Will Collecting Games and Other Things Decline? 

Ian was right Pat, kids of the future never miss the things their parents had, it was never for them and I see this as the age old... you want the kids to have the same experiences. Kids today don't care about the things we cared about, same as we don't care about out parent's 👍 Collecting will just change the thing that is being collected, not collecting itself ending, again, our parents collected totally different things than we do and so on. Pat it sucks getting old but this is just how it is brother 😎👍

Pat Toy's R Us is back, your late to the game dude... Macy's owns the name and their toy section is Toys R Us now 😞 sadly

I think the only thing that would really impact game collecting in our lifetime is a big economic crash or some kind of crazy national event like civil war, etc. Without something big that impacts daily life and makes people reconsider their priorities, we will all continue to enjoy our hobbies.

To me, there will always be an interest in collecting things that bring back fun, nostalgic memories from one's childhood, especially those they hope to pass on to others like their kids, partner, etc. I do think that a generation not raised on physical media will do that in a different way...maybe it's a digital picture frame that shows off their favorite/most absurd Fortnite dances, or some Fortnite toy busting a move, etc. vs the actual games themselves. I also think that the current physical media collecting fad, which in part is driven by legitimate "I want to play and remember these games" interest, but also is driven by major speculative interest, will die down somewhat, but as someone who collects for fun vs investment purposes I don't see that necessarily being a bad thing.

Here in the UK, we have several dedicated large toy retailers that sell physical games, plus limited selections within supermarkets. Targeted advertising still exists, it's just more likely pushed via younger RU-vidrs who fail to disclose their advertainment deals, and present a shared experience as a trusted older influence.

totally with you on that.... need to prioritize spending money on family...especially now i don't even have time for games..

I feel like collecting nowadays is just way too expensive. You could justify it up through the first decade of the 2000's but after that, it became more popular and the games sometimes are just absurdly priced. I remember the late 90's, where there were a ton of used game stores and if an NES game was more than $30, that was considered expensive.

@bean420man that's another big part of it. But I was to the point at the height of my collecting where I was buying Super Rare Games switch releases and leaving them in the cellophane. It is literally the worst kind of collecting some of them have increased in value significantly, which I guess was the point of doing it in the first place, but I'm actually playing and enjoying more games now that I'm only purchasing games I have the intention of playing. I will still purchase certain games for their rarity from time to time, but only specific genres like classic shmups or if I find a really good deal. It's much healthier for me in general to do it that way.

Omg he does look like a cabbage patch kid lol

Dude looking like one. He needs to get his health in check.

I havent watched this podcast for a while. Ians transforming into Jack Black

🖨️🖨️🖨️💯💯💯💯💯

Miss kay bee toys

Today's kids will remember playing Pokemon Go with their Dad. Or perhaps Minecraft or Amibo. If we force physical media on an Xbox owning kid, we'll look like dinosaurs out of touch with reality.

​@TechRyze you're completely missing the point of what he said. He isn't talking about playing the games together , he is talking about going to a toy store to buy the game. Having a moment out with his parents and them purchasing it for him inside a store full of toys.

Reading the whole manual on the way home and then racing to the console the second the car stopped in the driveway. Good memories, but honestly I'd have traded that whole experience to just be able to download and play the game almost instantly, especially if it would have been online with friends.

I agree.

The telecommunications act of 1996 is what harmed the music industry

If future generations grow up not caring about physical media, the market's overall value will dissipate, therefore creating a lower barrier to entry for the most part except for media that's aging out of functionality (things becoming no more than museum pieces due to disc rot, failing/irreplaceable parts, etc.).

@JZekis Very well said. Most of us feel ok not having had our parents' experience. I certainly do. Like-wise, future generations will feel perfectly fine downloading/streaming videogames. Many people often make the mistake of thinking that their childhood was somehow objectively better, but in reality most of it is actually very subjective. And if we don't realize this, we risk becoming that annoying old man constantly going on about the good old days and how everything was better.

However there is an issue with zoomers and gen alpha feeling cheated. I've had people ask me what it was like going to a midnight launch for a game waiting for the store to open and making friends. They were fascinated with it. I told them people could easily experience that again by just preordering a game at GameStop instead of Amazon but they refuse to get out of their house. They want those experiences but don't at the same time. They're upset they don't have the community we had while refusing to put in the effort for it. Which shows when you look at the amount of gen z who have 0 friends vs older groups. Gen alpha is looking to have a higher % of 0 friends

I think you're right. Not every generation appreciates or cares about the previous generations' hobbies. Just look at previous generations trying to sell off their Elvis collections.

​@backlogbuddies I had such a blast at midnight launches. Day 1 for consoles. I was 40+ when most of them happened. Luckily my kids got to experience toy stores.

Same story here with Dragon Quest and Mother series

Dragon warrior 1 on nes was the first rpg I ever beat when I was 8, I wish I would have known about 2,3 and 4 when I was a kid, didn't find out that it was a series still going until years later, now I've beaten them all, all versions and lookin forward for the 3 remake on modern consoles, I really hope it's physical, if I can't own it I don't want it

Wow, almost the same story for me. I am 40 years old, and I never played or collected the DW/DQ series until early 2023. I started playing DW4 on the Nes and I loved it. I then bought all the mainline games released in North America, as well as a couple released in Japan. I have played through the first four games on the Nes, the fifth game on both the DS as well as on a Super nes multicart with an English patch…and I’m currently playing through DQ6 on the DS. After this, I’m going to play DW7 on ps1, then DQ8 on ps2, DQ9 on DS, and DQ11 on ps4. So far, I rate DW1 an 8, DW2&DW3 get 9’s, and DW4&DQ5 both get 10’s. I’m a little over half way done with DQ6, but it’s my least favorite so far. It seems like it will probably get a 6.5 or a 7. We’ll see. It’s okay, but a big step down from the utter masterpieces that were DW4 and DQ5.

I’m 43 and this is the very thing that scares me. No time, energy or money to dive into something new and be addicted to. Coming back to console gaming (just Nintendo) in 2017, I just stick to the few genre and franchises I’m familiar with. That means no Pokémon, JRPGs, Animal Crossing and 3D Zeldas (love 2D ones). These games are time sinkers which is a no-no with me because a wife (who doesn’t play games), young kids and a business to run are first priorities.

@@thelastdragon5551 Everybody needs time to forget the world, you can have kids and a wife and run a business and still play games, just have to find out if it helps out in your life, it's better than going out drinking and partying, some people don't like playing video games and that fine, it's up to you whether it helps or hurts you

;(

They actually did come back and even opened a store in the Houston Galleria. Thing is, Covid happened like a week later or so. So, as soon as they opened again, the pandemic shut it right back down. They just can't catch a break.

@@bean420man there is one in New Jersey, in the big mall they opened recently.

I understand what you're trying to say even if I don't agree with how you're saying it. Im 38 and have been buying video games since I was a teenager yet I dont have any nostalgia for going into a store to get a game, the nostalgia comes from the game itself. I buy all my physical games online now and will continue to prefer that over hoping a game I want is in stock at a store. I also get out of the house a lot though so the part I agree with is kids needing to socialize more and staying home all the time to do everything online is definitely not good. I just don't think going into a store to buy a video game is the way to do it but im sure that's not what you meant which is why I agree with your messaging in general.

@joeyisabsb1 Everybody has their own point of view. Different brains different experiences. The purpose of my comment was to highlight the importance of doing things in the real world around other people. I have nostalgia going to the toy stores with my family, video stores with my friends, and record stores by myself. It was an experience. Going to school, sports, playing the games, going out to eat, going to the movies, sleep overs, Christmas, Halloween etc. It all adds up to more life experiences and memories. You can do whatever you want as an adult but people especially kids should be exposed to more than a computer screen 90% of their free imo. Life should be more than that.

​@@KyleReeseCel2029I figured this is what you meant in general as I stated in my comment. I agree with you.

Good for you. I just went through something similar and it's great to be free from "stuff".

@@neoturfmasterMVS No we won't.

@@neoturfmasterMVS You can't tell me what to like.

What happens when the "legal/legit" way becomes unavailable and license holders don't feel like making it available. Like I wouldn't buy a neogeo even if the games weren't available or even an nes because most of memories as a kid are the ps2 and 360. Theres a high likelihood that I'd just emulate the games that I wanted to play because I am unlikely to want to play on more than a handful of releases most of being pokmeon, Mario or sonic etc.

When it comes to records I really only care about them being complete and in overall decent condition, but if the price is right I'll settle for less as long as the record itself is playable.

I'm in the camp of "I think they're neat and I like how they sound" where I do seek out the best or really good copies, and will get cool editions if it's not that outrageous

What about a scenario where we live in a dystopian future where we actually "own nothing"? Imagine all games and entertainment are digital or streaming, no physical media, people can't afford cars, and only the upper echelon of wealthy own things.

As someone who is 24, it doesn't seem that old, but i am old enough to remember going to blockbuster k Mart Sears and a lot of those older chain stores that aren't really around anymore

As someone born in 2000, I fondly remember buying and playing games like Simpson hit & run, battlefront 2, Minecraft and halo 3 to name a few as a kid but I don't feel compelled to buy anything older than the dreamcast. Most of my toys r us memories or pre ordering games is of buying things like pokemon cards or preording a copy of dead rising riptide. Don't think there's almost any overlap.

@@kelmanl4 I would agree and understand

You could save that money, invest it appropriately (ie, not crypto) and maybe retire earlier and send more of your days enjoying gaming... just one idea.

That is on idea. The thing is money for this stuff shouldn't be eating into your retirement lol The money used for your hobby should be your surplus after priorities are taken care of. You can have a savings/retirement and collect games at the same time. People just dont realize that not everyone is entitled to own whatever they want. The market determines the price and if you cant afford it then its up to you to not buy it and go broke. @@ogre706

​@ogre706 Good advice. When covid hit and prices rocketed, I sold a decent portion of my collection and invested the money. Never a bad idea to invest, the way the world's going most of us will never retire if we don't.

​@@ogre706if I could go back in time I'd go to school or learn a skill

Lots of very very sad people care far too much about how their house looks to guests. That’s their measure of success. Tragic lmao

Exactly! 💯 I am not sure what is the obsession with our generation (Elder-Millenials and Younger-Gen X) trying to recreate ourselves in our kids and other people's' children. The world is very different now. It was very different then (god knows). We are not the same. Each generation is shaped by the environment of these times they live. They will value things when they are much older, that you and I would probably not be able to relate too or predict. Just as there were actually older people a few decades back who were nostalgic for the times of paddles in schools and child labor. Toy Stores do not even hit the same with kids (like me) who also grew up in the 80s and 90s... but did not experience growing up going to them. Alot of kids either grew up poor, didn't live near a Toys' R Us (as they were somewhat regional in places), or they did not have parents who bought them things. I have more nostalgia for renting a single videogame (usually nes, gb or snes) every week for $3 from my various local mom and pop video stores, or playing with toys at cousins and friends houses. I've never been in a Toys'R Us in my entire life, and growing up I only really saw toys at WALMART and KMART. And rarely did my mom (as my dad was not around) approve of them, as she thought toys were too expensive. She encouraged me to focus my birthday and Christmases on Gameboy games and rentals - because she thought that was a cheaper way to occupy myself. And just saying that might sound horrible and sad to most people our age... but I am actually grateful I wasn't bought the toys I wanted (even if it meant I cried alot in stores as a kid). Because I have an attachment to those experiences, and my passion for gaming might have never manifested as it did, had I also shared my attention with other things. And as a result, everytime I see an old Walmart (or Kmart) or an abandoned building that clearly used to be a Rental Store.... those are the spaces which I personally get those 'feel goods' and flashes of nostalgia when I encounter them. I have even been known to stop on the side of the road at old dilapidated husks of Video rental stores, and go in them and imagine what they must have been like 25 or 30 years ago, on a busy friday night after some big release. It's a almost religious experience for me to stand in those haunting places and remember my own experiences as a dirty kid with 3 or 4 buck in quarters clanking together in my shorts pocket... and finding new hole-in-the wall rental place I had never visited... usually discovering some wonderful game of movie I had never seen before. I don't reminisce about toy stores, but rather Star Night Video, or Video World 2... or 80/90s Walmart back when they had arcade machines out in the front of the store lobby, people smoked in the store, and they had elderly greeters in blue vests with those giant Pins. People can glow over their toy collections or places like Kiddie City.... and I legitimately will (apparently) never know what I missed out on as a kid (and I don't care in the least). And can you imagine hearing someone say their childhood nostalgia is for going to Walmart? ...exactly. And that just goes to show how 'tailored' our personal upbringings really are. We each have our own specifically tuned rose-tinted glasses of the past. The notion that everyone had the same upbringings and feel the same way about these stores... it's naive. And it's the fundamental reason why so many middle-aged men can't understand today's children growing up without those same experiences.... which must feel to them like they are almost 'integral' to growing up. My friends all grew up better off than me, and I STILL regularly hear about their toy collections growing up, and I have for years listened to them converse about their current collections. When Toys 'R US closed a bunch of years back... a few of my buddies actually camped out all night at the last one in our area and and took photos for social media and livestreamed it for a online toy group. I never understood the appeal or doing that in a cold February. And no matter how much they have tried to get me into their hobby... it has literally no appeal to me. They talk about their parents taking them out for good grades to eat out at pizza hut and buy a toy or two. They talk about receiving toys randomly by their parents. Going to the mall on christmas and buying a big play sets... and it's so alien to me. I stopped caring about them at 12, when my mom turned down my request for a few bucks to get a Red Ranger at Magic Mart. That was the last time I ever asked for a toy, and after that I only cared about was renting games and watching bad martial arts movies. I appreciated every game I played, every game I borrowed from friends, each game trade, and every one of my handful of game cartridges that I actually owned. Something that neither pat, nor future generations of kids could understand. My own appreciation and attachment to the past is unique to my own situation... and (again) THAT is the heart of this issue. Too many people in our generation have these conversations, and reflect their own life experiences onto the situation as the default (unalienable) truth of the world. They are unable to understand that their experiences and values are not universal, and very specific to their own upbringing (even if they share it with many people who had similar childhoods). There are people (like myself) from their own generation, who grew up back then, who don't share their feelings because what they describe does not reflect my own childhood. These frequent conversations (usually by childless middle-aged men) about other people's' kids missing out on toy stores and saturday cartoons... it is really out-of-touch. It's the first step towards waving at clouds and 'back in my day' conversations at the nursing home. The narrative changes when we dive into socio political, the nuclear family unit, environmental or economical comparisons.... but these "we had better toys" conversations are misplaced, and show a fundamental lack of understanding of how the world works. _PS: Sorry for the rambling Post. lol._

lol communist spy slab

I guess still being in college I'm not quite there yet lol

I'd say in most cases, nobody's going to care more about your collection than yourself.

What if I just collect to please myself? No need to show it to fiends/family members and certainly not for social media?

@@thelastdragon5551 Then you're collecting for a different reason... Aesthetics, most of all.

You could have worded this differently because it made me think you collect X rated games 😂

I was thinking the same thing. Todays kids and even adults are living in a time of fast media. There’s always something new, and we get bored of shit really fast as well.

Unless you’re talking PUBG or Xbox or something, there are tons of physical games on ps4 and ps5 that will run on a day 1 console with no internet just fine. I had your same mentality for a while but when I actually looked into it, I realized there’s an opportunity for me to have those games and be prepared for the day when I just lose interest in whatever gaming turns into. Between ps4 and ps5 there’s enough interesting stuff to keep me entertained for another few decades.

No. Collecting is just the specific hobby being discussed

Awesome idea.

You created amazing memories that she will randomly remember throughout her life and make her smile.

Aren't some of them really just retooled kevin Costner robin hood toys?

@@kurtshastany1945 lol I don’t know if there was a Robin Hood toy. You would probably have to ask the toy expert about that.

@@michaeldietz2648 oh I just looked again. They are too biz not Kenner. They reused certain molds n pieces from the old xmen xforce and spiderman toylines

@@kurtshastany1945 thanks that’s pretty cool I never knew that!!

Prices were heavily inflated during covid I would argue they just came back to normal. Video games are not declining

As long as there are people that have the sentiment and attachment to their past, people always collect things; however that's where it ends

Seriously how many 20-something year olds have you met that or into collecting VHS or records?.. it's the same with old video games.

And I hate to say it, but the way technology and trends move nowadays, we've come to the sentiment of; "If it's old, it sucks.."

@@SuperIcarusmanthat’s not the same there are better ways to watch those movies or listen to that music. There are many games that are stuck on older systems. As long as there are still certain franchises putting out new games there will always be an interest to see where it started. So people will always go back to the earlier games

What???? So you hoard art then? I can’t think of anything with less utility. The whole point of art is that it is inanimate and has no utility. I love art but to drop that bombshell after denouncing collecting as a mental illness and portraying yourself as some kind of enlightened hermit borders on satire.

Agree. I think higher GC prices will linger longer for quantity reasons for the top titles compared to say NES, but to your greater point that demand for some earlier systems may have peaked/gotten close to their peak, I agree...I'm not quite sure about putting N64 in that group yet but definitely for most systems that came before it.

Re GCN prices: there's also the issue of it being really easy to emulate cartridge systems because their BIOS' aren't protected via trademarks. Sure setting up dolphin is easy but you still need to hunt down the proper bios files compared to just downloading an nes, snes, or 64 emulator. Even getting a switch emulator up and running is easier than getting a CD based system, until the ps3, running.

​@backlogbuddies the bios is protected by copyright, not trademark. Second, retroarch for the longest time had cores to run cd base games. Only I think the sega cd was the biggest issue. I don't think you know what you are talking about.

@krusk I misspoke big whoop. As someone who has had to help lots of people set to RetroArch because it's a pointlessly confusing mess I'm not sure you know what you're talking about. It's easier, and better, to snag a bios and set up a fine tuned emulator than it is to deal with RetroArch cores. RetroArch has improved but it still pales in comparison for ease of use and quality of emulation comapred to dedicated emulators. Even then getting the bios is too much for a lot of people. Even getting the update files for rpcs3 is too much for some and that's just going to Sony's website. You came in wanting to sound smug and smart while not understanding what i said.

@@backlogbuddies No, I didn't come in smug and as well as between bios and cores, they aren't that hard to set up as well as the cores barely need any configuration unless it's a speciality game. It also isn't a big whoop because you don't need a bios to play GCN games on dolphin lol. It's helpful to have especially something like paper mario but trust me, most games don't need a fine tune as much as you claim.

Now you sit. And look at it, and nod.

Same here. Been collecting Japanese books, vinyl, VHS, etc. mostly from before I was born and discovered within the past 2 or 3 years. I used to be into game collecting when prices were still reasonable but have completely lost interest in it and playing games in general. I plan to sell what remains of my collection and only keep the games I've had since childhood and have a sentimental attachment to.

My mom did the same thing with me, but the Gameboy game I picked out was a no-brainer: The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening.