Yet Another Video Game Auction World Record Smashed

Just last month, two classic Nintendo titles sold at auction and broke world records back to back. The first record-breaker was a copy of The Legend of Zelda that sold for $870,000 and was part of an early and limited production run of the game; that sale was eclipsed 48 hours later by a near-pristine, sealed copy of Super Mario 64 which sold for $1.56 million.

The bar has been set even higher now that the world record for most expensive video game ever sold has been broken. Again. A sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. for NES has sold for $2 million, though the method of sale was a bit different than the previous record-breaking games, which sold at auction. This copy of Super Mario Bros. was sold through Rally, a platform which buys collectibles and then turns them into small companies that people can purchase shares in. If an interested buyer makes an offer to purchase an item, the shareholders can then vote whether to sell the item. After Rally purchased the game for $140,000 in April 2020, an anonymous collector came forward with an offer to purchase the game, which the shareholders approved.

It’s no secret that the toys of our 80s and 90s childhoods have been in high demand on the aftermarket, but the prices have continued to climb — and in some cases to astronomical proportions, particularly for video games. In the last year alone, the record for most expensive video game ever sold has been broken and reset multiple times: in July 2020, a different copy of Super Mario Bros. sold for $114,000 at auction, which was then outsold by a $156,000 copy of Super Mario Bros. 3 at auction in November. In April 2021, a copy of Super Mario Bros. sold at auction for $660,000, followed by the July sales of The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario 64 mentioned at the start of this article. While each game had different features that attributed to their increased values (overall condition, sealed, part of a limited/early print run, etc.), it’s shocking how sharply auction prices have increased for collectible games in such a short time.

It also goes without saying that if the trend continues, it’s likely that this latest sale record won’t last long before it’s smashed by something else.

Source: The Verge