Exposing FRAUD And DECEPTION In The Retro Video Game Market transcript

00:00
hello you absolute legends in 2017 the
00:04
most expensive video game ever sold cost
00:06
thirty thousand dollars it was a mint
00:09
condition sealed copy of the original
00:11
super mario brothers in 2021 the most
00:14
expensive video game ever bought cost
00:16
two million dollars but this was a very
00:19
special game oh actually it was the same
00:22
game that's an increase of over six
00:24
thousand percent for the same game in
00:26
just four years something very strange
00:29
is happening in the world of video game
00:31
collecting headlines are flooding the
00:33
internet describing new records set for
00:35
insane prices but this is an extremely
00:38
recent phenomenon and one that seems to
00:40
have arisen overnight for the past
00:43
several decades video game collecting
00:45
has honestly been pretty niche truly
00:48
dedicated collectors seemed to be few
00:50
and far between and even if they did
00:52
amass a respectable collection there was
00:54
little fame to be gathered from it in
00:56
contrast to something like the art world
00:58
where collectors represent the richest
01:00
of society flaunting their lavish
01:02
purchases video game collecting was
01:04
mostly done by the purist of heart
01:07
regular gamers nerds in the truest sense
01:10
who were just so passionate about the
01:12
hobby that they were happy to spend
01:13
whatever spare cash they could scramble
01:15
together to acquire a cart here or there
01:18
often as cheaply as they possibly could
01:20
video game collectors weren't rich but
01:23
they didn't need to be either retro
01:25
video games were never that expensive
01:27
therefore basically anyone could do it
01:29
and that was one of the great things
01:31
about it all you really needed was
01:33
passion and time but in 2018 something
01:36
happened that would change everything
01:39
the launch of a company called water
01:41
games this was no ordinary launch and
01:44
water is no ordinary company there is a
01:47
select group of very wealthy very
01:49
powerful people who are pulling the
01:51
strings behind this recent spike in
01:53
video game prices and those same people
01:55
are making money hand over fist when i
01:58
heard the news of a 1.5 million dollar
02:00
super mario 64 this seemed too
02:03
ridiculous for me to ignore i knew there
02:05
had to be more to this story than meets
02:07
the eye and boy was i not wrong this
02:10
rabbit hole is deep the bubble we are
02:12
seeing in video games has been seen
02:14
before in other collectibles for almost
02:16
half a century and the crazy thing is
02:19
that each time it happens the same
02:21
people are involved they know exactly
02:23
what they are doing and they know how to
02:25
extract as much money as possible from
02:27
suckers who believe the headlines there
02:29
is a lot of shady stuff going on and you
02:32
won't believe what i've found this
02:34
entire situation is fraught with
02:36
unethical business practices deception
02:38
collusion and even fraud by the end of
02:41
this video you will know exactly why
02:43
this is happening who is causing it to
02:44
happen and what needs to be done to stop
02:47
it i really hope you enjoy
02:52
now before we get into the specific
02:54
details about how this entire racket
02:56
works there are some concepts that i
02:57
want you to be familiar with so that you
02:59
can better understand the context the
03:01
first is the difference between the
03:03
intrinsic and extrinsic properties of an
03:06
object and how they relate to perceived
03:08
value intrinsic properties lie within
03:10
the object itself for example if we were
03:13
to examine a painting the intrinsic
03:15
properties would be the materials it was
03:17
made of and also of course how the
03:19
painting actually looked the extrinsic
03:21
properties would be the relationship the
03:23
artwork had with everything else who it
03:25
was painted by when it was painted the
03:27
context in which it was painted and how
03:30
sought after the pieces are all
03:31
important qualities when it comes to
03:33
perceived value it is the extrinsic
03:36
qualities of a collectible that raises
03:37
the cost significantly van gogh
03:40
paintings often sell for tens of
03:42
millions of dollars but if we were to
03:44
program a robot to paint an identical
03:46
piece it wouldn't be worth much more
03:48
than the cost of the paint and the
03:50
canvas ultimately both pieces would look
03:53
the same on our wall but us weird and
03:55
wacky humans like to care about the
03:57
details that don't directly impact us we
03:59
are even willing to spend millions of
04:01
dollars more than we need to because of
04:04
these details in the 17th century during
04:07
the dutch golden age an event happened
04:09
known as tulip mania where the price of
04:12
tulip bulbs reached insane levels at the
04:15
time tulip bulbs were a luxury item that
04:17
were highly desired for their intense
04:19
colors and as their popularity slowly
04:21
increased over the years the price
04:23
inevitably went up eventually people
04:26
began noticing the trend of rising
04:28
prices and started to speculate on the
04:31
market speculating means buying a good
04:34
not due to need but purely in the hopes
04:36
that the price will increase so that you
04:38
can sell it at a later date for profit
04:41
with investors beginning to flood the
04:43
tulip market this began a positive
04:45
feedback loop driving prices up even
04:48
more as the price increased faster not
04:50
wanting to miss out on the opportunity
04:52
even more people started buying in this
04:55
caused the first recorded speculative
04:57
bubble in history and there are two
04:59
important things to know about these
05:01
types of bubbles first no one buying
05:03
actually wants tulips they just hope to
05:06
make money and secondly this process is
05:09
not sustainable and eventually people
05:11
stop buying and the price crashes those
05:15
left holding tulips lose everything as
05:17
their value plummets back to normal i
05:19
want you to remember this process
05:21
because the exact same thing is
05:23
happening with video games right now but
05:26
the difference is that this current
05:27
video game bubble isn't an accident you
05:30
see if you know how speculative bubbles
05:32
work you can theoretically create them
05:34
at will all you would have to do is
05:36
raise the perceived price of a good
05:38
quick enough so that speculators see the
05:40
trend and start entering the market then
05:43
you can just sit back and let the
05:44
positive feedback loop do the work
05:47
profiting from your artificially created
05:49
bubble by buying games early and selling
05:51
later is rather obvious but there are
05:54
actually smarter ways to make money ways
05:56
that incur far less risk in the current
05:59
video game market and the collectible
06:01
market in general there are two
06:02
institutions that stand to gain the most
06:05
from increasing prices those are grading
06:08
companies and auction houses a grading
06:10
company is a business that inspects
06:12
games certifies them and gives them a
06:14
rating of quality they are basically
06:17
quality assurance they allow buyers to
06:19
know exactly what they are getting which
06:21
enables quick and easy transactions in a
06:24
bubble people are flocking to get their
06:26
games graded in the hopes of profiting
06:28
from the increasing prices but it's not
06:30
just the extra business that helps
06:31
grading companies as they also take a
06:34
percentage of the market value when
06:36
grading a game a game worth ten thousand
06:38
dollars might cost around four hundred
06:40
dollars to have graded but if that exact
06:42
same game was valued at one million
06:44
dollars it would cost over twenty
06:47
thousand dollars to have graded it's a
06:49
pretty good deal but the institution
06:51
that really profits the most by far is
06:54
auction houses take heritage auctions
06:56
for example which is where all of the
06:58
current record-breaking video game sales
07:00
are taking place they charge a 20
07:03
percent buyer's premium on every sale so
07:06
if you buy a video game for 1 million
07:08
dollars you need to pay the auction
07:10
house 200 000 on top and just for shits
07:13
and giggles they also take five percent
07:16
from the seller as well you can begin to
07:18
see why grading companies and auction
07:20
houses would really want prices to go up
07:23
it's in their interest this is also why
07:25
grading companies and auction houses
07:27
should never be speculating on the price
07:29
of goods or impacting markets directly
07:32
they have a huge conflict of interest
07:34
and whenever you see a grading company
07:35
or an auction house talking about how
07:37
valuable games are you know it's because
07:39
they want to drive prices up again
07:42
you'll need to keep all of this in mind
07:44
i'm going to provide you with a ton of
07:45
information and i'm going to trust you
07:47
to connect the dots if you are really
07:49
interested in learning what's going on i
07:51
suggest writing down details as we go or
07:54
watching sections more than once let's
07:56
begin
07:59
the two institutions that you will
08:00
become very familiar with are water
08:03
games the video game grading company and
08:05
heritage auctions the auction house
08:08
water games was founded in 2017 but it
08:11
didn't officially launch until april of
08:13
2018. water games is the linchpin behind
08:16
this entire bubble and the certification
08:19
that water provides is the justification
08:21
for why they are sold at such high
08:23
prices interestingly water wasn't the
08:26
first video game grading company to
08:28
exist in fact the video game authority
08:30
aka vga has been grading games since
08:33
2008 but the introduction of vga didn't
08:37
cause a bubble like the introduction of
08:39
what a games did and the reason is
08:42
simple vga didn't manipulate the market
08:45
or go out of their way to create a
08:47
bubble the same can't be said for water
08:50
however the president and ceo of water
08:52
games is dennis khan and he is a key
08:55
player the other important company
08:58
heritage auctions was founded in 1976 by
09:01
steve ivey and jim halperin steve ivey
09:04
isn't very important to this story but
09:06
jim on the other hand is critical
09:08
heritage auctions are in the business of
09:10
selling rare collectibles and
09:12
memorabilia they sell coins comics art
09:16
anything you can collect that has value
09:18
and in 2019 they started selling video
09:21
games but not just any video games only
09:24
games that had been graded through water
09:26
games the interesting thing about the
09:28
relationship between water and heritage
09:30
is that it seems to have existed before
09:32
water even began grading games on the
09:35
initial website of water when it
09:37
launched it had a dealer spotlight
09:39
section where it listed key
09:40
relationships one was heritage auctions
09:43
where it stated that water certified
09:44
video games will be featured in heritage
09:47
online auctions this doesn't make sense
09:50
the entire point of certification is to
09:52
guarantee authenticity and quality but a
09:55
guarantee is worthless if you haven't
09:57
established a history of accurate work
09:59
why would heritage auctions a
10:01
prestigious auction house agreed to sell
10:03
games from a company that hadn't graded
10:05
a single game why would they trust a
10:08
business that hadn't even done any
10:10
business to begin with when there was
10:11
already an existing grading company that
10:14
had been grading games for 10 years the
10:16
only explanation to me is that heritage
10:19
auctions was involved in some way in the
10:21
creation of water games and knew that it
10:23
was on board with their mutual goals and
10:25
if you needed any further evidence of
10:27
this pre-existing relationship jim
10:29
halperin the founder of heritage
10:31
auctions was listed on the water website
10:34
as an advisor another business that
10:36
water had a relationship upon creation
10:38
was just press play a distributor of
10:40
used video games which was founded by
10:42
zac geig just press play also announced
10:46
that it would be selling water certified
10:48
games now in order to create a
10:50
speculative bubble you need a way to
10:52
spread information very quickly you need
10:54
to draw in new eyes and make potential
10:57
buyers aware that a market is building
10:59
the easiest way to achieve this by far
11:01
is to create headline-worthy events that
11:03
can disseminate through the media in
11:05
this case it was the purchase of a super
11:07
mario brothers cart for 100 000 in
11:10
february of 2019. before this sale the
11:13
previous most expensive video game ever
11:16
sold went for 30 thousand dollars so
11:18
this new sale was a pretty big deal big
11:21
enough to generate headlines but the
11:23
even more interesting thing is who
11:25
bought this game it was purchased by
11:28
three men the first was jim halperin
11:31
founder and chairman of heritage
11:33
auctions the second was zac geig founder
11:36
and owner of just press play the third
11:38
was richard leche who has one of the
11:40
largest video game collections on the
11:42
planet heritage auctions then issued a
11:45
press release about the sale because of
11:47
course the purchase was never about
11:49
collecting the game it was about
11:51
publicity and if this wasn't obvious
11:53
enough jim halperin advertised in this
11:56
press release that the game may end up
11:58
in a future auction dennis khan ceo of
12:01
water games also chimed in stating quote
12:04
water certified video games have been
12:05
selling for record prices ever since
12:08
heritage began auctioning them in
12:09
january while many video games sell
12:12
regularly for five figures breaking the
12:14
six figure marks shows that the hobbies
12:16
upward trajectory indicates no signs of
12:18
slowing down so what you have here is
12:21
the chairman of the auction house buying
12:23
a game for a record price and then
12:25
creating a press release about his own
12:27
purchase in which himself and the
12:29
president of the grading company are
12:31
stating that the value of games is going
12:34
up he then advertises that his own game
12:36
will be going up for auction in the
12:38
future through his own auction house and
12:40
his plan worked the press immediately
12:43
jumped on this and many articles about
12:45
the purchase were written khan's tactic
12:48
of pumping up the perceived value of
12:50
games would be seen in every article for
12:52
example in a kotaku article khan states
12:56
i've always said video games are going
12:58
to go the way of comics or cars or coins
13:01
it's only a matter of time until a video
13:03
game sells for a million dollars in an
13:06
hour's technical article both khan and
13:08
halperin were again pumping up the
13:10
perceived value of games with halperin
13:12
stating there are bets on what will
13:14
someday be the first million dollar game
13:17
and many collectors believe that this
13:19
will be the one it's so strange to me
13:21
that news articles allow the owner of a
13:23
game to advertise that its worth is 10
13:25
times what they paid for and not a
13:27
single eyebrow is raised they did
13:29
everything they could to raise awareness
13:31
about the sale they even took the cart
13:33
onto porn stars claiming it was worth a
13:36
million dollars this appearance was the
13:38
perfect opportunity to establish water
13:40
games as the authority in grading
13:42
despite having only existed less than a
13:44
tenth of the time that vga had porn
13:47
stars even had dennis khan come on and
13:49
again he pumped up the value implying
13:52
that it was worth at least three times
13:54
what they paid remember what i said
13:56
about grading companies they shouldn't
13:57
be manipulating the market and driving
14:00
up prices dennis even faced backlash
14:02
about this from intelligent collectors
14:04
who knew what he was up to but of course
14:07
this didn't stop him he went on porn
14:09
stars multiple times valuing games at
14:11
insane prices i can give you dozens of
14:14
examples but the point is that there was
14:16
a very large very effective campaign to
14:19
establish water as the authority on
14:20
video games despite having only been
14:23
created it was critical that water was
14:25
seen as the be-all and end-all in video
14:27
game grading because then the words of
14:29
its ceo dennis khan would be more
14:31
effective in increasing the value of
14:33
games kant would continue to abuse his
14:36
authority as the head of water games for
14:38
the next few years appearing in
14:40
countless articles and interviews and
14:42
always pumping up the price in fact he's
14:44
still doing it even with the ridiculous
14:47
price of 1.5 million dollars that the
14:49
recent super mario 64 went for in july
14:52
in a verge article covering the record
14:54
breaking sale khan states i think that
14:56
we are going to continue to see
14:58
record-breaking sales again this is
15:01
purely to make people believe the price
15:03
will continue to go up in order to fuel
15:05
speculation all of this press is driving
15:08
up prices but it's only one half of the
15:10
equation you also need people to
15:12
actually buy games but the people buying
15:15
these games aren't who you'd expect if
15:18
you thought they were video game
15:19
collectors hoping to complete their
15:21
collection you'd be wrong let's take a
15:23
look at who is really buying up these
15:25
games
15:28
video game collecting has taken an
15:30
interesting turn in the past few years
15:32
over the last decade or so i've been a
15:34
big fan of watching collectors videos on
15:36
youtube where they proudly show off what
15:38
they've amassed in my experience genuine
15:40
collectors love sharing their prized
15:42
possessions but that's not what we're
15:44
seeing with these record-breaking sales
15:46
nowadays the buyers of these expensive
15:48
games are hidden from the public
15:51
identities are kept secret and no one
15:53
takes credit for anything it's all
15:56
really strange heritage auctions will
15:58
never tell you who the buyers are or
16:00
even if money was actually exchanged
16:02
however there are ways we can tell who
16:04
bought some of the games and this is
16:06
where things get weird several weeks ago
16:08
i was investigating the relationship
16:10
between water games and porn stars given
16:12
that the original appearance of water on
16:14
that show was obvious collusion between
16:16
the greeting company the auction house
16:18
and the show in particular i was
16:20
researching the appearance of a mike
16:22
tyson's punch-out that dennis khan
16:24
valued at eighty thousand dollars
16:26
through a google search i found
16:28
something very interesting it was a
16:30
purchase agreement of the exact same
16:32
cart the owner of the cart brian had
16:34
sold it to a company for the exact same
16:36
amount that dennis had valued it at the
16:39
buyer was rse archive llc which trades
16:42
as rally rally is a platform that allows
16:45
investors to buy and sell equity shares
16:47
in collectibles to put it simply people
16:50
can buy a fraction of a video game and
16:52
if the price goes up they can sell their
16:54
slice to someone else in order to make a
16:56
profit it's essentially gambling on the
16:58
price of collectibles and it's as silly
17:01
as it sounds none of the people who buy
17:03
equity in any of these collectibles
17:05
actually own it it's purely to try and
17:07
make bets on the price and earn a quick
17:09
buck the purchase agreement i found for
17:11
the mike tyson's punch out was an sec
17:14
filing companies that hold these items
17:16
and sell equity in them need to disclose
17:18
their assets to the sec so we can track
17:21
exactly what they buy and how much for
17:23
there are three fractional share
17:25
companies that have sprung up in the
17:26
past several years that are selling
17:28
equity in video games mythic markets
17:31
otis and rally each of them was formed
17:34
immediately following the launch of
17:36
water games through their sec filings i
17:38
can track their purchases rally bought a
17:41
super mario brothers for 140 000 in
17:44
2020. this was the same card that would
17:47
eventually be sold for 2 million just
17:50
this month from heritage they acquired
17:52
this golden eye for 22 800 this grand
17:55
theft auto for 13 200 and this donkey
17:58
kong for thirty eight thousand four
18:00
hundred mythic markets also bought this
18:02
metroid for forty six thousand eight
18:04
hundred otus also bought a mike tyson's
18:07
punch out for 130 000 from heritage they
18:10
bought a pokemon yellow for 78 grand
18:12
this golf for 18 000 and many other
18:15
private purchases aside from these
18:17
fractional share companies we can also
18:19
see people buying games from heritage
18:21
and trying to flip them on ebay for
18:23
example a super mario that was bought
18:25
for 84 000 in september of 2020 is now
18:29
sitting on ebay with an asking price of
18:31
1.5 million i haven't heard of a single
18:34
legitimate collector buying any of these
18:36
expensive games it's entirely
18:38
speculation purely for profit but there
18:41
have been attempts to fool the public
18:43
into believing that actual collectors
18:45
are buying these games and one of the
18:47
biggest cheerleaders for this fake
18:49
narrative is eric naiman in 2019 a slew
18:52
of articles sprung up about a video game
18:54
collecting dentist who bought a million
18:56
dollars worth of video games the
18:58
original article was posted by the
19:00
washington post but if you know the real
19:03
story this article is insane it
19:05
describes eric nireman as one of the
19:07
world's most avid video game collectors
19:10
but in reality he had only been
19:12
collecting for several months he began
19:14
only in 2019 at the beginning of this
19:17
bubble there are many people who have
19:19
been collecting games their entire lives
19:22
but this man comes along and he's
19:24
instantly the most avid collector in the
19:26
entire world the article claims that he
19:28
bought the games but this is also not
19:30
true he wasn't even using his own money
19:33
the money was put up by a group of
19:35
investors not by eric nireman the
19:38
article becomes even more suspicious
19:39
when dennis khan again rears his head to
19:42
hype up the market heritage auctions
19:44
also shows up advertising that the
19:46
market is increasing eric makes his
19:48
intentions clear by stating his opinion
19:50
that video games should be selling for
19:52
millions which of course would benefit
19:54
him greatly after his purchase so why is
19:57
the washington post and many other news
19:59
outlets touting eric who only entered
20:01
the video game market in 2019 as the
20:04
forefront of collecting why is it
20:06
falsely stating that he bought the games
20:08
when it was actually an investment hedge
20:10
fund why are water games and heritage
20:12
auctions always there to give their
20:14
opinion on the market it's because this
20:17
is not news it's propaganda eric neyman
20:20
is part of the small group of people at
20:22
the very top building this bubble in an
20:24
attempt to make money he is a talking
20:27
head with one purpose to trick people
20:29
into believing the video games he owns
20:31
are worth millions which he will then
20:33
sell he can be seen alongside people
20:35
like dennis khan always attempting to
20:37
inflate the market and this isn't a
20:40
secret he admits his intentions freely
20:43
of course that same week i discover on
20:45
heritage auctions vintage video games
20:47
which i never even knew existed
20:49
and then when i like when it played
20:51
through in my head i'm like oh my god
20:53
this is like so much better than cards
20:56
and my for me i mean also it's a new and
20:58
emerging market like you guys are having
20:59
an nfts it's that excitement of like wow
21:02
if this even catches up a quarter of to
21:04
where cards have gone you know we could
21:07
we could see 100x returns just at the
21:09
beginning you know because it was so new
21:11
but as a as a collectible investment
21:13
this was like everything that i was i
21:15
saw on a mic trail card but like
21:17
to the max on steroids and for me it was
21:20
a time machine it was literally like if
21:22
you if you could like i always said to
21:24
myself i would look at like matt
21:25
turner's collection on of of cards on
21:28
instagram at that time and i was like
21:30
wow if only i could go back 10 years and
21:32
just like hang out with him and just buy
21:34
everything he was buying and you know
21:35
it's that time machine that everyone has
21:37
you guys have with nfts it's always that
21:40
if i could go back i could be a
21:41
billionaire right so i said this is my
21:44
moment that i'm gonna go back in time
21:46
but it's gonna be today and i'm just
21:48
gonna just go for it so we we set up we
21:50
spent time we set up an llc we we we
21:54
made a business plan um and i went to
21:56
like just neighbors of mine family
21:58
friends all like successful wealthy
22:01
people
22:02
we we spoke about all the risks and the
22:04
benefits up front they knew it was
22:05
speculative and i'm like listen but they
22:07
all said the same thing they're like you
22:08
seem super passionate about it if i lose
22:10
15 grand on you it's not the end of the
22:12
world give it a run well to show even on
22:14
heritage auctions ebay auctions look we
22:16
already what we spent appreciated 20 to
22:18
30 percent this is working i'm gonna get
22:21
out there and i'm gonna i'm gonna help
22:23
make the market i'm gonna let people
22:24
know about this i'm forming a market of
22:27
around something that i feel that is
22:28
severely underappreciated um so that's
22:31
what i was doing
22:32
my point is that it's not collectors
22:34
that are buying any of these games it's
22:36
purely people with a lot of money trying
22:39
to scam other people out of theirs by
22:41
manufacturing a bubble that otherwise
22:43
shouldn't exist propaganda isn't their
22:45
only weapon either it gets much worse we
22:48
will now enter the wonderful world of
22:50
shield bidding
22:55
when it comes to auctions there is only
22:56
one thing that will consistently drive
22:58
up the sale price of goods and that one
23:01
thing is competition obviously if there
23:03
is only one bidder the price will never
23:05
go up you are not going to bid more if
23:07
you already have the top bid but if two
23:10
or more people are juking it out that's
23:11
where the price can really shoot up
23:13
shield bidding is the act of placing
23:15
fake bids in the attempt to raise the
23:17
price usually this is done in collusion
23:20
with the seller because the seller wants
23:22
to make more money for the item they are
23:23
selling so they will work with a third
23:26
party who will keep placing fake bids up
23:28
to an agreed price at which point they
23:30
will concede and let the victim win the
23:32
item but it isn't just sellers that have
23:35
motive for this kind of practice the
23:37
auction house itself has just as much to
23:39
gain from inflated sale prices if your
23:42
auction house sells goods at higher
23:43
prices than your competitors people will
23:45
want to sell their items through your
23:47
auctions and this is where we come back
23:49
to heritage auctions in 2008 a lawsuit
23:52
was filed against heritage auctions for
23:54
shield bidding it was filed by gary
23:57
hendershot who was a former employee the
23:59
lawsuit alleged that heritage used a
24:01
shield bidder by the name of np gresham
24:04
to drive up prices this lawsuit was
24:06
ultimately settled out of court so you
24:08
may or may not want to put any real
24:10
stock in it but it is something to take
24:12
notice of especially when jim halperin
24:14
one of the defendants and if you
24:16
remember one of the investors who bought
24:18
the record-breaking super mario was
24:20
caught lying in a sworn testimony he
24:23
originally claimed that mp gresham
24:25
didn't exist at all but later had to
24:27
admit they in fact did if this lawsuit
24:30
was the only claim of shield bidding i
24:32
might be less inclined to believe it but
24:34
the story doesn't end there while i was
24:37
researching for this video i spoke at
24:39
length with pat the nes punk who is one
24:41
of the most dedicated collectors of nes
24:43
games there has ever been he told me he
24:45
was contacted by a comic book collector
24:48
and seller whose father not only worked
24:50
at heritage auctions but was also
24:52
friends with jim halperin what he had to
24:54
say was shocking and pat graciously
24:57
connected us so we could talk the
24:59
collector david wilson who founded and
25:01
runs collector's comics told me this
25:04
hi my name is david i'm from comic book
25:06
investments
25:08
on youtube my dad
25:10
a
25:11
big time comic book dealer in the 80s
25:13
and 90s
25:14
he ended up taking a job with heritage a
25:16
couple years ago and
25:19
he had a personal relationship with jim
25:21
and they had a personal relationship for
25:23
years
25:24
and then through the relationship that's
25:26
how he got a job working at heritage he
25:29
was a comic book grader he worked for
25:31
heritage for almost two years
25:33
and during that time of heritage he had
25:36
a few conversations with jim
25:38
he told my dad told me because i would
25:40
talk about the video games i was like
25:41
hey dad i can't believe this video game
25:43
sold for so much he was already gone
25:45
by the time the video games have reached
25:46
where they are at now
25:48
and
25:49
he told me he's like yeah so
25:52
they're manipulating the market and my
25:53
dad gave me an example jim is one of the
25:56
biggest comic collectors in the world he
25:59
has one of the biggest collections in
26:00
the world
26:01
just huge and what jim does and this is
26:04
what my dad said he would take a comic
26:06
book let's say he would take this book
26:08
right he put in his collection and like
26:10
three four years later he'd throw it up
26:12
on heritage
26:13
and
26:14
then he would manipulate the price by
26:16
bidding it up so say he bought the book
26:18
for three grand forever ago he throws he
26:20
throws in a heritage auction and then he
26:23
bid it up to say like five grand six
26:24
grand buy it from himself basically he
26:27
bids it up and then he sticks it away
26:28
back in his collection
26:30
and then every couple years later three
26:32
four five years later whatever
26:34
makes its way back into the heritage
26:35
auction does it again and what that does
26:37
is it stimulates the market by pushing
26:39
it up propping it up higher than it is
26:42
to show like hey there's been a sale of
26:44
this comic book or video game for this
26:46
price so that means it must be worth
26:48
that much
26:49
and that's
26:50
i that's kind of like what i'm feeling
26:52
that they're doing with video games
26:54
they're propping them up
26:55
like super high higher than they should
26:58
be
26:58
to create a market manipulate the market
27:02
into thinking that these video games are
27:04
actually worth this much because they
27:06
have
27:07
sales data to prove it
27:11
if this is true and everything i
27:13
currently know about jim halperin leads
27:15
me to believe it probably is the tactic
27:17
definitely works when items are sold at
27:20
higher prices it raises the perceived
27:22
value of every similar item it's even
27:24
more effective if you purchase items at
27:26
record prices every time a video game
27:29
sells higher than ever before the
27:31
internet is flooded with articles
27:32
advertising your auction house for over
27:34
two years all we ever heard about was
27:36
all of the insane prices that games were
27:38
going for on heritage auctions naturally
27:41
this makes people want to sell their
27:42
games through heritage as opposed to
27:44
anywhere else but with all of the
27:46
reports of shield bidding reports of
27:48
buying their own items and the intense
27:51
secrecy of purchases we don't know if
27:53
heritage were involved in any of these
27:55
record-breaking sales this is why we
27:57
also can't be sure of the recent two
27:59
million dollar purchase from rally as
28:01
again the ridiculous price the secrecy
28:04
and the obvious motive make it very
28:06
suspicious jim halperin isn't the only
28:08
major player that seems to be using his
28:10
own platform to personally benefit it's
28:13
time to take a closer look at what are
28:15
games and how some of the key figures in
28:17
that business are using their positions
28:19
for their own gain
28:23
shield bidding and buying your own items
28:25
at inflated prices are pretty obvious
28:27
ways to abuse your position at an
28:29
auction house but how could you take
28:31
advantage of your own grading company
28:33
the first thing that comes to mind would
28:34
be grading your own games this presents
28:37
a pretty clear conflict of interest and
28:39
even water admits this in a new york
28:41
times article what a president dennis
28:43
khan goes on record to say that water
28:45
employees are not allowed to have games
28:48
graded by the company or sell those that
28:50
were i'll say that again water employees
28:53
are not allowed to have games graded by
28:55
the company or sell those that were this
28:58
makes sense and i applaud that rule if
29:00
it's actually upheld now let's take a
29:02
look at a transaction that occurred in
29:04
2019 between two gentlemen the first is
29:07
dane anderson dane is the founder of
29:10
nintendo age which hosted the largest
29:12
community of retro video game collectors
29:14
and enthusiasts on the internet it also
29:16
contained the most valuable database of
29:18
information concerning retro games and
29:20
what they were worth if you wanted to
29:22
know anything about collecting this
29:24
would be your first place to go
29:26
dane was also well known for his video
29:28
game collection and he had one of the
29:30
largest assortments of sealed nintendo
29:32
games on the planet but in 2019 he sold
29:35
his entire collection to a gentleman by
29:37
the name of jeff meyer who is the
29:39
founder and ceo of go collect which is a
29:42
price guide for comic books the purchase
29:44
of dain's collection by jeff was a
29:46
pretty big deal one of the biggest in
29:49
history it was so noteworthy that
29:51
watergames even gave the collection a
29:53
special name it was called the carolina
29:56
collection because both men hailed from
29:58
carolina jeff submitted the games to
30:00
water who graded them all and as part of
30:03
that grading inserted the name of the
30:05
collection they were a part of and you
30:06
can see this name on the label of the
30:09
graded games jeff then immediately took
30:11
the newly graded games and started
30:13
flipping them through auction houses
30:15
most notably heritage auctions where the
30:17
first auction alone produced a total
30:20
return of over half a million dollars so
30:22
why am i telling you this well it's
30:24
because jeff meyer is a director of
30:27
water games you won't find this
30:28
information publicly because they keep
30:30
it a secret but thankfully the company's
30:32
sec filings tell us everything we need
30:34
to know according to their own filings
30:37
jeff meyer is a director of the company
30:39
so what you have is the president of
30:41
water games saying that employees are
30:43
not allowed to grade or sell graded
30:45
games but meanwhile a director of the
30:48
company is grading his entire collection
30:50
but not just grading it grading it in a
30:53
special privileged way by naming it
30:55
therefore increasing the value and
30:57
immediately selling them through auction
30:59
houses at insane prices for profit if
31:02
the games in this collection were graded
31:03
just like any other game there would be
31:05
nothing illegal about this however
31:07
considering the fact that they were
31:08
graded in a unique and special way there
31:11
is a very good argument to be made here
31:13
for fraud especially given that jeff's
31:15
relationship with water games was never
31:17
disclosed to the public but it gets even
31:19
worse jeff meyer also purchased nintendo
31:22
age which as i mentioned was the most
31:24
valuable database for retro video games
31:27
jeff immediately shut it down he also
31:30
purchased the website game value now
31:32
which is a price guide for video game
31:34
sales now i'm not a conspiracy theorist
31:36
but on the surface it appears as though
31:38
jeff is trying to own and control the
31:40
flow of information about the value of
31:42
video games which only ends up being
31:44
more suspicious given his ties to water
31:46
games again another huge conflict of
31:49
interest jeff has never publicly
31:51
admitted to being a part of water games
31:53
and the way he talks about his
31:55
relationship with water makes it seem
31:56
like that's intentional for example in a
31:58
blog post he wrote himself about his
32:00
upcoming video game price guide jeff
32:02
states thanks to the great relationships
32:05
with the awesome folks at water games he
32:07
is talking in the third person about a
32:09
company that he is a director of the
32:11
cherry on top of all of this is that
32:13
when water games was incorporated in
32:14
2017 dane anderson was the executive
32:18
officer so this entire deal happened
32:20
between two men that were or are
32:22
directly involved with the company
32:24
dennis khan obviously knows who the
32:26
directors of his company are so it
32:27
really makes you think when he blogs
32:29
about the carolina collection on the
32:31
water games website but fails to
32:33
disclose that the purchaser of the
32:35
collection is a director and it forces
32:37
you to think even harder when you
32:38
realize that at the very same time he is
32:40
telling the new york times that
32:42
employees cannot grade or sell water
32:45
graded games there is a good reason why
32:47
grading your own games is a big conflict
32:49
of interest as the grade is extremely
32:52
relevant when it comes to how much a
32:53
game can be sold for the higher the
32:55
grade the more valuable a game will be
32:58
there is no better example than the
33:00
recent sale of super mario 64 for 1.5
33:03
million on heritage auctions its grade
33:05
was a 9.8 with an a plus plus for the
33:08
seal it's essentially the highest
33:10
grading a game could ever hope to
33:12
achieve on the same day another super
33:15
mario 64 was auctioned with an 8.5
33:17
rating that sold for only 31 thousand
33:19
dollars that's an increase of 5 000 for
33:22
a slightly higher grading this raises
33:25
another interesting question how
33:26
reliable are these ratings if you are
33:29
going to spend an extra 1.5 million
33:31
dollars for a high rating you'd want to
33:33
be pretty damn sure that the rating is
33:35
accurate grading companies attempt to
33:37
make their grading process as objective
33:39
as possible but the truth is that they
33:41
are very subjective by nature at the end
33:43
of the day the grading is given by a
33:45
human based on their own perception of
33:47
the game's quality and history has shown
33:50
that this perception can vary wildly
33:52
from person to person grading companies
33:54
have been known to give very different
33:56
grades for the exact same item and this
33:58
has led to a practice called re-grading
34:01
if someone receives a grade for an item
34:03
that they believe is not high enough
34:05
they will simply take it out of the case
34:06
and send it back you have a lot of
34:08
people playing what i call the crack out
34:10
game meaning they get a comic book back
34:13
and it comes back cgc 9.6 they think it
34:16
should be a 9.8 so they crack that baby
34:19
open and they keep sending it back to
34:20
cgc hoping that at some point that
34:24
grader is either going to slip up or
34:26
that grader is going to get that book
34:27
and go hey you know what this is a 9.8
34:30
they're going to slap 9.8 on it and
34:32
they're going to send it back to that
34:33
submitter and that submitter is going to
34:35
be very happy because in the overall
34:37
marketplace for certain books you go
34:38
from a 9.6 to a 9.8 you just made a
34:42
large chunk of money the average
34:44
collector the average speculator and the
34:47
average investor out there
34:49
is over
34:51
valuing a lot of these items based on
34:54
the grade not realizing that in certain
34:56
instances the grade is arbitrary it is
34:59
an estimation it is not an exact science
35:03
but you don't even need to regrade games
35:05
in order to see the blatant
35:07
inconsistency on display with what are
35:09
graded games last month a tomb raider
35:12
for the sega saturn was sold for 12 000
35:15
through heritage auctions it had a
35:16
rating of nine point eight with an a
35:18
plus for the seal but it's immediately
35:21
obvious that this grading makes no sense
35:23
the seal has multiple very large holes
35:26
which according to the grading system on
35:28
what his own website is not allowed for
35:30
a plus seals which must contain no holes
35:34
the seal also has countless smaller
35:36
holes scratches and stains quite frankly
35:38
it looks disgusting and yet it gets an a
35:41
plus i've seen seals with b grades that
35:44
are better quality than this my point is
35:46
that video game grading is not a science
35:48
and the ratings given to games are not
35:50
an exact representation of the game's
35:52
quality and yet the rating is touted as
35:55
the sole justification for why people
35:57
are spending an extra million dollars on
35:59
some of these games now you understand
36:01
why it is so important to establish
36:03
water as the utmost authority on video
36:06
games because it makes their ratings all
36:08
the more valuable now one final thing
36:10
before we move on if you knew you were
36:12
about to create a bubble surrounding
36:14
sealed video games what would you do
36:16
personally i would start buying as many
36:18
sealed video games as i could this is
36:21
mark haspel one of the founders of water
36:24
games and the current chief advisor he
36:26
has been involved in the comic book
36:28
collecting scene for decades but was
36:30
never active in video game collecting
36:32
but right around the time that water was
36:34
formed he suddenly started showing up at
36:36
video game conventions buying as many
36:39
sealed games as he could not only that
36:41
but he would actively seek out and
36:43
inquire about sealed nes games more
36:46
specifically the popular ones such as
36:48
mario metroid mega man castlevania and
36:52
zelda the kind of games we see being
36:54
sold now for record prices and remember
36:57
this was several years ago his taste in
36:59
video games seemed to align perfectly
37:01
with the same games that would bring the
37:03
most profit several years later one
37:06
collector stated mark haspel was buying
37:08
sealed six packs from a good friend of
37:10
mine a year before water started grading
37:12
games pat the nes punk also noticed
37:15
haspel collecting games at conventions
37:18
in june 2019 i was a guest at a gaming
37:21
convention the weekend of the event i
37:23
noticed a small group of individuals who
37:25
were hurriedly acquiring sealed and
37:27
complete inbox games from vendors at one
37:30
point i witnessed an individual who i
37:32
later learned to be mark haspel
37:34
returning to the water expo booth while
37:36
holding a stack of nes games i did find
37:39
it a little strange but was unaware of
37:41
any affiliation that person may have had
37:43
with wada so i didn't think much of it
37:45
at the time
37:46
it's obviously not illegal for the
37:48
founders of water games to collect video
37:50
games and it's impossible to prove
37:51
intent but these examples just
37:53
strengthened my opinion that they knew
37:55
what was about to happen and they were
37:56
preparing for it now before we get to
37:58
the conclusion i want to teach you about
38:00
an event in history that might be
38:02
relevant to what's happening right now
38:04
the great coin collecting bubble of the
38:07
80s
38:11
believe it or not this kind of crazy
38:13
bubble surrounding a collectible has
38:15
been seen before not to this extent but
38:18
still this isn't a new thing in the 80s
38:20
it wasn't video games it was coins pcgs
38:24
is the world leader in coin grading and
38:26
on its website it tracks something
38:27
called the pcgs 3000 index it's an index
38:31
of the value of coins similar to
38:33
something like the dow jones in the
38:35
historical chart you can see a massive
38:37
spike occurring in the late 80s after
38:40
crashing the price has still not
38:41
recovered to level scene 30 years ago
38:44
and this is without even considering
38:46
inflation so what caused this bubble
38:49
well according to an article posted on
38:50
antiquesage.com
38:52
it was the development of slabbing and
38:54
the introduction of third-party
38:56
certification slabbing is where a
38:58
grading company will take a coin encase
39:00
it in plastic and give it a rating two
39:02
grading companies were formed around
39:04
this time pcgs and ngc the article goes
39:08
on to state that the arrival of pcgs and
39:11
ngc changed the industry nearly
39:14
overnight now dealers collectors and
39:17
investors could buy or sell slabbed
39:19
coins sight unseen because they all
39:21
trusted the grades given by the major
39:23
grading services if you're beginning to
39:25
get a sense of deja vu that's completely
39:27
understandable this is literally the
39:30
exact same thing that's currently
39:32
happening with video games the fact that
39:34
people could easily and confidently
39:36
purchase graded coins meant that they
39:38
began to sell more and more this led to
39:41
the price going up investors began to
39:44
take notice and more importantly even
39:46
investment hedge funds got involved
39:48
kidder peabody and co merrill lynch and
39:51
ubs all created coin hedge funds where
39:54
they took in money from investors to
39:56
invest in coins this expanded the bubble
39:58
even further but the thing about
40:00
speculative bubbles is that they always
40:03
burst the price cannot go up forever and
40:05
at the slightest tenth at the peak has
40:07
been reached everyone sells the ironic
40:10
thing you need to remember is that
40:11
people who buy collectibles in order to
40:13
make money never actually intend to
40:15
collect or keep them so when the price
40:17
starts to drop everyone attempts to
40:19
liquidate their assets as quickly as
40:21
possible in order to not lose money the
40:23
market becomes flooded but because no
40:26
one is buying the price gets destroyed
40:28
in the end it's the suckers that came in
40:30
late that lose their money the bursting
40:33
of the 80s coin bubble was a big deal
40:35
and hedge funds were inundated with
40:37
lawsuits from people who had lost their
40:39
investments merrill lynch ended up
40:41
paying back over 20 million dollars to
40:43
their investors the ftc even stepped in
40:46
to investigate what happened and this is
40:48
where things get juicy in the antiques
40:51
age article i referenced it said that
40:53
pcgs and ngc were the first third party
40:56
coin grading companies but this is
40:59
actually false the first third party
41:01
coin grading company was nci numismatic
41:04
certification institute which was
41:06
founded in 1984. after an investigation
41:09
the ftc ruled that nci misled customers
41:12
about the value of coins i want to read
41:15
from an la times article written in 1989
41:18
and i want you to appreciate how
41:19
amazingly relevant it is today despite
41:22
being 32 years old the article reads by
41:26
and large it's grading and rarity that
41:28
determine the value of a coin rarity is
41:31
easy enough to establish grading is
41:33
often a matter of opinion it's for this
41:36
reason that grading services came into
41:38
being their purpose is to give an
41:40
impartial rating to a coin which
41:42
virtually establishes a particular price
41:45
but what happens if the grading service
41:47
misrepresents the grade of a coin
41:49
thereby increasing its value that's the
41:51
situation described by bill mcallister
41:54
of the washington post in regards to a
41:56
recent decision by the federal trade
41:58
commission the commission determined
42:00
that overgrading coins was a deceptive
42:02
and unfair act prohibited by the 1914
42:05
law that created the ftc charged with
42:08
this practice were two texas-based
42:11
corporations heritage capital corp and
42:13
numismatic certification institute also
42:16
named in the action was steve ivy and
42:18
james halperin prominent numismatic
42:21
figures a consent order was signed
42:23
agreeing to establish a 1.2 million
42:25
dollar fund for collectors who purchased
42:27
the nci graded coins from coin galleries
42:30
incorporated of miami
42:31
heritage halperin those names sound
42:35
familiar yes it's heritage auctions and
42:37
jim halperin in the 80s they were found
42:40
guilty of illegally misleading customers
42:42
about the value of coins and fined 1.2
42:45
million dollars from the 1989 ftc annual
42:48
report it states numismatic
42:50
certification institute and its
42:52
principal steve ivy and james halperin
42:55
agreed to settle charges that its
42:56
representations and failures to disclose
42:59
information misled customers to the
43:01
value of coins certified by the company
43:04
an affiliate heritage capital
43:05
corporation also agreed to settle
43:07
charges that it provided substantial
43:09
assistance to a coin retailer certified
43:12
rare coin galleries knowing that crcg
43:15
was misrepresenting the security and
43:17
profit potential of its coins to
43:19
investors under the settlement
43:20
defendants agreed to a permanent
43:22
injunction and heritage and nci agreed
43:25
to contribute 1.2 million into a
43:27
consumer redress plan for crcg's
43:30
customers another interesting thing
43:32
about jim is that in 1985 he wrote a
43:35
book called how to grade us coins upon
43:38
which the grading standards of the two
43:40
leading third-party grading services
43:42
pcgs and ngc were ultimately based again
43:46
these are the two grading companies that
43:48
antiques age cited as the most important
43:51
factors in the coin bubble there is a
43:53
very strong case to be made that jim
43:55
halperin is the single most responsible
43:58
person for the coin bubble of the 80s
44:01
i'm not a conspiracy theorist but it
44:03
kind of looks like he's doing exactly
44:05
the same thing again 40 years later but
44:08
this time in video games as i've said
44:11
before it's impossible to prove intent
44:13
but one thing you can certainly disprove
44:15
is ignorance jim halperin was extremely
44:18
caught up in the 80s coin bubble and was
44:20
so responsible that he was fined over a
44:22
million dollars you don't forget
44:24
something like that he knows exactly how
44:27
bubbles are formed he's seen them before
44:29
which is why he would know exactly how
44:31
to create them again remember jim
44:34
halperin bought the super mario brothers
44:36
cart that sparked this entire game
44:38
bubble he is an advisor to water games
44:40
and according to rumors also an investor
44:43
in the company he is the founder of the
44:45
auction house that these games have been
44:47
selling on for record prices it's too
44:49
convenient that this one person is
44:51
involved in every single piece of the
44:54
puzzle when he has the kind of history
44:56
that he has this doesn't seem like a
44:58
coincidence to me
45:02
[Music]
45:04
the retro video game bubble cannot go on
45:06
forever at some point it will burst the
45:09
question is when there are a couple of
45:12
scenarios that might make this happen
45:13
sooner rather than later the first is
45:16
the release of population reports in
45:18
collecting one of the things that drives
45:20
up the price of an item is rarity in
45:23
every other realm of collecting grading
45:25
companies produce what are called
45:26
population reports these reports tell
45:29
you exactly how many of any particular
45:31
item have been graded by the company
45:33
along with their rating so if i do a
45:35
search for action comics number one
45:37
through cgc a comic book grader i can
45:40
find out exactly how many are out there
45:42
and at what rating population reports
45:44
are standard practice because they allow
45:47
people to judge the rarity of an item
45:49
accurately and fairly before making
45:51
purchases but surprise surprise water
45:54
games keeps this information hidden from
45:56
the public and refuses to let anyone
45:58
know how many games of each type have
46:00
been graded so we really have no idea
46:02
how many of each game are out there when
46:05
more games of the same kind become known
46:07
prices plummet it has already started
46:10
happening with some games the best
46:12
example is spider-man for the atari 2600
46:15
in may of 2020 the first sealed
46:18
spider-man was listed on heritage
46:20
auctions it was a 9.8 a plus plus the
46:23
best rating you can get it was mint
46:26
condition and it's such an old game that
46:28
it's surely rare it sold for 9 000
46:32
which in 2020 was actually still a
46:34
decent amount of money to spend on a
46:36
video game but the funny thing about
46:38
spider-man for the atari 2600 is that
46:41
it's not rare it's not rare at all even
46:44
in mint condition after this sale
46:46
heritage was flooded with 9.8 a plus
46:49
plus spidermans and when i say flooded i
46:52
really do mean flooded with each sale
46:55
the price diminished in april of 2021 a
46:58
9.8 a plus plus sold for 870
47:02
that's a decrease of over 90 percent in
47:05
less than a single year when people
47:07
realize how common some of these games
47:09
are prices will be destroyed and that's
47:12
what water games and heritage auctions
47:14
are afraid of legitimate collectors have
47:16
been complaining for the past two years
47:18
but unfortunately none of them have
47:20
substantial audiences and they are
47:22
essentially powerless against the forces
47:25
that are driving this bubble if you want
47:27
to help make a positive change you can
47:29
send water game some feedback by email
47:31
letting them know how appreciated it
47:33
would be if they let us know how many
47:35
graded games are out there the release
47:37
of population reports would be a good
47:39
start but water games and heritage
47:41
auctions also need to stop manipulating
47:43
the market with their propaganda
47:45
journalists don't even bother asking
47:47
real collectors what they think about
47:49
what's happening they simply get sound
47:51
bites from water and heritage and allow
47:53
them to inflate the bubble with hype
47:55
despite the obvious conflict of interest
47:58
i asked a couple of lifetime collectors
48:00
what they think should happen and this
48:01
is what they had to say
48:04
my name is pat contree i'm a youtuber
48:07
podcaster but also a long time video
48:09
game collector since the late 90s i've
48:12
seen a lot of things in the game
48:13
collecting world but what's happening
48:15
right now with the graded sealed games
48:18
market is something i could never
48:20
ever
48:21
imagine and it's a shame that
48:24
the video game collecting
48:26
hobby that i've been a part of for
48:28
decades and many others including
48:30
sellers as well people that have helped
48:33
grow
48:34
this
48:35
hobby of ours
48:37
with passion with knowledge doing
48:39
research
48:40
putting in the time and effort
48:42
this is the end result the unfortunate
48:44
end result is that this hobby that we
48:46
all love has been perverted
48:48
it's been twisted
48:50
to the ends
48:52
of a small group of people
48:54
to line their pockets these are rich
48:56
people
48:57
getting richer
48:59
and they've stepped on and stepped over
49:02
all the video game collectors all the
49:04
people that have sold the games run
49:05
video game shops all the people on
49:07
forums researching this illustrious
49:11
uh and beautiful past history of video
49:13
games
49:14
they've all been used we've all been
49:16
used now
49:17
for the select few individuals to get
49:19
richer and it's a crying shame it's
49:22
probably too late unfortunately but in a
49:24
perfect world there should be full
49:26
transparency and accountability when it
49:29
comes to these video games we should
49:32
know if someone who helps run the
49:34
auction house
49:36
is involved in the buying and selling of
49:38
the games that are being auctioned we
49:40
should know if the people grading the
49:43
games are buying and selling these games
49:45
themselves
49:47
it's unethical if they are doing so and
49:50
we should know that so we can stamp out
49:52
bad behavior
49:54
now how can this be avoided well it's
49:55
quite simple if wada would release and
49:59
update
50:00
population reports for all these items
50:02
that they're grading on a regular basis
50:04
this would not be a problem going
50:05
forward guys this is a problem due to
50:08
the fact that there is a lack of ethics
50:10
and a lack of transparency
50:12
in these markets collectors deserve
50:15
better you guys out there that want this
50:18
to be a thing
50:19
rather than thinking from the standpoint
50:21
that you're gonna make money over the
50:23
long term in this market what you should
50:24
be doing is demanding better from
50:27
grading companies from auction companies
50:30
from other players in the trade you
50:32
should be demanding ethics and
50:34
transparency
50:36
this bubble isn't just affecting sealed
50:38
video games at the highest price points
50:40
the selling point of every single game
50:43
has increased dramatically over the past
50:45
two years even for non-sealed games
50:48
aspiring video game collectors who
50:50
legitimately want to build their
50:51
collections will get screwed because the
50:54
hobby would become too expensive to be
50:56
viable what's worse is that people are
50:58
using the record sale prices in order to
51:00
scam people you can find cart only super
51:03
mario 64s for hundreds or even thousands
51:06
of dollars on ebay when they are only
51:08
worth 10 bucks people with a lot of
51:10
money and power have taken over
51:12
collecting and their thirst for money
51:14
means we will all suffer as someone who
51:16
does care deeply about gaming it
51:18
honestly sickens me that these people
51:20
have turned these cherished possessions
51:22
into a means to gamble and speculate and
51:25
i hope this ridiculous practice of
51:27
trying to extract profit from the
51:28
suckers who buy the hype will end sooner
51:31
rather than later as a sign of
51:33
appreciation it would be amazing if you
51:35
could go and subscribe to a couple of
51:37
real collectors that helped me learn
51:39
more about this go check out pat the nes
51:41
punk and also sean from reserved
51:43
investments these two gentlemen have
51:45
been collecting for most of their lives
51:48
and we need more people like this who
51:49
are not only passionate but are willing
51:51
to tell the truth about what's happening
51:53
also check out david wilson's channel as
51:55
it really took some balls to be willing
51:57
to let me know what he had heard you can
51:59
find the links to these channels in the
52:01
description hopefully you have learned
52:03
something about how those in power can
52:05
create speculative bubbles next time you
52:07
see them trying to do it make sure you
52:09
call it out and let them know that we
52:11
won't tolerate it as always thank you so
52:14
much for watching you legends i hope you
52:16
are having a fantastic day and i will
52:18
see you in the next video