I'm a young collector so...

mario101 · Posted: Sat May 26, 2007 11:33 am Post subject: I'm a young collector so...

Ok, I've been looking at handhelds original prices and been woundering, why were they so much?
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Emulators are for the non collectors

Roback · Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 5:41 pm Post subject:

Like anything else that is collectible, supply and demand dictate price. It's really that simple.
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Mego lives!!

Rik · Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 11:09 pm Post subject:

I think he's talking about the original store prices. Why were they $60 back in the day when most handhelds today are $5-15...

Mainly it's because it was new (and expensive) technology back then. I believe the actual cost of manufacturing for a game back then was in the $12-15 range (compared to today where it's in the $2-5 range I believe, maybe even less), thus the mark-up was higher to get the profit margin they wanted.

An interesting note about games (mostly console games, but early handhelds can also be included)- The price of these games has hardly changed at all since the Atari 2600. When the 2600 was popular, new games for it cost $40-50. New games for Xbox 360/PS3 are $50-60, very little increase over a nearly 30-year period.

Rik

Dan · Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 6:02 pm Post subject:

Using the Consumer Price Index, $45 in 1980 is like $107 in 2005! So in that way games now are much less expensive!