the grunter

In November 2007, Mass Effect was released worldwide. A collector’s steel box edition was made in small quantities and available for online pre-orders only at certain retailers, as well as on shelf in selected stores in Europe.

Now this right here is a copy of the collector’s edition of Mass Effect sitting on my shelf of games.

Correction – this right here is an opened copy of the collector’s edition of Mass Effect sitting on my shelf of games.

Question: How much in value has this version of the game gone up over the mere 3 years of release?

FACT: From what I read from a rare/expensive games collecting website Gamesniped.com. In a recent ebay auction, a sealed copy of this version was offered as much as $890USD, but the seller decided that it was still lower than he desired and relisted the item. The current bid amount is $510.01 with 4 days left in the auction, 12 bids so far.

FACT: By doing a search for “Mass Effect Collector’s Edition” on ebay, every single listing for a sealed copy has set a “Buy it now” price of over $1000.

FACT: An opened copy of the same version, in excellent condition, is also found listed on ebay with a current bid amount of $122.5.

My first impression upon reading about this, to quote the great Dwight Schrute: “F.”

I vividly remember pre-ordering a copy of collector’s edition Mass Effect from Bestbuy.ca, and when it arrived I thought to myself “I could leave it untouched since I’m busy playing other games at this time, but meh – it can be ordered at Best Buy, its value cannot change that much, at least within this decade.” So I tore it open, checked out the artwork booklets (because Lord knows that’s the reason I buy my collector edition games – the concept arts in printed form), put the game in my Xbox 360. I played for an hour, took the disc out and put everything back together, and set the box on the shelf up until today, when I took it out to take the photos above. In the wonderful language of Cantonese we have the perfect word to precisely describe this type of behavior, it’s called 手痕.

I just had to prove myself wrong. Lesson learned – I am not touching my collector edition games unless I absolutely am sure I will commit to play them. There goes my kid’s textbook budget in first year college.

Is this a rare, freak occurrence that no one ever expected and has never happened before in the world of video game collecting? Unexpected for this particular item – yes. First known occurrence of a video game’s value rocketed way above its suggested retail price? Hardly. I don’t have to mention the ebay auction last year for a mint sealed copy of Stadium Events for the NES, that ended at a sky-high price of $41300. No I did not miss a dot in that number, and yes it’s US dollars not yen.

This is part of what makes collecting video games interesting from time to time – they are not made and sold for the sole purpose of collection like baseball cards or celebrity memorabilia, and yet you never know when you will find an old copy of Stadium Events that you received as a Christmas gift when you were 5 and decided to put it away without even unwrapping it because it’s a lame game. Had you not gone on sites like gamesnipe.com from time to time, best case scenario would be similar to what happened to me – it got unwrapped, worst case scenario would be it being on its way to your local Salvation Army in your mom’s car along with other junk for donation.

Of course, the probability of a certain video game inflating in value is not entirely unpredictable. If you own a mint sealed copy of NBA LIVE 99 for the N64, you might as well open it now, play it and make fun of its depressing graphics before feeding it to your dog. That one is not going anywhere within this century. If you want to know my personal predictions, here are the few games released within the last decade in my library that I’m convinced that it is for everybody in my future’s best interest if I don’t open them out of boredom to check out the game manual:

Condemned: Criminal Origins (Platinum edition, released 2006)

Due to either a misprint or a poor design planning (most likely the latter), no game title is printed on the spine of the game cover art. This occurs in the very first batch of the Xbox 360 platinum edition titles, the problem was corrected in later releases.

Final Fantasy X + X-2 Ultimate Box

Bought during my trip to Japan in 2006, I thought the packaging looked very nice.

Zelda collector’s edition promotional disc (Not for sale)

Came with a pre-order of Wind Waker for Gamecube back in the day.

Zelda: Ocarina of Time/Master Quest disc (Not for sale)

Another pre-order bonus disc for Wind Waker.

Zelda: Wind Waker (Black label)

Don’t let the term “Black label” fool you, it means absolutely nothing before the cheapo yellow label “Best of” editions were released. But now apparently it is not easy to come across the original “Black label” Gamecube titles in sealed form. This is actually one of the many games that I still haven’t gotten around to play, and in this case I am glad I haven’t. I will keep it sealed as is, and go buy the cheapo yellow label version for $14.99 when I really want to play this game.

Maybe it’s time you dig into your pile of old games too, it could potentially determine if you get to retire early.