In most cases, the prices of games usually begins to drop after its been on the market for a while, but that doesn't seem to be the case when it comes to Pokemon games. I'm not talking about new releases, but the DS games from Diamond to Black 2. The games are playable, popular, and still being mass sold, so it can't be because its old. In most cases, the game stays the same price for years and in some the price even goes up.

When Pokemon X came out and I was getting it, I had never played the Jhoto remakes so I wanted to get them, but those games were 40 dollars each while newer games were less than that. All the Sinnoh games and Unova games were cheaper than those two, but still stayed at more than 30 dollars even after many years.

That has always bugged me for many years, but then I went into a Gamestop yesterday and I decided to check out Pokemon games because of a promotion they were having, and what do you know? The price went up again. This Gamestop was selling HeartGold and SoulSilver for 50 dollars!!!

A pre owned X/Y game with a pro membership was like 30 or so. Heck, that same Gamestop was selling a used XBox 360 with 5 good games for exactly twice as much. It wasn't just HG/SS that was affected here, there wasn't a single Pokemon game under $30 and now there were some more to hit $40.

What are your thoughts on the prices that just won't die?

zanderlex : You know I never took the time to notice the prices. Well everyone knows that the price goes up in games because of the production values. But that is very strange, I don't understand why there are so many dips and so many spikes when it comes to the price of Pokemon video games. Actually I am going to do some research on that this week.

Did you know the 3DS version of Ocarina of Time is already increasing in price? 

It happens to all the games that has a massive fanbase, like Zelda and Pokemon, and another example would be Megaman.

I'm extremely sore about not buying the Ocarina of Time... I won't make the error again, I got Majora's Mask. 3

I'm surprised to hear this. Normally, prices just stay the same, and then go down. But, that could also be because the games I buy are for the XBOX ONE console, and generally start at $60. 

Snowdeath : Is that price rise on places like Amazon or ebay? Or the official store prices?

zanderlex : I think all games price keep going up, not just Pokemon. I don't see the reason why, but let me posts my thoughts.

1-Newer games becomes more expensive because they are on different systems.
2-Or, they just want more money.

Not just pokemon, all games are becoming more expensive.


Especially in the UK and holland, which SUCKS!!! 

zanderlex : Oh, sorry, I misread your post. 

In Canada, EB Games (same as GameStop) only sell DS Pokemon games reused, and even with that the prices are higher, because it's RARE. (at least, that's what they told me.)
They actually offered me $15 for my Pokemon Platinum. (compared to a $2 for most games.)

Personally, I think it's a classic case of supply and demand.

There aren't that many Pokemon games being re-sold, because once people bought them new, they keep them, unlike many other types of games. So there aren't that many on the market, but the demand for them has not gone down; if anything, it has increased with each new release. That's easy to understand, because with each new release, more people are playing Pokemon for the first time, and they want to go back and try the older games that they missed. But, because there are more people wanting it than there is product available, prices skyrocket. 

It happened with the GBA games too, believe me. I played Emerald first, and then when I wanted to go back and find the older games to play, since I'd missed out, I found they were higher than the brand new Emerald cartridge I'd just bought and beaten. So it's not a new phenomenon. Most just don't really pay attention to it, and of those of us that do? We haunt ebay for deals.  I mean, ebay is where I got my Yellow and Red carts, and they came free with a Game Boy Colour that I bought, since the guy who had it just wanted RID of them for some reason, he sent them along with the Colour system and a note saying I could just have them. They still work, have new batteries...so y'know, it's possible to find them for cheap, you just have to be lucky. XD;

greenluigi :
imamonster : I'm not talking about newer games. I'm talking about old games. Normal games drop in price. One game I bought for 40 dollars a year ago only costs $10 now in Gamestop.

Snowdeath :
Yunimori : I don't think that's the case here, where I am every Gamestop has a case where they lay out DS games that don't have cases, and each DS Pokemon game has at least a dozen copies in almost every single store.

This, folks, is some simple economics.  The price of a good or service goes up with the amount is down.  If you have fewer games available and people want them, the price goes up because there's more competition for the people trying to buy the game.  People will pay more to acquire it because there are fewer total games available.

This goes for classic cars in good shape, old baseball cards in good shape, and everything else that does not exist in massive numbers.  Hundreds of thousands of cartridges of games go out.  Everyone has them.  20 years later, not many exist.  More people want them.  The value is driven up by the demand staying the same and the supply going down.

It's Econ 101.

warmaker : The fact that every gamestop in my city has more of each individual Pokemon game than any other game. You could probably find more Pokemon Black 2 games than any individual PS4 game.

zanderlex : I know that, and that was what I was talking about. I am a retro video game collector y'know....

Also, what's gamestop?

imamonster : its a store that chain that sells games here and a few other countries I think.