Enlarge / Collectors say bare cartridges in “sous vide” condition can command a premium at auction. (credit: Aurich Lawson)
If you aren’t immersed in the world of high-end video game collecting, it’s probably hard to understand why someone paid in excess of $1. 5 million for a single, shrinkwrap-sealed boxed copy of Super Mario 64 last Sunday. But if you talk to people who have been collecting games and following this insular world for decades, you’ll find… well, they also think it’s hard to understand.
The confusing part isn’t even the sheer amount of money being spent on a video game box that no one will ever open, much less play. Ever since an early sealed printing of Extremely Mario Bros. sold for over $100, 000 in 2019 , the general consensus in the world of high-end game collecting was that an eventual seven-figure game sale was inevitable. But actually after a $660, 000 Very Mario Bros. sale two months ago , many didn’t think the flashy million-dollar barrier would be broken so quickly. “I honestly thought that this was a milestone that we wouldn’t pass until years from now, ” Heritage Auctions Video Game Consignment Director Valarie McLeckie told Ars.
More than the timing, though, game collectors that spoke to Ars expressed near-universal shock that this was the first game to command such a high price. In the past, the small handful of games that have sold for $100, 000 or more have all been extremely rare and notable in some way. The Legend of Zelda that temporarily set an $870, 000 sales record earlier in Heritage’s recent weekend auction, for instance, was described in the listing as “the only copy from one of the earliest production runs that we’ve ever had the opportunity to offer” for an iconic game.
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