While taking a look back at 2020 in terms of video games sales I found a theme... Mario games CRUSHED it last year! However, in terms of raw new/sealed games, there is another favorite apparently and that is - Grand Theft Auto.

First of all, I released a blog recently about video game ages/eras and what exactly should be considered "retro" as I know there is a debate going on out there. For this article, I'm referring to Game Value Now's data that considers any discontinued system as retro. I am also only looking at new/sealed sales not loose or even complete.  If someone were to ask me what game series/franchise was the big hit of 2020 I would have said Mario 100%. However, looking at the stats...  Mario games dominated the complete list (games that were opened but contained all their pieces) and probably value for graded - but the winner of top games sold that were new/sealed is definitely Grand Theft Auto.

Here are the top 10 "retro" games based on the number of sales from 2020 that were sold as NEW/SEALED:

Vice City

Do you see what I see? Out of the 10 - 4 of those are Grand Theft Auto games. 40% of the top 10 are the same franchise. Let's dive in and look at some of those a bit closer. In the second spot - Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (Playstation 2) was released in 2002. Over the past year, 148 new/sealed copies have sold and the current average rate is $40.94. There was a recent sale of over $400 though which was a rare first print black label with UPC. While the list does focus on new/sealed, I want to look at the graded sales of this from last year also.

There was roughly 7 graded sales last year of this game. The lowest sold for $132.50 in March and the highest sold for $490. Both were 9.6 and bother were sold on eBay. The big difference was the $490 was a first print. So, if that raw one that sold for over $400 is of the same quality he/she should get that game graded and hold tight!

Other Grand Theft Auto Games and ranks

After Vice City, GTA III comes in on spot number 5. 126 copies were sold with the current aver price for a new/sealed game at $31. The most impressive GTA value comes in at spot 6 with Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas with 124 copies sold within the past year. Its current value is $101. Followed again by Grand Theft Auto: Trilogy in spot 7 with 119 sales and a value average of $32.

There were 16 graded sales of GTA III. The highest was sold for $112 and the lowest was sold for $999.99. Both were sold in August. Though that $999 sale seems too high so I've reached out tot he team at GVN to look into it. If that changes I will update here. 6 graded GTA: SA were sold last year and there weren't any sales of GTA: Trilogy at least not graded.

Here's my main question  for you guys. Why do you think these games - not just the GTA series, but all the top 10 games - the highest quantity sales? Do you think there were more quantities available for these games versus others? Or was there something I missed that caused the want/need for these games in sew/sealed rather than graded?

COVID'S Effect on Video Game collecting

I want to wrap this up with an observation and a question. When looking at the graph of values on these games there is a noticeable trend. (See below)

I'm not going to go too far into things here since I think it's worthy of its own blog entirely - but it's obvious that COVID had some pretty effects on the video game industry for collectors. People were willing to pay much more for these games once the pandemic hit. Is that the same for NES games or other retro games? Let me know in the comments if this is something you want to know more about!

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