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These Are The Retro Gaming Consoles Worth Nearly $1000

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3 years ago

February 25, 2021

Reading Time: 2 minutes

The gaming consoles of previous eras rarely lose their value, and with inflation and retro nostalgia, the price tag often increases.

And if this trend continues, research reveals the newest releases of consoles including PlayStation and Xbox could be costing gamers up to $740 USD in 2050!

New research looks at popular games consoles from the last 50 years to see whether games consoles and video games are getting cheaper or more expensive over time – as well as how much consoles could cost in the next thirty years.

The Top 10 Consoles With The Biggest Price Increase:

Rank	Console	Release Year	Introductory Price On Release Advertisement	Adjusted For 2020 Inflation
1	Intellivision	1980	$300 Advertisement	$996
2	Atari 2600	1977	$200 Advertisement	$882
3	PlayStation 3	2006	$500 Advertisement	$780
4	CD-I	1991	$400 Advertisement	$768
5	Atari 5200	1982	$270 Advertisement	$740
6	Sega Saturn	1995	$400 Advertisement	$688
7	Sega CD	1992	$300 Advertisement	$561
8	Xbox One	2013	$500 Advertisement	$560
9	Magnavox Odyssey	1972	$100 Advertisement	$553
10	Xbox 360	2005	$400 Advertisement	$540

The Intellivision, released by Mattel Electronics in 1980, takes the top spot. The video game console was introduced with a $300 price tag. In today’s money, the console would cost nearly $1,000 to purchase.

The Atari 2600, released in 1977 and sold for $200, follows in second with a present day price tag of $882.

The PlayStation 3 ranks third, costing $500 dollars back when the console was released. Today, accounting for inflation, the console would cost gamers approximately $780.

The Top 5 Console Video Games With The Biggest Price Increase:

Rank	Console	Launch Date	Average Cost Of Game For Console At Launch Advertisement	Average Cost Of Game For Console In 2020
1	Atari 2600	1977	$39.99 Advertisement	$170.70
2	Intellivision	1979	$39.99 Advertisement	$142.49
3	ColecoVision	1982	$39.99 Advertisement	$107.20
4	Nintendo Entertainment System	1985	$45.00 Advertisement	$108.18
5	Nintendo Game Boy	1989	$29.99 Advertisement	$62.56

Over the years video games have, on average, been around the same price at launch from $30-$40 per game.

Interestingly, the price of video games for consoles, on average and accounting for inflation, seemed to level out between 2005-2015 which consistently saw AAA titles priced at $50-$60 but with the new generation of consoles, that average price is rising to over $70 for AAA titles.

The Top 5 Best Selling Video Game Consoles:

Rank	Console	Release Year	Introductory Price On Release Advertisement	Adjusted For 2020 Inflation	Global Sales
1	PlayStation 2	2000 Advertisement	$300	$459	155,000,000
2	Nintendo DS Advertisement	2004	$200	$278	154,020,000
3 Advertisement	Game Boy	1989	$110	$234	118,690,000 Advertisement
4	Game Boy Advance	2001	$100	$147 Advertisement	118,690,000
5	PlayStation 4	2013	$400 Advertisement	$448	112,300,000

PlayStation 2 is the console with the most global sales to date, with approximately 155 million units sold since launching in 2000. The Nintendo DS is the portable game console with the most global sales with 154 million global sales.

You can view the findings, including the full lists, here.

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