Delisted digital only games collectable?

[Retromangia | 3]

Hey Gang,

So over the years I've acquired some consoles which hold digital only games that have been delisted from their online networks.

So a few questions for my fellow Collectors...

Is it worth holding on to these consoles for these delisted games?  Aside from piracy, this would be the only legitimate way of playing many of these games. Are digital only games considered collectable?  Is there a collector scene for digital only games that I'm not aware of?

That all being said, It's really hard to part with these consoles, because I may never find that game again.  But at the same time, there starting to pile up.  

Does anyone else have this dilemma? Would love to hear your thoughts on this.

Best,

-Retro

Edited May 19, 2020 by Retromangia

[Gloves | 12,251]

I have a ps4 with PT on it. Waiting to rake in the doooouughhhhh! 

[DefaultGen | 5,723]

I doubt they’ll ever be collectible for all the reasons digital objects aren’t collectible. Every Wiiware game on every Wii is already delisted now, but I don’t think a Wii with Castlevania Rebirth on it would ever sell for a serious premium. One day PSN and XBLA will go down entirely and everyones games and licenses will just be floating in space too. People will emulate or pirate to play those games, not try to track down consoles with the game they want downloaded on the HDD.

[Deadeye | 1,601]

33 minutes ago, DefaultGen said:

I doubt they’ll ever be collectible for all the reasons digital objects aren’t collectible. Every Wiiware game on every Wii is already delisted now, but I don’t think a Wii with Castlevania Rebirth on it would ever sell for a serious premium. One day PSN and XBLA will go down entirely and everyones games and licenses will just be floating in space too. People will emulate or pirate to play those games, not try to track down consoles with the game they want downloaded on the HDD.

The only way I can see the exception to this, is if the console had something that was not dumped and available to emulate.  I think that would be rare in this age, but you never know.  It would have to an unpopular game at the time, have some sort of clout about it later, and market demand later to demand a high price.  That is a lot of criteria. 

[GPX | 1,403]

I think consoles with exclusive digital downloads (which have been deleted from their networks) will likely cost more than a console with emulated games. However, the collectability aspect would likely be low, because collectors collect for reasons other than gaming eg. displaying, refurbishing, preserving, condition-upping. Physical copies are the main basis for collecting, whereas digital copies are the main basis for gaming.

[noiseredux | 232]

I was thinking of this recently.  I don't have a lot to add to the conversation. But I wish there was still a way to legit buy Final Fantasy: My Life As A King on Wii.

[zeppelin03 | 314]

35 minutes ago, Deadeye said:

The only way I can see the exception to this, is if the console had something that was not dumped and available to emulate.  I think that would be rare in this age, but you never know.  It would have to an unpopular game at the time, have some sort of clout about it later, and market demand later to demand a high price.  That is a lot of criteria. 

This seems like the circumstance where it would be collectible.  Similar to prototypes. 

Softmods are fairly straightforward so most digital games aren't as lost as they may seem.  Most who really want access will find a way. 

[TDIRunner | 2,888]

In theory, they should be worth more, but in reality I don't see much of a market for this.  Potentially, a collector could be looking at owning a bunch of different consoles (possibly of the same model), just for one game on each system.  Then you have to worry about tracking which system has which game and hooking up the entire system just to play the game.  Even die hard enthusiasts will admit that you might as well emulate at that point.  Also, given enough time, most of these delisted digital games will  become available online through other means (whether legal or not), making the market for the real thing even smaller.     

[Abelardo | 155]

There might be a small market but I'd imagine it wouldn't be big, especially if the console in question can be jailbroken to allow installation of such games, and so far no console has proven to be unhackable, so although illegal to do so that would be much more practical than hunting down a console that has the specific game you want. There could be exceptions as noted by others like undumped stuff, prototypes, unreleased games, dev buids, etc., that's a very specific case, there's another that comes to mind and it's the console called Zeebo, the console games were digital only and it had a Double Dragon game that is sought after, since the console is not easily hackable people hunt down consoles with the game already installed.

[T-Pac | 7,857]

I don't know about you guys, but I've got an old iPod Touch with Flappy Bird on it and someday that's gonna fund my retirement.

-CasualCart

[LeatherRebel5150 | 1,093]

I doubt they will be worth much of anything. The people who would be that invested in digital games are versed enough in the ability to emulate and what not. The other thing is as collector's we value the experience of playing games the way they originally were played. The original console, playing the original format, with an original controller. The thing is the original format is digital. So the only thing required is the console/controller, and by the time anyone gets nostalgic for any given digital game the console will have long since been cracked and it would in theory be easy to slap that digital file right on there. There is no reason to buy the console with it already on it as long as the ability to put a ripped rom/file onto said console exists. 

[Tanooki | 5,113]

Eh no...not really.  Rare cases sure, much like someone finding a prototype out in the wild style rare.  You'll need that perfect storm of lost game, never re-released, source is gone, no shred of a chance of it appearing again situation.  Someone then goes hey look I have this system and one of the few remaining copies of this game in existence (that can't be found online to download as it was never backed up.)  Then sure, some crank will be all over that at whatever cost for a range of reasons from selfishly hoarding to archivist/museum types who would share it all.

[phart010 | 1,779]

I would think that if a game hasn’t already been dumped, it’s probably not that great. And on these modern consoles, that probably means it was bloatware.. With so much bloatware already dumped, who cares if we missed a few.

 

[ThePhleo | 2,266]

Let’s take a look at current efforts for digital games that are already lost to time.

There are efforts out there to preserve Flash / Macromedia / Java Applet / Silverlight / Etc. Games and make them playable.

From a collectors standpoint, they are not collectible, sure. But to discount them completely is insane.

Look at the Satellaview games, they’re extremely valuable if they’re undumped.

 

I look at undumped, digital only games (and DLC) and I see a future similar to Epic of Gilgamesh, Biblical Apocraphia, Library of Alexandria...well not that extreme, but still.

These lost digital games are all important. No debate needed.

[Retromangia | 3]

3 hours ago, ThePhleo said:

Let’s take a look at current efforts for digital games that are already lost to time.

There are efforts out there to preserve Flash / Macromedia / Java Applet / Silverlight / Etc. Games and make them playable.

From a collectors standpoint, they are not collectible, sure. But to discount them completely is insane.

Look at the Satellaview games, they’re extremely valuable if they’re undumped.

 

I look at undumped, digital only games (and DLC) and I see a future similar to Epic of Gilgamesh, Biblical Apocraphia, Library of Alexandria...well not that extreme, but still.

These lost digital games are all important. No debate needed

Right on Phleo. For me this mainly involves the Wii & 3DS.  Unfortunately all games are tied to the console they were purchased on. 

On one of my Wii's, I found a copy of My Pokemon Ranch. Is this a great game? Not at all. But it's Pokemon, and was only available as a Wiiware Download. I also have another console with Frogger Returns, which turns out is also available on PSN for now (and was on DSiware).

 

[Link | 2,878]

I was going to bring up Flappy Bird, but CasualCart beat me to it. When that game got removed from the app store, any phone with it installed was suddenly worth $1000+...for about a week. Maybe two. And that was a very unique story, with the creator pulling it because he felt guilty that his game was too popular. No, in general, digital only games are not something that people are gonna reliably chase hype and spend big for.

[T-Pac | 7,857]

Don't discount people who won't pirate digital files. I personally take an ethical stance against downloading ROMs online. Sure, I emulate games on my laptop, but only using ROM files that I dumped directly from my cartridge collection. 

If I was interested enough in a discontinued digital-only game, I'd be happy to seek out an original console that the game was loaded on. It's the only way I'd be able to play that game by my ethical standards, and I'm sure there are others out there who feel the same way.

And as others mentioned, these kinds of games are still relevant pieces of history, and preservationists are big on maintaining games in their original form, even if that form is a digital file loaded to a console.

-CasualCart

[Gloves | 12,251]

23 hours ago, CasualCart said:

I don't know about you guys, but I've got an old iPod Touch with Flappy Bird on it and someday that's gonna fund my retirement.

-CasualCart

 

I have Flappy Bird on my watch.

[T-Pac | 7,857]

14 minutes ago, Gloves said:

I have Flappy Bird on my watch.

Haha that's so sick. I guess we're both gonna be rich.

-CasualCart

[captmorgandrinker | 1,654]

29 minutes ago, Gloves said:

I have Flappy Bird on my watch.

Get the Atari 2600 version!

https://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1038

[DarkTone | 1,010]

45 minutes ago, Gloves said:

I have Flappy Bird on my watch.

I..... didnt know this was a thing.

[TDIRunner | 2,888]

I prefer this version of Flappy Bird.

 

 

[twiztor | 918]

i would pay a premium for an XBox 360 that has UFC Undisputed 3's DLC on it.

not that it's super rare or in high demand, but i regret selling mine a few years back