Foul Gambling Allegations Rise Around Record-Breaking Classified NES Game Auctions

In July, a few days after a high-grade version of The legend of Zelda broke auction sale records, a sealed copy of Super mario 64 sold for $ 1.56 million, making it the highest priced video game sale forever. So what is going on here?

According to lawyer, author and Test journalist Seth Abramson, the brokers of power in the gaming auction market are “systematically trying to hide data” in an enrichment scheme. Abramson has now released some “hard data” in an attempt to spread and combat this artificial market.

In light of the newly released documentary on Jeff Meyer, Jim Halperin, Wata Games, Heritage Auctions, and Big Data in the video game market, I am posting all of my NES market research for free. What ultimately led me to this was the realization that power brokers in the country’s hottest, out-of-control market are systematically trying to hide data about the market.

This – below – is what the rating houses and auction houses didn’t want us to see: The games that are enriching them are THE MOST WIDELY AVAILABLE GAMES (and yes, even in the highest grades) in the world.

When I asked the marketers who got rich off this artificial market how they reacted to the hard data above, they said that even common NES games are in short supply relative to the scarcity in other markets. But this is misdirection, as this is only the * first wave * of the WATA boom.

They know. Because the sealed games boom was significantly supported by COVID, and because WATA is 6 to 9 months behind, we are only seeing the first few months of these supposedly valuable games flooding the market. By 2024, there will be * thousands * of high-quality sealed Super Mario Bros. 3 out there.

Data that Wata accidentally leaked said it had rated more than 750 SMB3s since its founding in April 2018. But Proof Games only found * 65 * that had been sealed since January ’19. While part of that disparity is due to the 750’s included unsealed “CIBs,” it also suggests that major investors have * many * copies of SMB3 and are slowly releasing them to market to hide just how ubiquitous the game is stamped / rated. While that may be legal, it underlines that by 2024 the market will be * saturated * with games that people are paying for * $ 30,000 * for now.

But here’s the catch: People who pay $ 30,000 aren’t serious collectors, they’re big money speculators. They will then trade these supposedly rare SMB3s for $ 40,000, then $ 60,000, then $ 100,000. Until the market breaks and there are no more resellers that the big sellers can sell to.

The other thing the wealthy marketers I spoke to said to justify themselves is that the games underlined in red above have “historical significance.” That may be true of the SMB3 or Zelda, but * not * for the * dozens * of easy-to-find games these guys are now selling for over $ 5,000.

To the extent that these games are ever sold to hobbyists, what the marketers mean by “historical significance” is simply “a nostalgic inertia that is sure to appeal to fools. They sell heavily to other sellers anyway, it’s cash, not history, speaking.

You can get a more complete summary of the whole thing at Test. YouTube channel Karl Jobst has also posted a lengthy video looking at alleged “fraud and deception” in the retro video game market. You can check it out here below: