Game Grading: Is This Trading Places?

Maybe these auction sites are becoming like the Dukes in Trading Places. This sort of stuff began a couple of years ago with a copy of Super Mario Bros. on the NES. It sold for 100 thousand dollars and has since created a niche slice of people wanting crazy money. If stuff didn't happen these last two months, I would have ignored it. A couple things would have caught my attention, though nothing hugely substantial. But not stuff is getting pumped up on games that can easily be found.

There was a Super Mario 64 that sold for over a million and half. Now the question comes into how fake this thing could be with another copy of Super Mario Bros. going for two million dollars. From listening and reading about it, it's not a first print run version or a first year copy. More so a third year copy. Over the years, companies have tried to do grading of games and hasn't fully materialized until 2019. Hard to believe ten years ago prices people wanted from 9.0 graded. That was child's play compared to now.

Getting games you want now these days is a lot more difficult. Prices do play a factor. It will dreadful if it leaked over to PlayStation. Something like Silent Hill goes for over 100 dollars. I can see some jerk off trying to get it graded and it goes for nearly five figures. And the stories of people involved with auction sites having stakes by buying some of these games, there can be pure manipulation on their part. With numbers being hard to come by, it can be anyone's guess on how many games sealed and graded have been sold.

Do I think this market will grow more? After the newest revelations, I don't think so. With these shenanigans going on, I think many will love it when it crumbles. It may not make finding games easier, but at least they won't feel ripped off. My gut tells me another bombshell will occur sooner than later.