must be inspected throughout the entire video game. All levels of a video game must be inspected thoroughly to ensure that everything is in the exact condition the game was at the time of manufacturing. Are con artists creating the programs and colours with processes today to mimic the game at the time of original manufacturing? 9. Is the video game playable from beginning to end and plays exactly the same way, and for every possible scenario exactly the same at the time of the creation of the game? Are con artists creating game packages with no video game inside the cartridge, in the cd, or other data storage devices sold at the time of manufacturing? Are con artists creating video games that are incomplete, corrupted, damaged, missing code, missing programs, missing anything with regards to the video game at the time of the original creation of the game? Is it the original video game in every way? Has an expert, original creator, programmer, company inspected the contents of the cartridge, cd, or other data storage device in every way to compare to its original state at the time of the original creation of the game? 10. Is every material and program to make the physical product and video game the exact same as it was at the time of the original creation of the product? 11. Have experts been consulted from around the world that were involved in the original creation of the video game production...in every way? From the physical properties, to the exact chemical compounds, to the exact programming language, to the exact colours of ink and video game, and to all other properties mentioned above or not mentioned above? Is it the original in every way, shape, or form? 12. This is a long arduous process. These investigations could take years. They would never take a week or a day. Never. 13. Has the video game industry and video game community been consulted, respectively, across the world in any way to investigate the possibility of fraud? And if this was the case, is WATA or any person or company claiming to have a monopoly on video game grading, respectful and open to any possibility of fraud? 14. This is just the beginning of me processing what I know about how products are scrutinized professionally if graded or judged on its monetary value in all other collecting avenues. Let's hope a video game valued at $4,000 has been scrutinized in every way by all of the experts, especially experts involved in the original creation of the video game. Are they really ready to grade? Are they really up to par with Sotheby's or other experts in the field of collecting? I don't think so. I've only scratched the service of what actual grading and investigating frauds are supposed to involve when being a reputable business. WATA, or any person or company does not cover nearly enough avenues to be able to judge the value of a video game if it has not begun to do any of the investigative processes I have mentioned above. Very sad.

Spider-Man from the 70s? Totally. Spider-Man from current decade? HELL NO

I would agree with the last statement except for the fact that the seller had 2 or 3 of them and never disclosed the fact that they were fake.....the guy is a 🤡

Has anyone tried to slab an Alamogordo E.T. yet?

Sad to listen to RU-vid "experts" flatly equate grading quanity and rarity to collectible value, and completely disregard game popularity and demand as a driving factor.

If my Star Wars figures from the 90's are worth less now than they were at release, I refuse to believe 360 games will ever be worth grading

they used to grade games people make at home for fun.

Im gonna speculate too: 90% of this modern graded slabbed stuff is gonna be worth f all

I think for most people that want to play retro emulation in software is good enough and for a few emulation in hardware which will cost less than one game from WATA. I personally am just waiting to put my money on a FPGA system that can do FPGA to pull the trigger on one and I have no plans to get anything older than 6th gen. If it plays close to the original that is good enough for me. I don't have the money nor space for all the games I want to play in their original form and eventually these will all die and need to be preserved in another way.

The seller probably knew it a repo and sent it in to Wata to get it appraised, Wata probably appraises anything to make money..

Got my copy of sealed Fortnite graded. Going to retire in 30 years, joke's on you!

Its not a loss until you sell. its all about having assets.

New contest! See who cane get the lowest rating for a game through watta!

I bet this is a CYA situation. Like we’ve made our money, now let’s look like we’ve done due diligence.

Man on the left is running out of breath just talking! Stay healthy guys! Please 😢

I collect Videogames for 30+ years. I laugh in the Face of every idiot that buys graded Shit!! You where ripped off guys! Only the Grading Companys make money.

How's your stickers bro

Damn, if I fouId a sealed, "Rule of rose". I would sell it and buy a nice, open one, along with a whole bunch of open games. Games to play! Because. I WANT TO PLAY IT! , not wait for the value to go up! I can't afford to buy a used, original copy!! I just want to play it on my PS2 slim, not a repro. Not a online version! Just the original game. #For the Love of the Video Game! I've never owned a cell phone or sent a text, so I might have screwed up somewhere. If I did, oops! Cheers from Canada

250 Halo 3..... I recall STACKS AND STACKS AND STACKS of them at a Best Buy, with the cat helmet. I'm okay, with a rare misprint, that has "hello 3" but when it comes to the most common games, you can really smell that grift.

Ten years ago, would never thought be discussing this about collecting video game. Glad I quit awhile ago so not to witness this happen to something that I loved to do, parading around the dead corpse of something ya love

360 came out in 2005

And I bet you could divide those exact GTA numbers by what a normal PS2 shipping box is and get a clean number. This is silly.

This seller was totally a scumbag seller. Madlittlepixel did a video on this, and the seller threatened to sue him because of it. Then after all the backlash, the seller took the listing down.

Ironically that fake Rondo game might actually become quite valuable due to the fact that it is now famous and living proof of WATA's ineptness.

I have an extra Atari Kaboom, should I grade it?😂

God i will miss you guys when you will stop making these podcast.... COMPLETELY NECESSARY PODCAST !!!

I can't believe people get junk graded. Hilarious.

Wata you want for this?

Holly smokes time passed I followed these guys for years .... they got big n oan getting Grey hairs man I'm getting old

all that will worth $5 bucks in 10 years.

Gonna miss these uploads...😓

hi google, how many copies of mario 64 were sold?? Super Mario 64 (1996) With just under 12 million copies sold, Super Mario 64 is officially the best selling N64 game of all time!Mar 13, 2022...pat and ian. IT'S NOT RARE SEALED THERE ARE OVER 200 COPIES 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Remember when one of Ian’s favorite customers tried to sell him a really bad fake little Samson and dinosaur peak? I wanna buy those copies so I can pass them through Wata so Danielle can ‘scoop’ them up and gloat about it. “We scooped the 3.7 and 2.5 for $600,000!!..IM ECSTATIC!!”

not sure how these guys are still in business

Won’t the batteries and capacitors eventually fail and leak?, potentially ruining the incased high grade game.