Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Will New DS Chrono Trigger Change Original's Price

Square-Enix officially announced Chrono Trigger DS on Sunday. The game will be a remake of the original Super Nintendo Chrono Trigger with a new dungeon, online play, and touch screen support. The question for video game collectors though is will this new game change the price of the original? Should you sell your SNES Chrono Trigger before prices plummet or will prices increase and I should buy a copy now?

We've shown in this blog a couple times before that new games in a series usually raise the price of the earlier games. People get excited for the new game coming out and want to prepare by playing the originals or they beat the new game and want to try out the originals. Whatever the reason, the demand for the classic games increases while supply is constant. So resale prices increase.

But Chrono Trigger DS is a remake and the SNES version is already one of the most expensive Super Nintendo games (Sealed versions of the game sell for almost $1,000). Gamers could essentially buy the same game with some new features for $39.99 instead of paying $55 for a used copy on the SNES. Will people decide to buy the cheaper game instead so demand for Chrono Trigger Super NES actually drops?

I can't say for sure because I haven't seen a similar situation before, but my bet is prices increasing for the SNES game. I think the new game will spark more interest in the original and resale prices will increase. The prices won't go up as much as other games have because it is already so pricey, but there will be an increase.

What is your prediction? I'll revisit this topic in November and see how everyone did.

I also included the trailer for Chrono Trigger DS. Enjoy.

2 comments :

telepathy said...

Maybe a mediocre example for comparison is Disgaea's rerelease for the PSP. Granted, the game is much newer than Chrono Trigger, but it also had a reprint that seemed not to negatively impact it's resale value.

Truth be told, Chrono Trigger has had a reprint in the form of the PS1 Final Fantasy Chronicles set. The PS1 version had its ups (bonuses if you will)& downs (disc format slowdowns) but the value of the SNES original still demands a hefty price.

When it comes to remakes, it seems like unless they are on the same platform, the originals do not suffer (unless the remake is dominantly superior to the original) & will have a sizeable demand.

Another remake vs. original example is the original MGS & MGS the Twin Snakes for the GCN. I can not believe the current price of Twin Snakes but it is a fact that the revamped remake is more expensive as of now.

The question that needs to be asked is whether people will be satisfied with a "better" version on the DS that has more stuff, on a portable platform, & for whatever reason that Chrono Trigger needs it; online play, or will people be convinced that this classic best be played in its original form.

JJ Hendricks said...

Great comment Chris. Very good examples with Disgaea for PSP and MGS Twin Snakes.

I think you have a good point that unless you have the same game released on the same system, it probably won't lower the price much if at all.

Thanks for that insight and examples.

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