Support NeoGAF

[Futaleufu]

Not a problem at all, even if the japanese have to start buying games back from other countries.

 

[Allandor]

That's how capitalism works. If someone sees something he thinks he can sell for more money, he does.
If someone is so stupid to pay much higher prices it's this person's fault prices go up.

Markets will regulate.
Don't pay stupid prices for that stuff and all would be good.

PS5 prices were only so because there were enough people out there that are willing to pay the price.

 

[unlurkified]

What’s with this guy? It’s not like it was a coordinated museum heist done by grimy foreigners. Smacks of xenophobia.

 

[DenchDeckard]

I'm not a 100% sure but I feel confident some reporter will tell us it's those damn evil middle aged white men that are to blame!

 

[Yoboman]

Put a bar of soap in front of the store

 

[Dirk Benedict]

Put a bar of soap in front of the store

That would keep most "collectors" away. You ever want a preview of them? Go to Twitch, in the retro section. They are scattered about.

 

[nush]

People should just collect the games when they are new, they will be easier to find then.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

I thought the biggest retro game shops and districts had been almost wiped clean by foreigners about a decade ago already, after a good decade of websites talking about the wonders of Akihabara and the like. And this guy says that a year ago there were so many more games?

 

[nush]

I thought the biggest retro game shops and districts had been almost wiped clean by foreigners a good decade ago already, after a good decade of websites talking about the wonders of Akihabara and the like. And this guy says that a year ago there were so many more games?

I was reading this stuff probably the same time. Then the advice was not to look in Akiharbara and to find Hard Off and Super Potato in smaller towns. Maybe that’s what the big retro shops did?

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

At least leave some for the locals Thick Thighs Save Lives

Joking aside, I mostly collect PS360 and newer games, including Switch.

 

[TransTrender]

Why does this really matter?
The Japanese are going extinct anyway so what's the problem with weebs buying everything?

 

[Lambogenie]

Why does this really matter?
The Japanese are going extinct anyway so what's the problem with weebs buying everything?

They themselves wanted to play in retirement.

When I last went it wasn't great. Selection was really for native speakers. Super Potato had expensive stuff for the average tourist, the high value collectors bits.

All these youtubers including me are why stock is lower. Buying a retro looking Japanese game is also a novel souvenir in and of itself.

 

[AREYOUOKAY?]

People should just collect the games when they are new, they will be easier to find then.

If only that were the case when they print so few in the first place. Of course I'm mainly talking about current Microsoft.

 

[Ulysses 31]

You PSX boys must've had it good back then, Nintendo games rarely had a JPN or ENG language setting.

 

[Rentahamster]

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

lol, please don't buy from my store my items are meant to collect dust there forever

 

[Davevil]

 

[P.Jack]

Really not that different from what’s happened to retro games everywhere. I’ve said it before; it’s a real shame how retro went from being the poor mans alternative to becoming the complete opposite. Some of the games I bought long ago are now worth 100s of eurodollars. It’s reaching a point where I almost don’t want to touch them. It is one of the main reasons I’m migrating to EverDrives and ODE solutions instead.

 

[Wildebeest]

Dollar yen exchange rate is very favourable. Sucks for the Japanese who have to deal with yahoo tourists from the states yucking it up in their country with no respect shown, but that is how the world works. Even worse for weebs who left for Japan years ago because they are massive weebs raised on Nintendo and hentai and now their income is all in Yen.

 

[evanft]

Retro game collecting is cringe, but so are weebs.

Let them fight.

 

[Kiya's Guard]

Stores are complaining because customers buy products and the store earns money?

 

[deriks]

So a store is selling their stuff... And this is bad?!

I agree if is for some sort of guy that doesn't really value and only has it to say that has it, but a lot of people buy because they're cheaper than US and, well, to play

Sometimes you just have to accept things, bro

 

[nush]

If only that were the case when they print so few in the first place. Of course I'm mainly talking about current Microsoft.

Would you like to pre-order to guarantee a copy day one?

 

[RoboFu]

It's stock that's no longer being made. It's bound to run out eventually.

 

[Roman Empire]

Well, the news is more about the guy mad about obvious scalpers than foreigners buying stuff for themselves. Fuck scalpers.

 

[Hugare]

Well, the store could limit the number of copies one person could buy

But by doing that, it would be favoring the customer but not the store. The store shouldnt care about your feelings, honestly. It sold the products that were probably there for a while, so that's good for the owner.

Tough luck, I guess.

 

[SmokedMeat]

Poor guy just wants to see games sitting on store shelves.

Stop ruining things for him by buying videogames.

 

[MonkeyClaw36]

"I didn't plan on buying anything but here I am. Complaining that others do."

 

[JohnnyTropics]

You know that guy is selling those games on eBay for inflated prices the market rate.

 

[RoboFu]

Weebs aren’t a problem. Some tourists though, the ones who have no manners, talk loudly on the phone on trains, take a half hour worth of selfies at every point of interest, and let their kids run around screaming at the top of their lungs everywhere they go, definitely have a negative effect.

Those people are just normal everyday people everywhere now unfortunately. It's literally painful to go to any public event.

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

It’s gotten to the point I haven’t bothered to buy a single special/collector edition in years - they’re gone so fast I can’t get to them and fuck if I’m going to pay a single cent to a scalper. Let them hoard the cardboard.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

White nerds with money are the worst. Can I have some? In all seriousness, I think this has been a thing for years. Nerds with money have ruined the retro scene in the states too. At some point, it became cool to have a wall of retro games you never play in your man-boy cave.

 

[RoboFu]

White nerds with money are the worst. Can I have some? In all seriousness, I think this has been a thing for years. Nerds with money have ruined the retro scene in the states too. At some point, it became cool to have a wall of retro games you never play in your man-boy cave.

lol wut?

This is the dumbest thing I've read in a while. You are mad because collectors collect so now you can't collect? I don't get it.

And why does it matter that they are white are you a racist?

 

[OmegaSupreme]

lol wut?

This is the dumbest thing I've read in a while. You are mad because collectors collect so now you can't collect? I don't get it.

And why does it matter that they are white are you a racist?

Lol. There's no need to get mad about it. White nerds with money have simply bought up most of the stock and driven prices up in Japan and in the States. I stated facts. Nothing more. Calm down. I've never had an inkling for retro game collecting. I'm good.

 

[KaiserBecks]

That's how capitalism works. If someone sees something he thinks he can sell for more money, he does.
If someone is so stupid to pay much higher prices it's this person's fault prices go up.

Markets will regulate.
Don't pay stupid prices for that stuff and all would be good.

PS5 prices were only so because there were enough people out there that are willing to pay the price.

All of a sudden, every scalper is just a capitalist Do most of them pay taxes? Do most people who sell wanted items on eBay run a legitimate business? You are right in that people who are willing to pay those prices are enabling this. That doesn't make it "right" though.

 

[Mephisto40]

Think this is the first time i've heard a store owner complain that people are buying things from their shop

 

[StueyDuck]

Source: https://www.timeextension.com/news/...g-laments-japanese-resident-as-retro-runs-dry

This has gone too far with collectors in the West, in my opinion. They've ruined collecting here and now they're looking to ruin everything abroad.

How do you feel and what can we do to preserve Japan's historic gaming legacy?

I mean whats the outrage, the store sold a product and someone bought the product.

unless there is some law i am not aware of, this just sounds like a store wanting to make money so they can feed their families and possibly buy nice things for themselves.

 

[nush]

I mean whats the outrage

Gatekeeping and a xenophobic boogieman.

 

[gundalf]

You know these could be also the Japanese themselves. Since the EU-Japan free trade agreement, I see a ton of Japanese sellers directly listing their games in EU eBay, seems that works well for them.

 

[keefged4]

I mean fuck resellers and scalpers, I think we can all agree with that. I recently went to Japan and picked up an absolute motherload of N64 stuff, with no intent to resell because I collect it. Surugaya's were a goldmine, especially outside of Tokyo. On one hand, The store is selling their products and making profit, so yay I guess? But on the other I resent those who are clearing out entire shelfs with intent to scalp and resell. In two minds about this, there isn't an easy "solution"

 

[EviLore]

Those people are just normal everyday people everywhere now unfortunately. It's literally painful to go to any public event.

Yeah, but it’s not the norm in Japan, so it’s painful when tourists bring it with them here.

 

[Boglin]

Seems about right. I went to some retro game shops in Akihabara last year and not only were 95% of the people there foreign tourists, but they were greasy looking and ugly too. But that only partly applies to me since I was still living in Japan on a student visa at the time, and so I wasn't strictly a tourist.

 

[LazyParrot]

This isn't exactly a new thing. I went to Japan in 2018 and people were already bitching about it back then. The funny thing is that, then as now, it seems that most of the people complaining about foreigners buying all the games are foreigners themselves.

 

[Stitch]

 

[Doom_master1122]

I used to live in Kyoto, and I believe there is only one Surugaya in the city (At least to my knowledge), Osaka has many more.
That said, I frequented that store often. I spent my time there during lock down, where no tourism was around, and well into when they opened back up to tourism. That store always had random stock issues. I walked in one day and half the PS1 games were gone, another week PS2 were missing.
I'm sure the influx of tourists will effect this, but from my own experience it looks exactly how I remember it.

 

[consoul]

Japan's retro game stores being depleted by tourists is nothing new.

Surugaya is not a good example of this though as they sell direct online. Buyers from around the globe can clear out their stock without going to Japan at all.

 

[StereoVsn]

You know these could be also the Japanese themselves. Since the EU-Japan free trade agreement, I see a ton of Japanese sellers directly listing their games in EU eBay, seems that works well for them.

Yep, I buy most of my retro stuff either through eBay (US) or Amazon.jp

 

[Sleepwalker]

All of a sudden, every scalper is just a capitalist Do most of them pay taxes? Do most people who sell wanted items on eBay run a legitimate business? You are right in that people who are willing to pay those prices are enabling this. That doesn't make it "right" though.

Yes they are capitalists lol. Do you know for a fact they don't pay tax or run a legitimate business? If there's money to be made there will be people making it, plain and simple.


Either way, don't care about this. I can't read japanese so I would never consider collecting jpn games.

 

[ResilientBanana]

Source: https://www.timeextension.com/news/...g-laments-japanese-resident-as-retro-runs-dry

This has gone too far with collectors in the West, in my opinion. They've ruined collecting here and now they're looking to ruin everything abroad.

How do you feel and what can we do to preserve Japan's historic gaming legacy?

Weeaboo, I've never heard this term, but after looking it up, I find it hilarious. Weeaboos are cringy as fuck.

As far as this situation goes, it is what it is. I'm not sure how you can stop it considering both the Weeaboo and the shop owner both make money which is technically how the value of these games go up in the first place.