What has become of Akihabara?

[FinalBaton]

french/spanish/italians are the worst figuring the prices & choices..) , in akiba than japanese sellers..

I wonder why this is but I tend to find this too.

Me too.

It's simple actually, I can tell in the case of France that this 'market' has been controlled by a number of sharks with enough happy merchant spirit and who felt the winds turn around 2008~2010. They invested money and went to Japan, combing the land for everything they could afford to send back to Europe (or open their own juicy channels with local Japanese stores).
With natural stocks decreasing and people being afraid for the economy, the market was ripe for the game of value/high prices.

In the same time they've patiently worked on building the mood, literally shepherding all the young men relatively new to the retrogaming thing, through 'holy grails collectors' forums, events like public auctions, or salons/meetings for 'professionals' like them (sharky friends!), stores of course, etc.

Why did it work so well ? Most of these newbie customers were (are still) inexperienced, have sparkly begging eyes, and can't speak a fucking word of english (consequently they also suck at ordering stuff abroad).

You get the formula; an isolated population of misinformed people, artificially hyped and controlled by a legal local mafia. It's that mediocre.
I've seen the arcade and retro communities change radically over the years, getting stupidier and more isolated, the 'veterans' unhappy with all that shit leaving the 'scene' losing interest or even being told to scram.

Wow it's gotten quite bad in France. Interesting read, especially regarding the local purveyors of games slowly "grooming" the newcomers to believe that this stuff has the value of solid gold.

Shops here aren't too bad, for the most part. The good ones sell for like 15% to 20% under Ebay.com and Ebay.ca prices, which to me is the treshold for "fair" store prices. that might be because people here WILL resort to Ebay if the stores price their stuff too high. Still, there are some stores (and even Ebay stores) here that sell for premium prices and still manage to move their inventory because beginners in the hobby think these prices are normal and buy them at those prices. And that in turn affects everyone because other seller look at those store and say "well, that store and that other store sold this common game for $75, so I can no longer sell mine for $45. I've gotta raise my prices".

Another aspect here (which must apply to many regions) is that retro games are so damn popular thanks to Youtube channels, that all flea markets, garage sales and estates sales are scavenged to hell and back all the time, and the stock resold on Ebay (or kept in the collection of completionists), so there pretty much aren't any games left "in the wild" anymore.

[Xyga]

Yeah sellers over here will always get support from retro kiddies, raised in the belief that every retro thing, espceially CIB~mint is a rare piece of history if not a legend, and it's perfectly natural that the price would go up every time it changes hands.

In fact the legend intensifies as the price goes up.

[neorichieb1971]

There are certain types of games that never go down in price. I'd say after 3 years old, a game goes up in value in some genres, like RPG's and STG's and quite a bit of 2D pixel art games.

I bought a Musha Genesis in 2003 for $50 which I thought was ridiculous at the time. I bought Elevator Action Returns on Saturn for $50, Batsugun for $50. All these games are now in the 100's. Not saying that its a worthwhile investment since there are faster ways to make money than waiting 25 years for double/triple or quadruple your money. But I don't see prices going down. The amount of collectors will always rise because people spend their time on forums. If people didn't come to forums, people wouldn't want what they think they need, but don't really need at all.

Its easy to rig the system as well. eBay as someone on here once said is the wild west of the internet.

BIN's give the impression something is worth more than it is
Incremental self bidding with fake accounts/friends accounts is rife (recently got hit with that).
And you only have to look at older videogame merchandise to see the trends continue to shock. Like Nintendo game and watch CIB.

[caincan]

sorry that my quotes about europe were more attractive compared to situation in Akiba

(damn i forgot german sellers.. but i dont know why, i dont relate to arcade or consoles, .. i see them constantly for retrocomputing games, amiga, PC & so on, & old toys boxed or starwars vintage.. good stuff & knowledge, but insane prices)

neogeo AES is a shame in france yes, some bought every unusual title to control the sub-market it seems

in some niche subgenres, you dont need more than 1-2 parasites to contaminate the prices.. there is a french reseller (greatfiveaura) of old japanese toys and his prices are just silly .. and he seems really travelling in wasteland kansai to get unusual stuff

according to more or less recent videos.. even the den of Osaka who wasn't so infected with depleted shelves.. increased much the prices too.. perhaps one day in Paris mob mafia gaming, there'll be the new Akiba (hipster?) mania

[Mrhide]

...so back from Japan and stayed in Akiba for 4 days thanks AirBnb!

HEY is da bomb. I mean DAMN. That was fun. They pretty much have ALL the cool shmups!

Super potato was all right, my son found some Zelda stuff he wanted and Mandarake is just out of control!

hopefully will not take 9 years to go back.

Loved it.

oh yeah .. the Sakuras were all right too!