The recent sale of a copy of Super Mario 64 for more than $1.5 million has garnered attention as the first video game auction to exceed $1 million, and it has also raised eyebrows, leading some to believe the auction results are a scam. Theories include money laundering and an effort to artificially raise the price of future video game collectible auctions, among others. The nature of the speculative market for rare collectibles of any kind, including gaming-related collectibles, sometimes results in outliers, but even subject matter experts found the auction results surprising. With Super Mario 64's 1996 release date, it seems odd to many that a game that is only 25 years old, young by the standards of the collectible world, and far from a limited print title, would be the game to break the $1 million dollar mark. The copy of Super Mario 64 was appraised as being in pristine condition, but the game is far from rare, as the best-selling Nintendo 64 title ever published.
Most are familiar with high dollar value auctions of pop culture items from the comic book world, where comics are graded on a ten-point scale for their condition. A highly graded copy of Action Comics #1, the original debut of Superman, sold for more than $3 million this year, but that particular comic was printed in 1938, more than 80 years ago. A paper product that is nearly a century old maintaining pristine condition is understandably rare, while a packaged video game that is 25 years old seems less noteworthy, as in the case of the recent Super Mario 64 auction.
The million-dollar breaking game was graded at a 9.8 out of ten, but a 9.6-graded copy sold at the same auction for only $13,200, according to BBC News, baffling some as to why a 0.2 difference in preservation quality would add two digits to the valuation. The auction results appear to have surprised even the Dallas-based auction house that facilitated the sale, Heritage Auctions. In an interview with the New York Times, the consignment director for the auction house said she was “blindsided” be the results. Heritage Auctions confirmed the copy of Super Mario 64 was in the original factory shrink wrap, and that its condition was certified by authenticator Wata Gamers. The auction house expected a sealed copy of an original print run of The Legend of Zelda for the NES to be the highest-selling game at the auction. The 35 year-old Zelda game sold for $870,000, breaking existing records for a game’s sale price, only to have Super Mario 64 break the record again two days later, selling for nearly twice as much.
Experts Were Surprised By the Mario 64 Auction Price
As the sale of NFT products gathers attention, and video game companies like Sega's plan to enter the NFT market, many consumers balk at the high-publicity, high-dollar-value purchases of wealthy investors and collectors that now intersect with the gaming world. Where NFTs use blockchain technology to create perceived uniqueness surrounding a single digital file that is in all other ways functionally identical to every other copy, the value attributed to rare, well-kept physical media is a bit easier to grasp.
Still, as an actual functional game, Super Mario 64 is accessible on a wide variety of formats. It was sold as a Virtual Console title for the Wii and Wii U, ported to the Nintendo DS, and more recently packaged as part of the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection for the Switch. A fan remake of Super Mario 64 for the PC allowed the game to run in 4k, before Nintendo took legal action against the freely distributed fangame. The vast value disparity is somewhat understandable, as a reprint of the original Action Comics, or a copy available through a digital source like DC Universe Infinite, contains the same content as the original, but obviously lacks the rarity of a milestone item kept in near-mint condition that makes it unique.
Video game historian Chris Kohler told the New York Times he was also surprised by the results of auction. Kohler expected an older game would break the sales record, and noted collectors obtain boxed copies of the 25-year-old print of Super Mario 64 fairly routinely and for far lower prices, albeit not in mint condition. He said he was “blown away” by the auction price, as are many outsiders to the world of high-end collectibles. The idea of spending such a massive sum of money on a 1996 video game, or any game, regardless of its condition, is unrelatable to most. The auction’s results were an unexpected occurrence even by expert standards. This has fueled some of the rumors and speculation that there could be some duplicity at work in the auction. The auction winner remains anonymous at present. Some gamers point to theories of market manipulation, money laundering theory, and more.
The High-End Collectible Game World Can Be Inscrutable
Super Mario 64 was the best-selling game for the Nintendo 64, with close to 12 million sales on the system. Based on assumed margins and development costs, the game obviously was extremely profitable for Nintendo, and continued to garner revenue from its subsequent releases. Gaming is a booming industry at present, as IDC Data estimated gaming revenue for 2020 at close to $180 billion. The gaming industry functions on scale, however, targeting millions of sales for AAA titles and mainstream hardware. Conversely, the majority of indie games will never reach the $1 million dollar mark in lifetime sales. Gaming rarities, and high-end gaming collectibles like the $1.5 million dollar Mario game, exist in a different world altogether, one based on scarcity and exclusive access rather than mass appeal.
While some gamers recoil from $70 current-gen retail prices, or expensive special or limited editions of games approaching the $100 mark, the high-end auction scene remains a far more baffling domain to most. The skepticism surrounding the Super Mario 64 auction is understandable, as well as the prevalence of conspiracy theories that have sprung up surrounding it. Without more information on the anonymous buyer and their motives, there is no way to discern if there is some economic sleight of hand at play, or simply a dubious investment by someone with sufficient wealth to afford it.
For many gamers, Super Mario 64 is a treasured classic. For one investor, an ideally kept copy was worth more than $1.5 million. The wealthy few who can purchase high-end rarities and new commodities such as NFTs may see such items as investments, or earmarks of status, but for most gamers, the value of a game comes from unboxing and playing it.
Sources: BBC News, The New York Times, IDC Data