The tables on console pages and search results pages are now sortable and filterable for those using Internet Explorer or Safari. Sorting and filtering has always worked for Firefox and Google Chrome users. If you use one of the affected browsers and you try it again in the next 24 hours you might have to click your browser's Refresh button to get the feature working.
Thanks to Steve K. for reporting this bug to us.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Sorting Console and Search Tables
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
2008 Video Game Prices In Review
We've written a number of articles about video game prices in 2008 covering topics like the best resale value by system and publisher, ten games with the biggest price increases and decreases during 2008, followup on my 2008 price predictions, and a chart showing the average video game price on a daily basis during 2008.
Below is a link to each of the articles and a brief summary.
Resale Values By Publisher - 2008 Releases
A list of publishers who released at least six games in 2008 ranked by their average resale value
2008 Resale Values By Console - 2008 Releases
All the current generation consoles ranked by the average resale value of their games
2008 Resale Values By Game - 2008 Releases
A list of the ten games released in 2008 with the best resale values
Average Game Prices During 2008 (Chart)
A chart showing the average video game price on a daily basis during 2008. Includes comparison to 2007 prices too.
10 Biggest Gainers During 2008
A list of the ten video games with the biggest increase in price during 2008
10 Biggest Losers During 2008
A list of the ten video games with the biggest decrease in price during 2008
10 Games With Biggest Price Drops in 2008
Top 10 Video Games Ranked By Price Decrease in 2008
| Game | Console | Jan 1st | Dec 31st | % Increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NBA Live 2007 | PS3 | $20.00 | $0.99 | -95% |
| Metal Slug 5 | PS2 | $19.95 | $0.99 | -95% |
| Urban Yeti | GBA | $16.00 | $0.99 | -93% |
| Chronicles of Narnia | PSP | $59.99 | $5.00 | -92% |
| Jumper | PS2 | $39.79 | $3.75 | -91% |
| Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon | GBA | $5.25 | $0.50 | -91% |
| The Mummy | GBA | $25.62 | $2.46 | -90% |
| Crazy Castle 4 | Gameboy | $24.95 | $2.48 | -90% |
| NBA Jam Tournament Edition | Genesis | $14.68 | $1.49 | -89% |
| WWF King of the Ring | NES | $33.40 | $3.40 | -89% |
The prices in the list only include video games with at least two sources and a minimum price of $1.00 in January. The prices shown are the 30 day average price on January 1st and December 31st 2008.
See games with biggest price increases in 2008.
This post is part of our 2008 Video Game Prices in Review series.
10 Games With Biggest Price Increases in 2008
Top 10 Video Games Ranked By Price Increase in 2008
| Game | Console | Jan 1st | Dec 31st | % Increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indiana Jones Last Crusade | Dreamcast | $3.25 | $9.95 | 514% |
| Tecmo Super Bowl 2 SE | SNES | $5.00 | $29.99 | 500% |
| Contra Legacy of War | Saturn | $8.95 | $45.72 | 411% |
| Command and Conquer | Saturn | $1.99 | $9.99 | 402% |
| Dracula Crazy Vampire | Gameboy | $11.00 | $54.97 | 400% |
| Bust-a-Move 2 Arcade Edition | Saturn | $1.00 | $4.99 | 399% |
| Eliminator Boat Duel | NES | $1.00 | $4.50 | 350% |
| Barbie: 12 Dancing Princesses | PS2 | $3.15 | $13.70 | 335% |
| Dynamite Headdy | Genesis | $1.19 | $4.99 | 319% |
| Mortal Kombat 1 and 2 | Gameboy | $2.04 | $8.49 | 316% |
The prices in the list only include video games with at least two sources and a minimum price in January of $1.00. The prices shown are the 30 day average price on January 1st and December 31st 2008.
See games with biggest price decreases in 2008.
This post is part of our 2008 Video Game Prices in Review series.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Resident Evil 5 Collector's Edition
Capcom has released information about the Collector's Edition version of Resident Evil 5. It is NOT one of those collector's editions with just a special cover. Capcom went all out including the bonus disc, limited edition box, Steel Book, Resident Evil figurine, Tricell tote bag, BSAA patch, Kijuju necklace, and the game itself. The Limited Edition version sells for $99 for Xbox 360
Plus we've shown that limited edition games are a good deal for gamers in previous blog posts.
And lastly RE5 looks like an incredible game. Resident Evil 4 was one of my favorite games of all time. I'm considering buy the RE5 Collector's Edition just as a thank you to Capcom for number 4.
Monday, January 19, 2009
New Version of VGPC Price Tool Available
A new version of the VGPC Price Tool is available for download. The new version adds the following features and bug fixes:
Compatibility with more Amazon.com pages
Compatibility with ebay.ca (ebay in Canada)
The price tool adds our prices to every ebay, amazon, and half.com video game listing so you know what to pay when you are shopping. To find out more about the price tool visit our info page or download the tool below:
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Server Outage
VGPC was down for 12 hours today from about 4 am to 4 pm (Mountain time). It's back up and running now. I spent most of the day nursing a flu so I didn't notice the text message about the server being down. Sorry for any inconvenience.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
2008 Game & Publisher Resale Values
This report looks at the Publishers, Consoles, and Games with the best and worst resale values. It includes over 1,000 games released during 2008 for Nintendo DS, PSP, Xbox 360, Wii, Playstation 3, and Playstation 2.
Publisher Resale Values
The list of publisher resale values below includes every publisher with six or more games released in 2008. The '% Change' column is the average change in resale price from the original MSRP to the average price during December 2008.
Top Ten Game Publishers By Resale Value
All Game Publishers By Resale Value
Console Resale Values
The list of resale values by console shown below is an average of all the games released during 2008 for each console with the average MSRP and average price in December used to calculate the '% Change'.
Console By Average Resale Value Per Game
Video Game Resale Values
The top 10 and bottom 10 games by resale value and shown in the tables below. The games are ranked by '% Change' from the original MSRP to the average price during December 2008.
Best Game Resale Values
Worst Game Resale Values
What Causes High or Low Resale Values
There are many factors that effect a game's resale value like the quality of the game, the genre of the game, if its a collector's edition, and if it is aimed at casual gamers or hardcore gamers. If a video game is horrible with no replay value, the resale value will generally drop really quickly. While a top-notch game with great single player, compelling online play, and lots of re-playability will keep its value longer because fewer people want to sell their copy and lots of people want to buy it.
Casual games generally have better resale values as well because casual gamers are buying games that they can continue to play over and over with friends. Casual games also don't have front loaded sales where the vast majority of copies sell within the first month. They will continue to sell consistently for months (Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii in the top 10 NPD sales every month since their release is a good example of this).
Many hardcore gamers on the other hand buy games the day they come out, beat it very quickly, and then resell it so they can buy another game. The demand for the games is very front loaded. With demand lower in the months following release and a big supply of used games hitting the market, the resale prices drop.
The three consoles with the best resale values are the ones generally associated with casual gamers and games, Wii, Nintendo DS, and Playstation 2. The two worst in terms of resale value are the two with the highest concentration of 'hardcore' gamers, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.
Another factor causing higher resale prices on casual consoles is retailers themselves. "It is no surprise that Wii titles hold on to their value more than any other platform." says Jesse Divnich from EEDAR "Retailers don't fully understand the Wii consumer yet which often leads to retail sell-outs, which correlates with higher resale prices." The top four titles on the top games by resale price list are Wii games that were sold out at many stores at the end of 2008.
This post is part of our 2008 Video Game Prices in Review series.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
The Recession Hurts Used Game Market Too
The chart above shows the average video game price on a daily basis during 2008. The prices follow the same basic trend we have seen in years past. Some highlights from the data:
2008 Game Price Highlights
- Starting Price: January 1st | $12.69
- Lowest Price: November 3rd | $8.57
- End of Year Price: December 31st | $9.68
- Peak to Trough Decrease: -32.5%
- End of Year Increase: +13.0%
- Yearly Price Decrease: -23.7%
These numbers are more meaningful when compared to 2007's prices. See the chart below:
(The chart is indexed so both years start at 1. This make comparisons much easier)
2007 Game Price Highlights
- Peak to Trough Decrease: -30.4%
- End of Year Increase: +26.6%
- Yearly Price Decrease: -11.8%
Recession Hurts Used Video Game Market Too
As you can see from the chart and the numbers above, the resale prices in 2008 decreased more than in 2007. But all of this difference occurs in the second half of the year. During the first half of the year 2007 and 2008 prices followed each other very closely. But July 30th was the last day the 2008 prices were higher than 2007's. During the last five months of 2008 the prices continued to separate and showed the biggest difference during the annual holiday price spike. The holiday increase was +26.6% in '07 but only +13.0% in '08.
I think most of this is because of the recession and the bad retail sales numbers in general. Many people didn't buy as much as they did last year.
The new game market probably got hurt even worse than the resale market because some customers traded down to used games instead of spending more on a new one. The large number of developer layoffs announced this year help to prove this point.
Buy Games On November 3rd
November 3rd was the day with the lowest average price during 2008 and 2007. If you want to get the best prices that is the day buy. The prices won't be that low again for another five to six months.
This post is part of our 2008 Video Game Prices in Review series.
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