Nocturne at $350, Even After Re-Release Due!?
- Filed under: Games, News
- Date: Aug 1, 2008 04:08 JST
- Tags: Marketing, Megami Tensei, Online Auctions, PS2, RPG
A top price of ¥35,000, and an average of ¥18,000, for a second-hand PS2 title released in 2003, which has been reprinted numerous times, with the latest reprint due next month, for half the price with a new game?
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, the masterpiece PS2 RPG, has for some time now been renowned for its rarity and the consequent high prices it commands; this was supposed to have been alleviated by a 2008 reprint, as well as an earlier 2005 reprint, to say nothing of the Maniax Director’s Cut, and the game will also be packaged as the upcoming expansion Maniax Chronicle Edition, due October for some ¥10,000.
So why can we yet see these astonishing prices – average price given by this auction aggregator is ¥18,000, and we see the brand new copies preserved all these years fetching ¥35,000. Sheer collectability?
Spotted by Ore-teki.
Presumably this can be attributed to a combination of shrewd marketing, in restricting supply and thereby drving up interest in a game which might otherwise have long ago disappeared even from Akiba’s discount wagons, and collectability/anticipation of future appreciation in value (like art collection, but with a possibly superior form of art, assuming you take it out of the box).
Still, would you pay $350 for an old PS2 game, with no extras to speak of? You could buy an enhanced PS2 for half that…
