Exposing FRAUD And DECEPTION In The Retro Video Game Market

Karl Jobst

AI-assisted summary of Exposing FRAUD And DECEPTION In The Retro Video Game Market — original source. Check the original for full context.

Source published: 2021-08-23

Key ideas

Karl Jobst argues that the multi-million-dollar explosion in retro video game prices between 2017 and 2021 was an artificially manufactured speculative bubble driven by collusion between grading firm Wata Games and Heritage Auctions. (0:00)
Wata Games and Heritage Auctions operate on fee structures tied to fair market valuations and auction hammer prices, establishing an inherent conflict of interest that financially incentivizes higher recorded sales. (5:47)
Insiders from Heritage and Wata participated directly in record-breaking purchases, such as the February 2019 sale of a Super Mario Bros. copy for $100,000, which were subsequently used to launch coordinated media and PR campaigns. (10:01)
The retro video game speculation closely mirrors the 1980s rare coin bubble, where third-party grading prompted institutional speculation, leading to an eventual market crash and an FTC consent order against Heritage leadership for overgrading. (39:02)

Detailed notes

## Background Published by investigative gaming commentator Karl Jobst on YouTube on August 23, 2021, this video documentary examines the unprecedented speculative bubble in the retro video game market. According to the video's description, the presentation sets out to expose who engineered the price explosion, who is profiting from the inflated valuations, and what reforms are necessary to fix the hobby.

## TL;DR Karl Jobst investigates the meteoric rise of vintage video game prices, tracing multi-million-dollar sales like the $2 million Super Mario Bros. cartridge to coordinated market manipulation rather than authentic collector demand. The documentary reveals deep conflicts of interest and close entanglements between grading firm Wata Games and Heritage Auctions, whose executives orchestrated insider record sales, launched aggressive media hype campaigns, and concealed executive affiliations while grading and auctioning their own inventory. Drawing direct parallels to the 1980s rare coin market crash and Heritage co-chairman Jim Halperin's 1989 FTC consent order for overgrading coins, Jobst documents arbitrary grading standards, shill bidding allegations, and withheld population reports that disguise artificial scarcity. Ultimately, Jobst and veteran collectors call for strict transparency, independent population tracking, and community pushback to prevent speculators from exploiting gaming history for financial gain.

## Atmosphere & style The presentation carries the intense, methodical gravity of a white-collar crime exposé, blending analytical financial scrutiny with genuine grassroots indignation. Jobst delivers his narrative with measured, serious conviction, methodically peeling back corporate filings, historical court records, and broadcast footage to reveal systemic industry collusion. As the investigation transitions from dry economic mechanics to the perversion of beloved gaming artifacts into cynical speculative gambling chips, the tone escalates into an impassioned, protective rallying cry for authentic video game preservation and community accountability.

## Bulletin - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=0s) Karl Jobst argues that the multi-million-dollar explosion in retro video game prices between 2017 and 2021 was an artificially manufactured speculative bubble driven by collusion between grading firm Wata Games and Heritage Auctions. - [05:47](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=347s) Wata Games and Heritage Auctions operate on fee structures tied to fair market valuations and auction hammer prices, establishing an inherent conflict of interest that financially incentivizes higher recorded sales. - [10:01](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=601s) Insiders from Heritage and Wata participated directly in record-breaking purchases, such as the February 2019 sale of a Super Mario Bros. copy for $100,000, which were subsequently used to launch coordinated media and PR campaigns. - [39:02](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=2342s) The retro video game speculation closely mirrors the 1980s rare coin bubble, where third-party grading prompted institutional speculation, leading to an eventual market crash and an FTC consent order against Heritage leadership for overgrading.

## Key takeaways - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=0s) Between 2017 and 2021, top-end sealed video game prices exploded by over 6,000%, driven by intentional market engineering rather than authentic organic collector demand. - [02:52](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=172s) Speculative bubbles rely on manufactured extrinsic value and require buyers who lack intrinsic interest in the underlying collectible. - [05:47](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=347s) Grading services charging sliding-scale fees based on declared market values and auction houses taking buyer premiums create severe conflicts of interest. - [07:59](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=479s) Wata Games and Heritage Auctions launched an exclusive partnership in 2019 to promote Wata-certified games before the grading firm had proven long-term grading reliability. - [10:01](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=601s) Heritage Auctions co-founder Jim Halperin personally co-purchased a $100,000 Super Mario Bros. copy, which Heritage and Wata then leveraged into extensive press coverage predicting million-dollar video games. - [12:40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=760s) Mainstream television and media outlets, including Pawn Stars and gaming news sites, acted as uncritical conduits for Wata and Heritage promotional valuations. - [15:28](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=928s) High-end game acquisitions have been dominated by fractional ownership investment platforms like Rally, Mythic Markets, and Otis rather than traditional collectors. - [18:41](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=1121s) Media profiles promoted novice speculators backed by investment LLCs as passionate collectors, obscuring purely profit-driven motives aiming for hundred-fold returns. - [22:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=1368s) Heritage Auctions has faced historical allegations of shill bidding, including sworn testimony regarding the use of pseudonyms to manipulate bidding records. - [24:34](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=1474s) Whistleblower accounts describe auction house insiders bidding up their own items at auction to artificially establish inflated public valuation benchmarks. - [28:13](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=1693s) Undisclosed Wata leadership ties to the 'Carolina Collection' revealed that high-ranking corporate insiders submitted and flipped slabbed games despite public denials. - [32:47](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=1967s) Subjective grading disparities create extreme price gaps for minor numerical differences, fostering speculative practices like the 'crack-out game.' - [36:10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=2170s) Wata co-founders accumulated massive stockpiles of sealed classic games at conventions prior to widespread public adoption of their grading service. - [39:02](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=2342s) The retro video game boom replicates the 1980s coin market bubble, which unraveled after encapsulation sparked Wall Street speculation and resulted in millions in investor restitution. - [40:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=2448s) In 1989, the FTC charged Jim Halperin, Steve Ivy, and Heritage affiliates with deceptive grading practices, concluding with a $1.2 million consumer redress settlement. - [45:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=2704s) Wata's refusal to publish population reports creates artificial scarcity, leaving buyers vulnerable to severe price collapses when surprise inventory enters the market. - [48:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=2884s) Speculative mania in high-end sealed software has spilled over into loose cartridge markets, prompting predatory pricing across casual retro game trading.

## Detailed walkthrough ### [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=0s) The Absurd Spike in Retro Video Game Prices

In 2017, the record for the most expensive video game ever sold was set at $30,000 for a mint-condition, factory-sealed copy of the original *Super Mario Bros.* Just four years later, in 2021, the record for the most expensive video game ever bought leaped to an astounding $2 million. That was not an entirely different rarity, but a sealed copy of the very same game—representing an increase of over 6,000% in a mere four-year span. Headlines began dominating the internet with tales of eye-watering sums, culminating in a sealed copy of *Super Mario 64* fetching $1.5 million. This kind of explosive growth is completely unprecedented in video game collecting. For decades, the hobby was a niche, grassroots space where collectors had little fame to gain and rarely possessed extreme wealth. Unlike the high-end traditional art world, where the ultra-wealthy publicly flaunt multimillion-dollar acquisitions, video game collecting was driven by passionate gamers and nerds scrounging whatever spare cash they could find to acquire cartridges as cheaply as possible. All one needed was passion and time, because retro games were simply never that expensive.

Everything changed with the launch of a company called Wata Games. Karl Jobst explains that this sudden price explosion was not an organic development, but the deliberate work of a select group of wealthy, powerful individuals pulling strings behind the scenes to enrich themselves. This is not an isolated phenomenon; the exact same speculative playbook has been executed across other collectible markets for nearly fifty years, frequently involving the exact same figures. Karl states: “This entire situation is fraught with unethical business practices, deception, collusion, and even fraud.”

- **2017 record:** $30,000 for a mint-condition, sealed *Super Mario Bros.* - **2021 record:** $2,000,000 for the same title, reflecting a >6,000% surge in four years. - **Mid-2021 headline:** $1,500,000 paid for a sealed copy of *Super Mario 64*.

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[02:52](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=172s) Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Value and Tulip Mania

Understanding how this market scheme functions requires grasping the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic properties, and how they dictate perceived value. Intrinsic properties exist within the physical object itself—in the case of a painting, that means the physical canvas, the chemical composition of the oil paint, and the visual image formed on the surface. Extrinsic properties, by contrast, represent the object’s relationship to the outside world: who created it, when and under what circumstances it was made, historical context, and cultural demand. Extrinsic qualities are what generate astronomical price tags in collectibles. An identical reproduction of a Vincent van Gogh painting produced by a robotic arm might visually and materially match an original hanging in a gallery, but it would only be worth the raw cost of paint and canvas. Human psychology attaches immense value to extrinsic narratives, leading people to spend millions on historical provenance and rarity.

Karl draws a direct comparison between today's video game explosion and the famous 17th-century Dutch "Tulip Mania" during the Dutch Golden Age. Originally prized as luxury display items for their vibrant, exotic colors, tulip bulbs steadily rose in value until speculators entered the scene. Speculation occurs when someone purchases an asset not out of personal need or utility, but strictly in the hope that rising prices will yield a lucrative resale down the road. Speculator demand fueled a self-reinforcing positive feedback loop that pushed prices higher, drawing in even more buyers terrified of missing out. Karl points out the two defining rules of all speculative bubbles: buyers have no intrinsic interest in the underlying good, and the inflation is fundamentally unsustainable, culminating in a brutal market crash that leaves final holders holding worthless assets. Crucially, Karl stresses that the current video game bubble is no accident: “You see, if you know how speculative bubbles work, you can theoretically create them at will.”

```mermaid flowchart TD accTitle: The Speculative Feedback Loop accDescr: A cyclical flowchart illustrating how speculative buying feeds on itself until the bubble collapses. subgraph BubbleLoop["The Speculative Bubble Loop"] A["Artificial or Early Price Increase"] --> B["Speculators Enter to Flip for Profit"] B --> C["Demand Surges & Drives Prices Higher"] C --> D["FOMO Sparks Mainstream Speculator Rush"] D --> B end D -->|"Unsustainable momentum"| E["Demand Peaks & Buyers Vanish"] E --> F["Crash: Last Buyers Left Holding the Bag"] ```

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[05:47](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=347s) The Real Beneficiaries: Grading Companies and Auction Houses

While buying early and flipping late is the obvious route to profiting from a bubble, far greater sums with far lower risk are harvested by institutional middlemen: grading companies and auction houses. A grading company acts as a third-party quality-assurance service, inspecting physical video games, certifying their authenticity, assessing their preservation state, and encasing them in tamper-evident plastic slabs with numerical scores. This standardization removes subjective friction, streamlining rapid-fire transactions. Grading houses do not merely collect flat service fees; their pricing models often scale as a direct percentage of the declared fair market value of the submitted item. Grading a game valued at $10,000 might set a submitter back $400, but having that exact same game graded when valued at $1,000,000 can cost upward of $20,000.

The biggest winners, however, are the auction houses. Heritage Auctions, the epicenter of the headline-shattering video game sales, charges a mandatory 20% buyer's premium on every hammer price. A collector winning a lot for $1,000,000 must hand over an extra $200,000 directly to Heritage, while the house also skims an additional 5% commission from the seller. This financial architecture gives auction houses and grading companies an overwhelming incentive to inflate game valuations as high as possible. Karl emphasizes why this poses a severe ethical hazard: “They have a huge conflict of interest, and whenever you see a grading company or an auction house talking about how valuable games are, you know it's because they want to drive prices up.”

- **Grading company fees:** Scale with asset valuation (e.g., ~$400 for a $10,000 game versus >$20,000 for a $1,000,000 item). - **Heritage Auctions fee structure:** - 20% buyer's premium added to the hammer price. - 5% seller's commission deducted from the payout. - Total auction house fee capture on a $1,000,000 transaction: ~$250,000.

---

[07:59](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=479s) The Entangled Launch of Wata Games and Heritage Auctions

The apparatus driving this speculative wave centers around two specific entities: Wata Games and Heritage Auctions. Wata was founded in 2017 and publicly launched its grading operations in April 2018 under President and CEO Deniz Kahn. Wata's encapsulation and numerical condition grading serve as the primary justification cited by buyers and media for the astronomical sale prices. Video game grading itself was not new; the Video Game Authority (VGA) had been slabbing and grading retro games since 2008 without ever distorting the broader market into a speculative frenzy. Unlike VGA, Wata aggressively engineered an artificial boom.

The auction platform facilitating these sales is Heritage Auctions, established in 1976 by Steve Ivy and Jim Halperin. While Ivy plays little role in this unfolding saga, Jim Halperin is an essential figure. Heritage built an empire auctioning high-end collectibles such as rare coins, comic books, and fine art, before introducing a dedicated retro video game department in 2019. From day one, Heritage restricted its game auctions exclusively to copies certified by Wata Games. Remarkably, this alliance predates Wata's actual operational record. When Wata first launched its public website, its "Dealer Spotlight" section already advertised that Wata-certified games would be featured in Heritage's online auctions. Karl points out the glaring absurdity of an elite auction house staking its credibility on an untested startup: “The entire point of certification is to guarantee authenticity and quality, but a guarantee is worthless if you haven't established a history of accurate work.”

[10:01](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=601s) The Unholy Alliance: Heritage Auctions, Wata Games, and Just Press Play

Karl Jobst questions why an established, prestigious institution like Heritage Auctions would agree to sell games authenticated by Wata Games—a completely unproven company that had not graded a single video game before partnering with them. A trusted entity like Video Game Authority (VGA) had already been in the business for ten years. The only reasonable explanation, Jobst argues, is that Heritage Auctions was directly involved in Wata's inception and knew the startup was aligned with its financial ambitions. That intimate connection was not even hidden: Jim Halperin, the co-founder and co-chairman of Heritage Auctions, was openly listed on Wata's website as an official advisor. Another founding partner was Just Press Play, a used video game retailer run by Zac Gieg, which also immediately pledged to retail Wata-certified titles.

Building a speculative bubble requires spreading information rapidly to entice new capital and convince onlookers that an explosive market is emerging. To achieve this, the actors behind the bubble staged headline-grabbing transactions. In February 2019, a copy of *Super Mario Bros.* sold for an unprecedented $100,000. Prior to that transaction, the highest price ever fetched by a video game was roughly $30,000. The true nature of this record sale becomes obvious once the buyers' identities are examined: it was jointly purchased by three insiders—Jim Halperin (co-founder of Heritage Auctions), Zac Gieg (owner of Just Press Play), and Richard Lecce, a prominent coin and video game collector.

Immediately after the sale, Heritage Auctions issued an official press release to maximize media coverage. The acquisition was never about preserving history; it was purely an advertising stunt. In that very press release, Halperin floated the idea that this copy might be consigned to a future auction. Dennis Kahn, CEO of Wata Games, also provided a quote designed to push the narrative: “Wata-certified video games have been selling for record prices ever since Heritage began auctioning them in January. While many video games sell regularly for five figures, breaking the six-figure mark shows that the hobby's upward trajectory indicates no signs of slowing down.”

```mermaid flowchart TD accTitle: The Wata and Heritage Speculative Loop accDescr: Diagram showing how Heritage Auctions, Wata Games, and insider buyers coordinate record purchases, press coverage, and resale hyping.

subgraph Insiders["The Insiders"] JH["Jim Halperin (Heritage Auctions)"] ZG["Zac Gieg (Just Press Play)"] RL["Richard Lecce (Major Collector)"] DK["Dennis Kahn (Wata Games CEO)"] end

subgraph TheStunt["Coordinated Sale & PR"] SALE["February 2019 Record Purchase: Super Mario Bros. for $100,000"] PR["Heritage Auctions Press Release & Mainstream Media Echo"] end

subgraph Speculation["Hype Machine"] TV["TV & Press Spots (Pawn Stars, Ars Technica, Kotaku)"] PUMP["Forecasts of $1M+ Games to Fuel Speculative Bubble"] end

- Halperin, Gieg, and Lecce paid $100,000 for the *Super Mario Bros.* cartridge in February 2019, eclipsing the prior all-time high of $30,000. - Heritage Auctions generated widespread press coverage from a transaction funded in part by its own chairman. - Jobst sums up the shameless circular nature of the scheme: “So what you have here is the chairman of the auction house buying a game for a record price and then creating a press release about his own purchase in which himself and the president of the grading company are stating that the value of games is going up.”

---

[12:40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=760s) Dennis Kahn’s Media Campaign and TV Appraisals

The promotional blueprint succeeded, triggering a wave of articles from outlets like Kotaku and Ars Technica. Across every feature, Dennis Kahn aggressively pushed the idea that game values were destined to skyrocket. In Kotaku, Kahn boldly projected: “I've always said video games are going to go the way of comics or cars or coins. It's only a matter of time until a video game sells for a million dollars.” Halperin chimed in similarly in Ars Technica, declaring, “There are bets on what will someday be the first million dollar game, and many collectors believe that this will be the one.” Jobst expresses disbelief that mainstream reporters routinely allowed the owner of an item to openly hype its valuation to ten times what he had just paid without any skepticism.

To broaden their reach, the group brought the graded $100,000 *Super Mario Bros.* onto the reality TV show *Pawn Stars*, boldly declaring it was worth $1,000,000. The appearance served as prime marketing to establish Wata as the supreme grading authority despite its lack of track record compared to VGA. Kahn himself appeared on *Pawn Stars* repeatedly as an expert appraiser, evaluating games at astronomical figures—including asserting that items were worth triple their recent purchase prices. Although seasoned collectors saw through the scheme and criticized Kahn for using his platform to manipulate prices, he persisted unabated. He kept drumming up the speculation narrative all the way through the $1.5 million sale of *Super Mario 64* in July 2021, telling *The Verge*: “I think that we are going to continue to see record-breaking sales.”

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[15:28](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=928s) Who Is Really Buying? Fractional Shares and Market Flippers

Jobst contrasts genuine video game collecting—where hobbyists gladly display their libraries on YouTube—with the secretive atmosphere surrounding modern record-breaking sales. Heritage Auctions conceals the true buyers behind non-disclosure policies and refuses to verify whether funds actually cleared. However, regulatory filings reveal the real buyers: investment firms rather than nostalgic gamers. While looking into Kahn appraising a copy of *Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!* at $80,000 on *Pawn Stars*, Jobst tracked down an SEC purchase agreement showing that the seller, Brian, sold that exact cartridge for $80,000 to RSE Archive LLC, the entity operating as Rally.

Rally, along with Mythic Markets and Otis, represents a wave of fractional ownership apps that launched alongside Wata. These platforms acquire high-end assets and sell speculative equity shares to users hoping to flip their micro-stakes for quick cash. SEC filings confirm these fractional platforms purchased substantial inventory directly through Heritage:

- Rally purchased a copy of *Super Mario Bros.* for $140,000 in 2020 (the very same cartridge that was later resold for $2,000,000 in August 2021). - Rally bought *GoldenEye 007* for $22,800, *Grand Theft Auto* for $13,200, and *Donkey Kong* for $38,400 from Heritage. - Mythic Markets acquired a graded copy of *Metroid* for $46,800. - Otis purchased *Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!* for $130,000, *Pokémon Yellow* for $78,000, and *Golf* for $18,000. - Speculators also bought high-ticket items at Heritage simply to relist them on eBay at absurd markups, such as an $84,000 copy of *Super Mario Bros.* posted with a $1.5 million asking price.

As Jobst summarizes the reality behind the bidding wars: “I haven't heard of a single legitimate collector buying any of these expensive games. It's entirely speculation purely for profit.”

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[18:41](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=1121s) The Myth of the "Avid Collector": Eric Naierman

To manufacture the illusion that passionate video game collectors were fueling these price surges, promoters turned to figures like Eric Naierman. In 2019, *The Washington Post* published a widely syndicated profile celebrating Naierman, a dentist, for supposedly dropping over $1 million on vintage video games and framing him as one of the world's preeminent collectors.

Jobst dismantles this narrative as complete fiction. Naierman had only begun buying games in 2019, entering the hobby right as the bubble started inflating. Furthermore, Naierman was not spending his own personal fortune; he was merely the frontman deploying capital pooled from a syndicate of outside investors. Behind the scenes, familiar figures reappeared to stoke the hype: Dennis Kahn offered quotes magnifying the market's potential, and Heritage Auctions promoted the soaring valuations, all while Naierman leveraged the media spotlight to push the narrative of games as explosive financial instruments.

[19:50](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=1190s) The Manufactured Bubble and Eric Naierman's Speculative Play

The mainstream press, including outlets such as *The Washington Post*, has presented collector Eric Naierman as an organic pioneer at the leading edge of retro video game collecting, ignoring the fact that he only entered the scene in 2019. Reports falsely framed his massive multi-game acquisition as an individual purchase, obscuring the reality that the capital originated from a speculative investment partnership. Alongside Wata Games and Heritage Auctions executives, who routinely appear in print to offer glowing assessments of the market, this coverage functions far less as objective reporting and far more as coordinated promotion. As Karl Jobst bluntly frames the dynamic: “It's because this is not news, it's propaganda.” Naierman serves as a high-profile spokesperson whose financial incentive requires the public to believe that video games are legitimate multi-million-dollar assets before he cashes out.

Naierman openly acknowledged his speculative ambitions and investment thesis in a podcast interview. After discovering vintage video games listed on Heritage Auctions, he viewed the nascent sector through the same lens as the modern NFT boom and sports card markets. Seeing how high-end trading cards like Mike Trout modern issues had exploded, he realized video games were completely unmined by comparison and could offer 100x returns out of the gate. Naierman explained his drive as wanting a speculative “time machine,” comparing it to watching prominent card collectors on Instagram:

> “And then when I like when it played through in my head I'm like oh my god this is like so much better than cards and my for me I mean also it's a new and emerging market like you guys are having an NFTs. It's that excitement of like wow if this even catches up a quarter of to where cards have gone you know we could we could see 100x returns just at the beginning you know because it was so new. But as a as a collectible investment this was like everything that I was I saw on a Mike Trout card but like to the max on steroids. And for me it was a time machine.” — Eric Naierman

Acting on that instinct, Naierman organized an LLC, drafted a formal business plan, and raised capital directly from affluent friends and neighbors. While acknowledging the high-risk nature of the wager, his backers handed over sums such as $15,000 on the grounds that he was passionate and the loss would not break them. Early results showed immediate paper gains:

> “Well to show even on Heritage Auctions eBay auctions, look, we already what we spent appreciated 20 to 30 percent, this is working, I'm gonna get out there and I'm gonna I'm gonna help make the market, I'm gonna let people know about this, I'm forming a market around something that I feel that is severely underappreciated, so that's what I was doing.” — Eric Naierman

Jobst emphasizes that this capital wave is not driven by hobbyist passion: “My point is that it's not collectors that are buying any of these games, it's purely people with a lot of money trying to scam other people out of theirs by manufacturing a bubble that otherwise shouldn't exist.”

- Naierman treats vintage video games as an emerging alternative asset class alongside modern NFTs and high-end sports cards. - The investment vehicle was established as a formal LLC with outside capital from wealthy associates rather than personal hobbyist funds. - Rapid 20% to 30% jumps on initial eBay and Heritage purchases were leveraged to justify aggressive marketing and media appearances to push asset valuations upward.

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[22:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=1368s) The Mechanics of Shill Bidding and Heritage Auctions' Legal Past

While misleading public relations campaigns help create hype, the auction mechanism itself relies on an even more destructive tactic to artificially ratchet up price records: shill bidding. In any competitive auction, pricing power is strictly dictated by the presence of multiple active bidders driving bids back and forth. Shill bidding subverts this process by inserting fraudulent bids into the auction to inflate final realized hammer prices. Often orchestrated in collusion with consignors who want maximum payout, a third party continually bumps the price upward until reaching a predetermined reserve or target figure, deliberately stepping aside at the last second to leave an authentic buyer holding the bill.

Crucially, this incentive structure is not limited to dishonest sellers; auction houses reap massive collateral rewards from elevated hammer totals. Higher closing prices yield higher buyer's premiums and simultaneously signal to prospective consignors that this specific platform commands the top market prices in the world. Heritage Auctions has faced direct legal scrutiny over this exact practice. In 2008, former employee Gary Hendershott filed a lawsuit accusing Heritage Auctions of utilizing a shill bidder operating under the pseudonym "N.P. Gresham" to systematically push hammer prices higher.

While the lawsuit ultimately concluded with an out-of-court settlement, sworn proceedings produced troubling inconsistencies regarding Heritage leadership. Heritage Auctions co-founder and co-chair Jim Halperin—who was also part of the small buyer syndicate that purchased the record-breaking $100,150 copy of *Super Mario Bros.*—was caught lying under oath. Halperin initially asserted under sworn testimony that the bidder "N.P. Gresham" was completely fictitious and did not exist, only to later reverse his testimony and admit under scrutiny that the identity was real.

```mermaid flowchart TD accTitle: Shill Bidding Feedback Loop accDescr: Diagram illustrating how shill bidding inflates prices and attracts future consignments to an auction house.

subgraph Auction_Fraud ["Manipulated Auction Event"] A["Legitimate Buyer Place Bids"] --> B["Shill Bidder / Insider Enters Fake Bids"] B --> C["Hammer Price Driven to Record Level"] end

subgraph Market_Consequences ["Ecosystem Impact"] C --> D["Higher Commission & Premium for Auction House"] C --> E["Media Outlets Broadcast Record Sales"] E --> F["New Sellers Consign Items Exclusively to Platform"] F --> A end ```

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[24:34](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=1474s) Insider Whistleblowing: David Wilson and Jim Halperin's Playbook

The legal allegations from the 2008 lawsuit do not stand alone. While conducting investigative research into the space, Jobst conferred with prominent retro gaming archivist Pat Contri ("Pat the NES Punk"), who connected him with David Wilson, the founder and operator of the YouTube channel *Comic Book Investments* and the business Collector's Comics. Wilson's father was an elite comic book dealer during the 1980s and 1990s who shared a personal friendship with Jim Halperin spanning decades. That relationship led to his father taking a position inside Heritage Auctions as a professional comic book grader for roughly two years.

During his tenure at Heritage, Wilson's father observed the internal mechanics of how top executive collections moved through the house and shared those direct observations with his son. Halperin, who maintains one of the largest and most valuable comic book collections in the world, was alleged to have systematically used Heritage's own auction floor to artificially mark up the value of items he owned:

> “And he told me, he's like, yeah, so they're manipulating the market. And my dad gave me an example: Jim is one of the biggest comic collectors in the world, he has one of the biggest collections in the world, just huge. And what Jim does, and this is what my dad said, he would take a comic book, let's say he would take this book, right, he put in his collection, and like three four years later he'd throw it up on Heritage, and then he would manipulate the price by bidding it up. So say he bought the book for three grand forever ago, he throws it in a Heritage auction and then he bid it up to say like five grand, six grand, buy it from himself basically. He bids it up and then he sticks it away back in his collection. And then every couple years later, three, four, five years later, whatever, makes its way back into the Heritage auction, does it again. And what that does is it stimulates the market by pushing it up, propping it up higher than it is to show like, hey, there's been a sale of this comic book or video game for this price, so that means it must be worth that much.” — David Wilson

By repurchasing his own items through his own platform at higher price points, Halperin effectively created concrete sales records that permanently recalculated the established market value across the entire collectible category:

> “And that's, I, that's kind of like what I'm feeling that they're doing with video games, they're propping them up like super high, higher than they should be, to create a market, manipulate the market into thinking that these video games are actually worth this much because they have sales data to prove it.” — David Wilson

- When an asset sells at an inflated benchmark, every surviving copy of that item, as well as related releases across the category, sees its perceived retail appraisal surge. - Unprecedented closing prices generate free viral press coverage across major digital news publications, cementing Heritage as the primary market maker. - The extreme opacity of anonymous telephone and internet bidders shields the auction house from scrutiny, leaving the public unable to confirm whether recent milestones—such as Rally's headline-grabbing $2,000,000 *Super Mario Bros.* transaction—represent genuine arms-length deals or internal price propping.

---

[28:13](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=1693s) The Conflict of Interest at Wata Games

The structural issues uncovered at Heritage Auctions mirror equally problematic arrangements inside Wata Games. While manipulating an auction house involves phantom bidding or buying out one's own consignments, exploiting a grading firm centers on certifying items owned by the company's own leadership. If grading house officers grade their own submissions, an immediate structural conflict arises: their incentive is to award high numerical grades that drastically amplify the real-world cash value of their personal inventories.

Wata leadership has recognized this moral hazard publicly. In a statement given to *The New York Times*, Wata Games president Deniz Kahn explicitly laid out the company's stated ethics policy, affirming that employees are strictly forbidden from having their personal games certified by the firm or selling games that have been graded by Wata:

> “Wata employees are not allowed to have games graded by the company or sell those that were.” — Karl Jobst, quoting Deniz Kahn from *The New York Times*

Jobst underlines that while this restriction is an essential prerequisite for any reputable grading service, its integrity depends entirely on whether leadership enforces it. He transitions immediately to a major 2019 private exchange between two prominent figures in the collecting sphere. The first party in this transaction was Dain Anderson, the founder of NintendoAge—which, prior to its acquisition, served as the central home for retro gaming enthusiasts, hosting the single most comprehensive archival database of software variants and release details in the hobby.

[29:20](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=1760s) The Carolina Collection, Jeff Meyer, and Wata’s Secret Ties

Dain Anderson possessed one of the largest assortments of sealed Nintendo games in existence and operated NintendoAge, the premier community database and price reference for retro video games. In 2019, Anderson sold his entire collection to Jeff Meyer, the founder and CEO of the comic book price guide GoCollect. The acquisition was monumental—one of the largest transactions in hobby history. Wata Games marked the occasion by christening it the "Carolina Collection," a pedigree label reflecting that both Anderson and Meyer hailed from the Carolinas. Wata encapsulated the games with this exclusive title printed directly onto the grading labels. Meyer promptly flipped these newly slabbed titles through Heritage Auctions, generating over $500,000 from the first auction alone.

```mermaid flowchart TD accTitle: The Carolina Collection Transaction Flow accDescr: Diagram illustrating how Dain Anderson sold games to Jeff Meyer, who had them graded by Wata with pedigree labels and flipped them through Heritage Auctions. subgraph Origin["Foundational Deal"] A["Dain Anderson (Wata Exec Officer 2017)"] -->|"Sells massive sealed collection"| B["Jeff Meyer (Wata Director / GoCollect CEO)"] end subgraph Processing["Grading & Labeling"] B -->|"Submits inventory"| C["Wata Games"] C -->|"Applies pedigree 'Carolina Collection' label"| D["Specially Graded Inventory"] end subgraph Liquidation["Market Flipping"] D -->|"Consigns to auction"| E["Heritage Auctions"] E -->|"Yields $500,000+ return"| B end ```

The deeper issue lies in corporate disclosure: Jeff Meyer was not an ordinary client, but a director of Wata Games according to the company’s own SEC regulatory filings. While Wata president Deniz Kahn publicly asserted that employees were barred from grading and selling company-slabbed items, a sitting director had his personal holdings graded, distinguished with unique prestige labeling, and liquidated through affiliated auction channels for massive profits. Meyer’s ties were never disclosed to buyers. To make matters worse, Meyer purchased NintendoAge and immediately shut it down, while simultaneously buying Game Value Now, effectively consolidating and controlling access to historical video game pricing data. Meyer maintained this opacity online, discussing Wata in the third person in GoCollect blog posts by praising his “great relationships with the awesome folks at Wata Games.” Furthermore, Dain Anderson was Wata's original executive officer upon its incorporation in 2017, meaning the entire blockbuster deal unfolded between two insiders directly tied to Wata.

- Jeff Meyer: Founder/CEO of GoCollect and an undisclosed director of Wata Games. - Dain Anderson: Founder of NintendoAge and executive officer of Wata Games at its 2017 incorporation. - First auction yield: Over $500,000 realized on Heritage Auctions from the Carolina Collection run. - Data control: Meyer acquired and shuttered NintendoAge, followed by the purchase of Game Value Now. - As Karl Jobst points out regarding Kahn's double standard: “Dennis Khan obviously knows who the directors of his company are so it really makes you think when he blogs about the carolina collection on the water games website but fails to disclose that the purchaser of the collection is a director and it forces you to think even harder when you realize that at the very same time he is telling the new york times that employees cannot grade or sell water graded games.”

---

[32:47](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=1967s) The Subjectivity of Grading: From $1.5M Mario to Broken Seals

The incentive to self-grade and control inventory stems from the exponential pricing power tied to fractional grade increases. A pristine copy of *Super Mario 64* graded 9.8 A++ by Wata shattered records at Heritage Auctions when it hammered for $1.5 million. On that very same auction day, another copy of *Super Mario 64* carrying an 8.5 rating fetched just $31,000—a nearly 5,000% difference attributable almost entirely to a numerical rating. Because hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars ride on fractional discrepancies, buyers rely on the assumption of absolute objectivity. Yet collectible grading remains an inherently subjective human appraisal prone to wild variance.

This human inconsistency drives the widespread practice of "re-grading" or the "crack-out game." Speculators who receive an unsatisfactory score frequently pry open the plastic slab and resubmit the item, betting that another grader will assign a higher number that exponentially inflates the market value. Shawn from Reserved Investments highlighted this exact dynamic in comic grading: “You have a lot of people playing what I call the crack out game meaning they get a comic book back and it comes back CGC 9.6, they think it should be a 9.8, so they crack that baby open and they keep sending it back to CGC hoping that at some point that grader is either going to slip up or that grader is going to get that book and go, 'Hey you know what, this is a 9.8.'” Shawn cautioned that market participants routinely fall prey to this illusion: “The average collector, the average speculator and the average investor out there is overvaluing a lot of these items based on the grade not realizing that in certain instances the grade is arbitrary, it is an estimation, it is not an exact science.”

Wata's internal inconsistencies can be seen without cracking cases. A copy of *Tomb Raider* for the Sega Saturn recently commanded $12,000 at Heritage Auctions bearing a Wata grade of 9.8 A+. Inspection of the physical item contradicted Wata’s own published standards: - The plastic wrap exhibited multiple large tears; Wata's explicit guidelines mandate that an A+ seal must contain no holes whatsoever. - The wrap displayed numerous smaller punctures, heavy scuffs, and stains that looked visibly disgusting, falling well short of standard B-grade examples. - Despite flagrant physical defects, the game received top-tier grades, demonstrating that the metrics justifying million-dollar market valuations are fundamentally unreliable.

---

[36:10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=2170s) Insider Accumulation and the 1980s Coin Market Parallel

If someone possesses foreknowledge of an impending speculative surge, the obvious economic play is to hoover up relevant inventory before prices skyrocket. Mark Haspel, a co-founder and chief advisor of Wata Games with decades of history in comics but none in gaming, began aggressively accumulating sealed software right around Wata’s 2017 inception. Haspel traveled to retro expos, deliberately targeting iconic, high-demand NES franchises—such as *Super Mario Bros.*, *Metroid*, *Mega Man*, *Castlevania*, and *The Legend of Zelda*—the very titles that later produced multimillion-dollar auction records. One collector documented that Haspel bought sealed six-packs of games a full year before Wata launched its public operations.

Content creator Pat the NES Punk shared a firsthand account of seeing Haspel hunting games on expo floors: “In June 2019 I was a guest at a gaming convention, the weekend of the event I noticed a small group of individuals who were hurriedly acquiring sealed and complete in box games from vendors, at one point I witnessed an individual who I later learned to be Mark Haspel returning to the Wata expo booth while holding a stack of NES games, I did find it a little strange but was unaware of any affiliation that person may have had with Wata so I didn't think much of it at the time.” While private collecting is legal and personal motives are difficult to prove in court, the pattern indicates that key insiders accumulated blue-chip inventory ahead of an explosive run they helped engineer.

```mermaid flowchart LR accTitle: The Slabbing Bubble Precedent accDescr: Comparison showing how third-party slabbing caused the 1980s coin bubble and is now mirrored in retro video games. subgraph Historic["1980s Coin Market"] C1["Uncertified Coins"] --> C2["PCGS Slabbing & Plastic Holders"] C2 --> C3["Speculative Bubble & PCGS 3000 Spike"] C3 --> C4["Market Crash (Unrecovered 30 Years Later)"] end subgraph Present["Modern Video Game Market"] G1["Raw Retro Games"] --> G2["Wata Encapsulation & Certification"] G2 --> G3["Record Heritage Auction Sales"] G3 -.-> G4["Potential Collapse"] end ```

This dynamic mirrors historical market manias, notably the 1980s coin collecting bubble. Tracking services like the PCGS 3000 Index—a numismatic equivalent of the Dow Jones—record a parabolic price spike during the late 1980s, followed by an aggressive collapse from which prices have failed to recover three decades later, even before adjusting for inflation. Historical analysis reveals the catalyst was not organic demand, but the advent of third-party encapsulation ("slabbing"), where raw items were sealed in plastic holders and stamped with subjective grades by third-party evaluators.

[39:02](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=2342s) The 1980s Coin Market Bubble and the Mechanics of Speculation

Around the mid-1980s, the formation of third-party grading services like PCGS (Professional Coin Grading Service) and NGC (Numismatic Guaranty Corporation) revolutionized numismatics almost overnight. An *Antique Trader* article notes that dealers, collectors, and investors suddenly felt comfortable buying and selling slabbed coins sight unseen because of the widespread trust placed in these grading numbers. This dynamic directly mirrors what is unfolding in retro video games: when standardized encapsulation makes purchasing effortless and seemingly risk-free, trading volume surges, prices climb, and mainstream investors take notice. Wall Street soon took the mania to another level, with major firms like Kidder, Peabody & Co., Merrill Lynch, and UBS establishing dedicated coin hedge funds to channel investor capital into rare coins, inflating the speculative bubble even further.

```mermaid flowchart TD accTitle: The Mechanics of the Coin Speculative Bubble accDescr: A flowchart illustrating the rise and eventual collapse of the 1980s coin market bubble.

subgraph Rise ["Bubble Formation"] A["Standardized Slab Grading (PCGS & NGC)"] --> B["Sight-Unseen Trading & Surging Confidence"] B --> C["Hedge Funds Enter (Merrill Lynch, Kidder Peabody)"] end

subgraph Fall ["Bubble Collapse"] C --> D["Market Reaches Peak"] D --> E["Speculators Rush to Liquidate"] E --> F["Market Flooded with No Buyers"] F --> G["Price Collapse & Massive Lawsuits"] end ```

Every speculative mania ultimately collapses because prices cannot climb indefinitely. Speculative buyers hold no emotional attachment to the underlying items; their sole motive is profit, meaning that at the first whiff of a market peak, they stampede for the exits to liquidate inventory before their capital evaporates. The market suddenly becomes inundated with supply, yet new buyers vanish, destroying valuations and leaving late-coming participants holding worthless assets. The bursting of the 1980s coin bubble triggered extensive fallout, leaving hedge funds buried in legal actions from ruined clients. Merrill Lynch alone was forced to pay out more than $20 million in restitution to its burned investors, prompting the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to step in and investigate the root causes of the disaster.

- Major Wall Street firms including Kidder, Peabody & Co., Merrill Lynch, and UBS established dedicated rare coin funds. - Speculators who buy purely for capital appreciation inevitably flood the market during downturns because they have no desire to keep the physical items. - Merrill Lynch paid back over $20 million to settle lawsuits arising from its collapsed coin investment fund.

---

[40:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=2448s) Jim Halperin, Heritage Auctions, and the FTC's 1989 Consent Order

The prevailing industry narrative often credits PCGS and NGC as the pioneers of third-party coin grading, but the very first was actually the Numismatic Certification Institute (NCI), established in 1984. Following an inquiry, the FTC determined that NCI systematically misled consumers regarding coin grading and values. A 1989 *Los Angeles Times* article covering the scandal highlighted a dilemma that remains acutely relevant decades later: while rarity is straightforward to verify, grading is inherently subjective. When an ostensibly impartial service overgrades a coin, it artificially inflates its perceived market price. The FTC ruled that systematic overgrading constituted a deceptive and unfair business practice under the FTC Act of 1914, penalizing two Texas corporations—Heritage Capital Corporation and NCI—along with their principals, Steve Ivy and James L. Halperin.

Under a 1989 consent order, Heritage and NCI were compelled to establish a $1.2 million redress fund for consumers who had bought NCI-graded coins through Certified Rare Coin Galleries (CRCG) of Miami. According to the FTC’s 1989 Annual Report, NCI, Ivy, and Halperin settled charges that their grading representations and omissions misled customers about coin values. Concurrently, affiliate Heritage Capital Corporation settled charges of aiding and abetting CRCG while knowing the retailer misrepresented the financial safety and profit potential of rare coins. Halperin’s numismatic influence ran deep: in 1985 he authored *How to Grade U.S. Coins*, a foundational text that directly informed the grading criteria later adopted by PCGS and NGC. Because Halperin helped design the grading philosophy behind the very companies blamed for the 1980s mania, an overwhelming historical case ties him directly to that collapse.

Karl Jobst argues that this historical precedent destroys any defense of innocence or lack of awareness:

> “As I’ve said before, it’s impossible to prove intent, but one thing you can certainly disprove is ignorance.”

Halperin experienced the mechanics of a grading-fueled collectible bubble firsthand and paid a seven-figure penalty for his involvement. Today, Halperin is an advisor and rumored investor in Wata Games, serves as co-chairman of Heritage Auctions (where these games hammer for record-breaking figures), and personally bought the $100,150 *Super Mario Bros.* copy that kicked off the current run. As Jobst observes, having the exact same figure entangled in every component of the ecosystem four decades later strains credibility beyond mere coincidence.

- The Numismatic Certification Institute (NCI) was established in 1984 as the first third-party coin grading company. - Steve Ivy, James L. Halperin, Heritage Capital Corporation, and NCI were charged by the FTC with deceptive practices related to coin overgrading. - Heritage and NCI signed a consent order contributing $1.2 million to reimburse defrauded buyers who purchased coins through Certified Rare Coin Galleries. - In 1985, Jim Halperin authored *How to Grade U.S. Coins*, which shaped the standards used by PCGS and NGC.

---

[45:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=2704s) Artificial Scarcity, Missing Population Reports, and the Atari Spider-Man Crash

The retro video game bubble faces severe vulnerabilities that could hasten an eventual collapse, foremost among them being the intentional absence of population reports. In every mature collecting hobby, certified grading authorities publish detailed population data outlining the exact quantity of an item authenticated along with their grade distributions. For instance, a comic collector can consult the Certified Guaranty Company (CGC) census to see precisely how many high-grade copies of *Action Comics* #1 exist before risking capital. Wata Games, however, suppresses this data, keeping the actual census hidden from buyers. This opacity creates an artificial perception of scarcity, leaving purchasers completely blind to true market supply.

```mermaid flowchart LR accTitle: The Atari 2600 Spider-Man Market Crash accDescr: Timeline demonstrating the collapse of Atari 2600 Spider-Man values once supply flooded Heritage Auctions.

subgraph May2020 ["May 2020"] A["First Wata 9.8 A++ Listed Perceived Rare"] --> B["Sells for $9,000"] end

subgraph Flood ["Supply Discovered"] B --> C["Market Flooded with 9.8 A++ Copies"] end

subgraph April2021 ["April 2021"] C --> D["Wata 9.8 A++ Sells for $870"] D --> E["Over 90% Price Collapse in Under One Year"] end ```

When real supply finally leaks out, prices inevitably crater, as demonstrated by *Spider-Man* for the Atari 2600. In May 2020, Heritage Auctions sold the first Wata-certified 9.8 A++ sealed copy for an astounding $9,000 under the assumption that a flawless, forty-year-old cartridge was extraordinarily scarce. Yet sealed copies of *Spider-Man* were never actually rare. Once that benchmark was set, Heritage was flooded with identical 9.8 A++ copies, causing market values to erode with each subsequent sale. By April 2021, an identical 9.8 A++ copy hammered for a mere $870—representing an astonishing price decline of more than 90 percent in under twelve months. Wata and Heritage withhold population reports precisely to avoid this inventory realization across more prominent titles. Jobst laments that everyday collectors lack the platform to combat this manipulation, while mainstream media outlets uncritically echo corporate press releases rather than addressing the glaring structural conflicts of interest.

- Population reports allow collectors to verify true rarity by seeing how many copies of an item exist at every grade tier. - Wata Games does not publish population reports, hiding overall submission and grade census numbers from the public. - An Atari 2600 *Spider-Man* graded Wata 9.8 A++ dropped from a $9,000 sale in May 2020 down to $870 in April 2021. - Mainstream gaming journalists repeatedly take soundbites from Wata and Heritage at face value without consulting veteran retro collectors.

---

[48:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=2884s) Longtime Collectors Speak Out: Pat the NES Punk on Market Exploitation

To contrast corporate marketing narratives with the perspective of the collecting grassroots, Jobst interviews veteran enthusiasts who have tracked the scene for decades. Longtime YouTuber, podcaster, and NES collector Pat Contri (known online as "Pat the NES Punk"), who has actively preserved and documented retro gaming since the late 1990s, shares his dismay over the speculative takeover of the hobby. Contri expresses heartbreak that decades of authentic community building, scholarship, and historic preservation by hobbyists, store owners, and forum researchers have been co-opted and distorted by an insulated circle of wealthy operators seeking financial windfalls.

Pat Contri condemns the current state of the sealed market:

> “The unfortunate end result is that this hobby that we all love has been perverted, it’s been twisted to the ends of a small group of people to line their pockets.”

Contri points out that the real passion, research, and sweat equity invested by store owners, hobbyists, and community archivists have been hijacked as marketing fodder for predatory speculation. He stresses that the entire ecosystem of genuine video game lovers has essentially been stepped on by wealthy players treating cultural artifacts as financial chips, concluding that while it may already be too late to halt the damage, the market desperately needs complete transparency and fundamental accountability.

[49:29](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=2969s) The Demand for Ethics, Transparency, and Population Reports

The video game collecting market suffers from a critical absence of accountability and disclosure regarding conflicts of interest. Collectors have a right to know if individuals helping to run an auction house are actively buying and selling the very items crossing the auction block, or whether the employees grading these games are trading them privately. When grading authorities and auction platforms fail to disclose these financial entanglements, bad behavior goes unchecked. Karl Jobst emphasizes that eliminating these vulnerabilities is entirely straightforward: Wata Games must regularly publish and update comprehensive population reports detailing exactly how many copies of each title and grade exist in circulation. Without these essential metrics, artificial scarcity is trivial to manufacture, leaving collectors vulnerable to market manipulation.

Instead of approaching the hobby strictly as an investment vehicle to turn a long-term profit, consumers and collectors are urged to hold these institutions accountable. Passionate enthusiasts must actively demand operational transparency and established ethical standards from grading firms, auction houses, and prominent industry figures alike. As Karl Jobst insists: “What you should be doing is demanding better from grading companies from auction companies from other players in the trade you should be demanding ethics and transparency.”

- The community needs clear disclosures showing whether auction house leadership or grading staff trade in the games they assess and auction. - Regular, public population reports from Wata Games would immediately mitigate manipulative scarcity tactics. - The fundamental issue plaguing the current market is a systemic lack of ethics and transparency.

[50:36](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=3036s) The Destructive Spillover Effect on Everyday Collectors

The artificial speculative bubble engineered at the top tiers does not remain isolated to six- and seven-figure sealed grails; its destructive effects ripple through the entire ecosystem. Over the course of two years, prices for ordinary, unsealed, and loose video games have surged dramatically across the board. Everyday collectors who genuinely care about the history and simply want to assemble a personal collection find themselves priced out of a hobby that has become financially inaccessible. Worse still, dishonest opportunistic sellers exploit breathless mainstream news reports of multi-million-dollar sales to prey on uninformed buyers. Loose, cart-only copies of *Super Mario 64* that are realistically worth around ten dollars frequently appear listed on platforms like eBay for hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Wealthy and influential actors have hijacked the retro video game space, exploiting widespread nostalgia purely to construct speculative financial instruments. Jobst expresses deep frustration at watching heartfelt childhood memories transformed into an unregulated casino for profit extraction. As Karl Jobst bluntly reflects: “As someone who does care deeply about gaming it honestly sickens me that these people have turned these cherished possessions into a means to gamble and speculate and i hope this ridiculous practice of trying to extract profit from the suckers who buy the hype will end sooner rather than later.”

```mermaid flowchart TD accTitle: Speculative Bubble Spillover Effect accDescr: Diagram illustrating how high-end speculative auction prices inflate ordinary retro game prices and fuel scam listings.

subgraph TopTier["Market Manipulation"] A["Record-Setting Sealed Auctions\n(Millions of Dollars)"] B["Mainstream Media Hype &\nSpeculative Gambling"] end

subgraph BottomTier["Market Fallout"] C["Loose Cartridge Inflation\n(e.g., $10 Mario 64 listed for $1,000s)"] D["Everyday Collectors Priced Out"] end

A --> B B --> C C --> D ```

[51:31](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=3091s) Community Credit and Call to Action

To conclude the exposé, Jobst directs viewers toward several veteran collectors who provided vital context and insights into the mechanisms behind these collectibles markets. He encourages audiences to subscribe to Pat the NES Punk and Shawn from Reserved Investments, commending both for their decades of experience in vintage collecting and their courage in speaking openly about industry abuses. He also highlights David Wilson from Comic Book Investments, acknowledging the bravery required to share inside information regarding these coordinated market activities. Jobst emphasizes that uncovering and dismantling speculative bubbles requires an active, vigilant community willing to publicly call out powerful entities whenever they attempt to manufacture artificial hype. As Karl Jobst concludes: “Next time you see them trying to do it make sure you call it out and let them know that we won't tolerate it.”

- Viewers are urged to support veteran creators and whistleblowers, specifically Pat the NES Punk, Shawn from Reserved Investments, and David Wilson of Comic Book Investments. - Exposing artificial market manipulation relies on educated community members challenging and calling out bad actors in real time.

## Notable quotes > [07:59](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=479s) The entire point of certification is to guarantee authenticity and quality, but a guarantee is worthless if you haven't established a history of accurate work. — Karl Jobst

> [05:47](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=347s) Whenever you see a grading company or an auction house talking about how valuable games are, you know it's because they want to drive prices up. — Karl Jobst

> [02:52](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=172s) If you know how speculative bubbles work, you can theoretically create them at will. — Karl Jobst

> [12:40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=760s) I've always said video games are going to go the way of comics or cars or coins. It's only a matter of time until a video game sells for a million dollars. — Dennis Kahn

> [40:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=2448s) It’s impossible to prove intent, but one thing you can certainly disprove is ignorance. — Karl Jobst

## Mentioned Action Comics #1, Ars Technica, Carolina Collection, Castlevania, Certified Rare Coin Galleries, CGC, Comic Book Investments, Dain Anderson, David Wilson, Deniz Kahn, Donkey Kong, eBay, Eric Naierman, Federal Trade Commission, Game Value Now, Gary Hendershott, GoCollect, GoldenEye 007, Golf, Grand Theft Auto, Heritage Auctions, Heritage Capital Corporation, Jeff Meyer, Jim Halperin, Just Press Play, Karl Jobst, Kidder, Peabody & Co., Kotaku, Mark Haspel, Mega Man, Merrill Lynch, Metroid, Mike Trout, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, Mythic Markets, NGC, NintendoAge, Numismatic Certification Institute, Otis, Pat Contri, Pawn Stars, PCGS, Pokémon Yellow, Rally, Reserved Investments, Richard Lecce, RSE Archive LLC, Spider-Man (Atari 2600), Steve Ivy, Super Mario 64, Super Mario Bros., The New York Times, The Verge, The Washington Post, Tomb Raider, UBS, Video Game Authority, Vincent van Gogh, Wata Games, Zac Gieg

## Video description Support the channel on Patreon - http://patreon.com/karljobst Absolute Legend MERCH - https://streamlabs.com/karljobst/merch

In today's video we take a look at the current retro video game bubble. We learn who caused it to happen, who is profiting, and what needs to be done to fix it.

Subscribe to these collectors:

Pat the NES Punk - https://www.youtube.com/user/PatTheNESpunk Reserved Investments - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx7Bgclw--3869YPuztSH9A Comic Book Investments - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvllaJtVO3hlWTd8IM2cTnw

Please follow me on these platforms, it really helps!

Discord: https://discord.gg/EjDRvg7 Twitter: https://twitter.com/karljobstgaming Twitch: https://twitch.tv/karljobst

Music:

GTA V - Pause music Galaxy map - Mass Effect Steady - Veritas Deep Sea - Perfect Dark Carrington Institute - Perfect Dark Maian Tears - Perfect Dark Resurrections - Celeste Home Bay - Ecco Level 0 - Tetris Cd-i

[Source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A)

中文简报

揭露复古电子游戏市场的欺诈与骗局 Karl Jobst 调查了复古电子游戏价格的迅猛上涨，指出诸如 200 万美元《超级马力欧兄弟》卡带等数百万美元的交易，源于协调一致的市场操纵，而非真实的藏家需求。该纪录片揭露了评级机构 Wata Games 与 Heritage Auctions 之间深层的利益冲突与密切勾连；两家机构的高管策划了内部人员创纪录的交易，发起激进的媒体炒作宣传，并在对自己持有的藏品进行评级与拍卖时隐瞒高管关联。Jobst 将此与 1980 年代稀有硬币市场崩盘，以及 Heritage 联席董事长 Jim Halperin 在 1989 年因虚标硬币等级而收到美国联邦贸易委员会（FTC）同意令的事件进行直接对比，记录了随意的评级标准、托价竞拍指控以及掩盖人为稀缺性的评级存量报告扣留行为。最后，Jobst 与资深藏家呼吁实行严格的透明度、建立独立存量追踪机制并发起社群抵制，以防止投机者为谋取经济利益而利用游戏历史。 Karl Jobst 认为，2017 年至 2021 年间复古电子游戏价格数百万美元的暴涨，是由评级公司 Wata Games 与 Heritage Auctions 串通人为制造的投机泡沫。 (0:00) Wata Games 和 Heritage Auctions 的收费结构与公允市场估值及拍卖落槌价挂钩，形成了在经济上激励更高成交记录的固有利益冲突。 (5:47) Heritage 和 Wata 的内部人士直接参与了创纪录的购买行为，例如 2019 年 2 月以 10 万美元购入一盒《超级马力欧兄弟》，随后这些交易被用于发起协同媒体公关宣传。 (10:01) 复古电子游戏的投机行为与 1980 年代的稀有硬币泡沫高度相似；当时第三方评级引发了机构投机，最终导致市场崩盘，Heritage 领导层也因虚标等级而收到 FTC 的同意令。 (39:02)

Detailed notes — zh

## Background 本内容由知名博主 Karl Jobst 于 2021 年 8 月 23 日发布在 YouTube 平台上。根据页面简介，该视频深入探讨了当时复古电子游戏市场的人为投机泡沫，旨在揭露是谁在幕后操盘制造了这场泡沫、哪些机构在其中谋取暴利，以及整个行业需要采取哪些措施才能纠正乱象。 ## TL;DR 视频深入揭露了复古电子游戏市场中由评级机构 Wata Games 与传承拍卖行（Heritage Auctions）联手炮制的天价泡沫骗局。调查指出，包括传承拍卖行联合创始人 Jim Halperin 在内的核心操盘手，通过自买自卖、托儿竞标（Shill Bidding）和媒体公关，人为制造了数百万美元的破纪录成交天价；随后借助 Rally 等碎片化股权投资平台和虚假包装的代理人吸引盲目跟风的热钱接盘。更严重的是，涉案人员早已深涉 1980 年代因虚标评级而被 FTC 严厉处罚的硬币泡沫，如今不仅隐瞒已评级卡带的存世量数据，更导致整个复古游戏二手市场遭遇恶性通胀，严重挤压了真正热爱该爱好的普通玩家。 ## Atmosphere & style 全片充斥着严谨而尖锐的调查性新闻质感，语气冷静沉着却又暗藏义愤。Karl Jobst 抽丝剥茧地罗列监管文件、历史公文与内部证言，将看似光鲜亮丽的破纪录拍卖剥离出肮脏的资本运作本质，带给观众一种由震惊走向恍然大悟的压迫感。随着资深老藏家悲愤控诉纯粹爱好被极少数暴利资本践踏，视频的情绪走向对行业欺诈的强烈唾弃，并最终升华成一声呼吁全体玩家抵制暗箱操作、守卫社区透明度的激昂警钟。 ## Bulletin - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=0s) 复古电子游戏市场在短短四年内经历人为制造的投机暴涨，原版全新未拆封《超级马力欧兄弟》的拍卖纪录从 2017 年的 3 万美元飙升至 2021 年的 200 万美元，涨幅超过 6000%。 - [05:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=326s) 评级机构 Wata Games 与传承拍卖行（Heritage Auctions）结成深度利益同盟，通过按估值抽取的评级费及高达 20% 的买家佣金，在哄抬价格与自导自演的天价交易中坐收暴利。 - [15:10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=910s) 调查证实天价游戏的背后推手并非真正的收藏家，而是 Rally、Otis 等碎片化股权投资平台、借壳投资的对冲基金以及通过托儿竞标恶意顶价的拍卖行内部人员。 - [41:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=2464s) 传承拍卖行联合创始人吉姆·哈尔珀林（Jim Halperin）早在 1980 年代就因在硬币评级机构 NCI 虚标评级催生泡沫而遭 FTC 处罚 120 万美元，如今该操盘剧本在游戏领域全盘复刻。 - [45:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=2704s) Wata Games 刻意隐瞒已评级卡带的存世量报告以维持虚假稀缺性，而一旦货源被揭穿，价格便会遭遇雪崩，如雅达利 2600 版《蜘蛛侠》成交价在一年内暴跌逾 90%。 ## Key takeaways - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=0s) 复古电子游戏收藏从原本小众、平民化的纯粹玩家爱好，演变为由资本操盘手人为蓄意催生的极端投机泡沫。 - [05:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=326s) 评级公司按估值比例收取评级费、拍卖行抽取高达 20% 买家佣金的商业模式，构成了它们联手做大泡沫、推高价格的内在核心动力与致命利益冲突。 - [10:01](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=601s) Heritage Auctions 联合创始人吉姆·哈尔珀林与分销商联手出资 10 万美元买下初代《超级马力欧兄弟》，并通过自家拍卖行公关新闻稿与 Wata CEO 共同造势，形成自买自卖的炒作闭环。 - [12:42](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=762s) 主流媒体与知名电视节目《典当之星》（Pawn Stars）未经独立调查便盲目引用利益关联方的虚高估价，充当了将 Wata 塑造成权威机构并制造暴涨幻觉的宣传机器。 - [15:10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=910s) SEC 监管文件揭示，承接天价拍卖的真实买家并非资深藏家，而是 Rally、Otis 等将游戏拆分为碎片化股权向散户兜售的另类金融投资平台。 - [18:41](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=1121s) 牙医埃里克·奈尔曼（Eric Naierman）等所谓“全美最狂热收藏家”实为投资财团借壳入场的代理人，其公开言论暴露了将游戏当做类似球星卡与 NFT 进行百倍杠杆炒作的投机本质。 - [22:55](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=1375s) 传承拍卖行内部长期存在“托儿竞标”（Shill Bidding）与自买自卖的恶劣行径，核心高管吉姆·哈尔珀林曾被曝出通过托儿账号顶价并作伪证，以此虚构历史高价交易记录。 - [29:20](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=1760s) Wata 违反“员工不得评级或倒卖自身游戏”的公开承诺，其秘密董事 Jeff Meyer 购入 NintendoAge 创始人的海量藏品后获得专属“卡罗来纳收藏”标签，并在拍卖行套现逾 50 万美元，同时关闭了历史价格数据库以垄断信息源。 - [32:46](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=1966s) 所谓的客观评级标准在实际操作中极度主观且漏洞百出，诱发了藏家砸盒重评撞大运的乱象，甚至出现封膜破损却依然被打出 9.8 A+ 高分的严重双标情况。 - [36:10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=2170s) Wata 联合创始人 Mark Haspel 在公司成立前夕凭借信息优势，在全美展会疯狂成批低价囤积马力欧、塞尔达等重点 IP 的未拆封卡带，为日后炒作储备筹码。 - [39:02](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=2342s) 当前游戏泡沫与 1980 年代硬币泡沫完全同构：当年评级封装盒（Slabbing）的引入吸引了大量对冲基金进场，泡沫破裂后引发广泛诉讼且市场长达 30 年未能恢复元气。 - [41:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=2464s) FTC 在 1989 年曾裁定 Heritage 关联公司及其高管吉姆·哈尔珀林通过虚标评级（Overgrading）误导消费者构成欺诈，而哈尔珀林正是如今复古游戏炒作网络的核心纽带。 - [45:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=2704s) Wata 坚决拒绝公开发布各等级卡带的存世量报告（Population Reports），通过制造人为信息黑箱来维持稀缺假象；一旦存量曝光，如雅达利 2600《蜘蛛侠》，价格随即暴跌逾 90%。 - [50:36](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=3036s) 恶性投机导致整个复古游戏二手市场发生全面通胀，普通非密封卡带与裸卡被黄牛标上天价，严重挤压了真正热爱游戏历史与文化的平民玩家和传统社区。 - [49:29](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=2969s) 规范市场的根本在于强力推行透明度机制，必须杜绝评级与拍卖机构内部人员的利益关联交易，并强制要求定期更新公示存世量数据。 ## Detailed walkthrough ### [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=0s) 6000% 的暴涨与平民爱好的变质在 2017 年，全球有史以来售出最贵的电子游戏售价为 30,000 美元，那是一盘全新未拆封、品相完好的原版《超级马力欧兄弟》（Super Mario Bros.）。然而仅仅四年后的 2021 年，最贵电子游戏的成交纪录飙升到了 2,000,000 美元。最令人震惊的是，创造这项纪录的竟然还是同一款游戏。四年之内，同一款游戏的身价暴涨了超过 6000%。回顾过去几十年，电子游戏收藏一直是一个极度小众的圈子。真正的核心收藏家凤毛麟角，即便有人花费心血建立起令人敬佩的藏品库，也根本无法从中获得什么社会声望。这与传统艺术品市场形成了鲜明对比——在艺术界，顶级藏家往往代表着社会上最富有的一批人，他们热衷于炫耀自己一掷千金的奢华战利品；而电子游戏收藏界最初是由最纯粹的玩家和极客构成的。他们仅仅出于对爱好的极度热忱，哪怕手头拮据，也会想方设法攒下零用钱，尽可能以低廉的价格淘来一盘又一盘卡带。在那个时期，藏家们不需要腰缠万贯，复古游戏原本也绝不昂贵，只要拥有热情和时间，任何人都能参与其中。这一切在 2018 年被彻底打破。随着一家名为 Wata Games 的评级公司横空出世，整个市场风云突变。当看到一盘《超级马力欧64》（Super Mario 64）拍出 150 万美元的新闻时，Karl Jobst 意识到这背后隐藏着巨大的反常与秘密。经过深入调查，他发现这是一场精心策划的阴谋： > “The bubble we are seeing in video games has been seen before in other collectibles for almost half a century and the crazy thing is that each time it happens the same people are involved.” —— Karl Jobst - 2017 年历史最贵游戏成交价：30,000 美元（原版全新未拆封《超级马力欧兄弟》）。 - 2021 年历史最贵游戏成交价：2,000,000 美元（同款游戏），涨幅超过 6000%。 - 近期耸人听闻的拍卖天价案例：150 万美元的《超级马力欧64》。 - 整个事态充斥着不道德的商业操作、欺瞒、串通，甚至涉嫌欺诈。 --- ### [02:52](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=172s) 概念拆解：内在与外在属性、郁金香泡沫要理解这场资本骗局的运作机制，首先必须理清两个核心概念：“内在属性”（Intrinsic properties）与“外在属性”（Extrinsic properties），以及它们如何决定物品的感知价值（Perceived value）。所谓内在属性，指的是物品本身所固有的物理属性。以一幅画作而言，其内在属性包括制作它的颜料、画布材质以及肉眼可见的视觉呈现。而外在属性则是该物品与外部世界的一切关联与上下文脉络：创作者是谁、创作于何时、创作的历史背景如何，以及大众对该作品的追捧程度。在收藏品领域，往往正是这些外在属性赋予了物品极其高昂的感知价值。梵高的画作能够卖出数千万美元的天价，但如果制造一个机器人高精度绘制出一幅视觉上一模一样的复制品，其价值大概仅等同于颜料和画布本身的成本。人类愿意为了这些与实际使用价值无关的外在细节一掷千金。这种对价值的盲目追求有着悠久的历史渊源。17 世纪荷兰黄金时代的“郁金香狂热”（Tulip Mania）就是人类历史上第一场有记录的投机泡沫。起初，郁金香因色彩艳丽成为稀缺的奢侈品，随着市场需求稳步上升，价格水涨船高。然而，大众很快嗅到了涨价的趋势，投机者蜂拥而入——投机意味着购买某种商品并非出于实际使用需求，而纯粹是寄希望于未来以更高价格转手获利。投机者的涌入形成了正反馈循环，引发盲目跟风，最终酿成巨大的泡沫。投机泡沫有两个核心定律： 1. 参与购买的人没有一个真正需要商品本身，他们唯一的目的就是赚钱； 2. 这种过程绝不可能长期维系，一旦后续接盘资金枯竭，买家停止进场，价格便会遭遇灾难性雪崩，最终砸在手里的接盘侠将血本无归。如今发生在电子游戏市场的疯狂炒作，正是这一过程的完整复刻。然而最本质的区别在于：当前的电子游戏泡沫并非自然形成的偶发事件，而是一场由操盘者在幕后蓄意制造的人为泡沫。 --- ### [05:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=326s) 幕后真正稳赚不赔的赢家：评级公司与拍卖行制造投机泡沫最简单粗暴的获利方式，无疑是低买高卖。但这种操作依然需要承担行情波动的下行风险。在现代收藏品生态中，存在着两类几乎旱涝保收、坐收渔利的核心机构：**评级公司**（Grading companies）与**拍卖行**（Auction houses）。评级机构的核心职能本应是质量检测与正品认证。他们负责检查游戏真伪、密封封装并评定品相等级，从而为买卖双方提供快速交易的信用背书。在狂热的泡沫期，无数玩家和投机者为了分一杯羹，争先恐后地将手中的藏品送去评级。然而，评级公司的收费模式暗藏巨大的利益冲突：他们通常根据被评定物品的市场估值按比例抽取服务费。一盘估值 10,000 美元的游戏，评级费用约为 400 美元；但如果这盘游戏被哄抬估值至 1,000,000 美元，评级费用将直冲 20,000 美元以上。比评级机构赚得更疯狂的是拍卖行。以频频爆出天价游戏成交纪录的传承拍卖行（Heritage Auctions）为例，他们对每笔成功交易直接向买家收取高达 20% 的买家佣金（Buyer's premium）。这意味着，如果一位买家以 100 万美元拍下一盘游戏，必须额外向拍卖行上缴 20 万美元的佣金。不仅如此，拍卖行还要从卖家手中再抽取 5% 的服务费。在这种抽成机制下，拍卖行和评级公司天然具有极其强烈的做大泡沫、推高价格的内在动机。正因如此，评级机构和拍卖行在行业伦理上本应严格保持中立，绝不应直接参与市场投机或干预行情走向，因为它们之间存在着致命的利益冲突。 > “Whenever you see a grading company or an auction house talking about how valuable games are, you know it's because they want to drive prices up again.” —— Karl Jobst ```mermaid flowchart TD accTitle: 游戏泡沫生态利益链条 accDescr: 展示评级机构与拍卖行如何从游戏价格上涨中抽取高额百分比费用 subgraph Manipulation["推高感知价值"] A["高估值炒作"] --> B["引发投机正反馈循环"] end subgraph ProfitGrading["评级公司 (如 Wata Games)"] B --> C["高额评级费"] C --> C1["1万美元游戏: 约400美元"] C --> C2["100万美元游戏: 20,000+ 美元"] end subgraph ProfitAuction["拍卖行 (如 Heritage Auctions)"] B --> D["巨额佣金抽成"] D --> D1["买家佣金: 额外 20%"] D --> D2["卖家抽成: 5%"] end ``` --- ### [07:59](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=479s) 利益同盟的结成：Wata Games 与 Heritage Auctions 整场游戏市场骗局围绕着两个关键实体展开：评级机构 **Wata Games** 和老牌拍卖行 **传承拍卖行**（Heritage Auctions）。 Wata Games 创立于 2017 年，并于 2018 年 4 月正式上线运营，其总裁兼首席执行官是丹尼斯·卡恩（Deniz Kahn）。它是整个复古游戏天价泡沫的核心支柱，正是 Wata 出具的封装认证，成为了这些卡带卖出数百万美元天价的“合理解释”。事实上，Wata 并非业内首家游戏评级机构——早在 2008 年，Video Game Authority（简称 VGA）就已经开始提供游戏评级服务。然而在 VGA 成立后的十年间，复古游戏市场从未出现失控的暴涨。根本原因在于 VGA 专注于评级业务本身，从未恶意操纵市场或蓄意制造泡沫，而 Wata Games 的操作模式则完全不同。另一大核心机构传承拍卖行（Heritage Auctions）由史蒂夫·艾维（Steve Ivy）与吉姆·霍珀林（Jim Halperin）于 1976 年共同创办。虽然史蒂夫·艾维在后续事件中并非关键角色，但联合创始人吉姆·霍珀林（Jim Halperin）则是串联整个黑幕的关键核心人物。Heritage Auctions 长期从事钱币、漫画书和艺术品等高价值收藏品的拍卖业务，并在 2019 年正式进军电子游戏拍卖领域。耐人寻味的是，Heritage Auctions 在涉足游戏拍卖时立下了一条严苛的规矩：他们只拍卖经过 Wata Games 评级认证的游戏卡带。更令人起疑的是这两家机构在成立之初的勾连痕迹。早在 2018 年 Wata 刚上线且尚未建立任何行业信用时，其官方网站的“经销商精选”（Dealer Spotlight）页面就赫然将 Heritage Auctions 列为其核心战略伙伴，并明确宣布未来所有经过 Wata 认证的游戏卡带都将在 Heritage 的线上拍卖中重点展示。在收藏品领域，认证机构立足的根本在于其长期准确鉴定的公信力。一家毫无行业履历的新生评级公司，竟然能在正式开工前就与顶级拍卖行达成这种排他性质的深度捆绑，其背后充满着不为人知的猫腻。 ### [10:01](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=601s) Heritage Auctions 与 Wata Games 的利益同盟及破纪录的 10 万美元交易一家享有盛誉的顶级拍卖行，竟然同意上拍一家此前从未评级过任何一款游戏的新公司的拍品。面对市场上早已深耕近十年、声誉稳定的老牌评级机构 VGA，Heritage Auctions 为何会毫无保留地信任一个毫无业务履历的新入局者？唯一的解释是：Heritage Auctions 从一开始就深度参与了 Wata Games 的创立，并且深知双方拥有完全一致的共同利益。这一点直接体现在双方公开的合作痕迹上——Heritage Auctions 的联合创始人兼董事长吉姆·哈尔珀林（Jim Halperin），从一开始就堂而皇之地挂在 Wata 官网的顾问名单中。与此同时，二手游戏分销商 Just Press Play 及其创始人扎克·吉格（Zac Gieg）也在 Wata 创立之初就结成同盟，并对外宣布将专门销售经过 Wata 认证的游戏。要催生一个投机泡沫，核心在于迅速向大众传播信息、吸引外部眼球，并让潜在买家确信一个蓬勃发展的蓝海市场正在形成。最直接有效的手段就是制造轰动性的新闻事件。2019 年 2 月，一盘初代《超级马力欧兄弟》（Super Mario Bros.）以 10 万美元的天价成交。在此之前，全球最贵电子游戏的拍卖纪录仅仅是 3 万美元，这笔暴涨三倍有余的交易迅速引爆了媒体网络。然而，这笔交易最耐人寻味之处在于买家的真实身份——买下这盘游戏的正是三位利益关联人：Heritage Auctions 董事长吉姆·哈尔珀林、Just Press Play 创始人扎克·吉格，以及知名收藏家理查德·莱切（Richard Lecce）。 ```mermaid flowchart TD accTitle: 闭环炒作与利益共同体运作流程 accDescr: 展示哈尔珀林、Wata评级与外部媒体合力推高复古游戏价格的循环机制 subgraph Core["利益铁三角"] H["吉姆·哈尔珀林 (Heritage Auctions 创始人兼董事长)"] W["丹尼斯·卡恩 (Wata Games 创始人兼 CEO)"] G["扎克·吉格 (Just Press Play 创始人)"] end subgraph Action["自导自演炒作"] H -->|"联手出资10万美元购买"| Game["初代《超级马力欧兄弟》"] G -->|"联手出资10万美元购买"| Game W -->|"出具 Wata 高分评级"| Game end subgraph Publicity["舆论造势与资本接盘"] PR["Heritage 官方新闻通稿 & 主流媒体头条报道"] Show["《典当之星》(Pawn Stars) 估价百万美元"] Rally["碎片化投资平台 (Rally / Otis / Mythic)"] Game --> PR PR --> Show Show --> Rally end ``` 买下游戏后，Heritage Auctions 迅速以官方名义发布了新闻稿。这场收购从一开始就不是为了纯粹的个人收藏，而是一场赤裸裸的公关表演。甚至哈尔珀林在新闻稿中毫不避讳地声称，这盘卡带未来可能会出现在自家的拍卖会上。Wata Games 首席执行官丹尼斯·卡恩（Deniz Kahn）也在新闻稿中遥相呼应，大肆鼓吹行情：“Wata-certified video games have been selling for record prices ever since Heritage began auctioning them in January. While many video games sell regularly for five figures, breaking the six-figure marks shows that the hobby's upward trajectory indicates no signs of slowing down.”（正如丹尼斯·卡恩所言：“自今年 1 月 Heritage 开始拍卖以来，经 Wata 认证的电子游戏一直以破纪录的价格售出。尽管许多电子游戏经常卖出五位数，但突破六位数大关表明，这一爱好的上升势头毫无放缓的迹象。”）整个操作形成了一个闭环：拍卖行董事长自掏腰包高价买下游戏，拍卖行自己发通稿报道董事长的收购，评级公司 CEO 与拍卖行联合为游戏升值背书，董事长再公开宣布游戏未来会进自己的拍卖行套现。 - 2019 年 2 月成交的《超级马力欧兄弟》售价达 10 万美元，打破了此前 3 万美元的历史最高纪录。 - 买家联合体由吉姆·哈尔珀林、扎克·吉格和理查德·莱切三人组成。 - 整个购买行为随即被制作成通稿向大众媒体广泛分发。 --- ### [12:42](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=762s) 媒体造势与《Pawn Stars》的估值造神运动这套炒作机制的效果立竿见影，各大主流游戏和科技媒体迅速跟进报道。无论在 Kotaku 还是 Ars Technica 的报道中，丹尼斯·卡恩与吉姆·哈尔珀林都在不遗余力地向公众灌输“游戏必然暴涨”的心理预期。在接受 Kotaku 采访时，丹尼斯·卡恩斩钉截铁地放话：“I've always said video games are going to go the way of comics or cars or coins. It's only a matter of time until a video game sells for a million dollars.”（正如丹尼斯·卡恩所言：“我一直说电子游戏会走上漫画、老爷车或硬币的老路。电子游戏卖到 100 万美元只是时间问题。”）在 Ars Technica 的文章中，哈尔珀林也推波助澜地宣称：“There are bets on what will someday be the first million dollar game, and many collectors believe that this will be the one.”（正如吉姆·哈尔珀林所断言：“人们已经在打赌哪款游戏会成为史上首款突破百万美元的作品，许多藏家相信眼前这盘就是。”）令人匪夷所思的是，主流媒体竟然允许一位游戏持有者在没有任何实质依据的情况下，公开宣称自己买下的东西价值暴涨了十倍，全程没有任何记者对此提出质疑。为了将热度推向顶峰，他们甚至将这盘卡带带上了美国知名真人秀节目《典当之星》（Pawn Stars），声称这盘卡带价值 100 万美元。这次电视亮相成了树立 Wata 行业权威形象的绝佳舞台——尽管 Wata 的成立时间还不到 VGA 的十分之一。节目组特意邀请丹尼斯·卡恩作为专家登场，卡恩在镜头前再度哄抬身价，暗示这盘卡带的实际价值至少是他们买入价的三倍。第三方评级机构的核心信条应当是绝对中立，绝不插手干预或操纵市场价格。尽管真正了解内情的资深收藏家对卡恩这种公然操纵市场的行径表达了强烈抗议与抵制，但这丝毫没有阻挡他的脚步。卡恩随后频繁出入《典当之星》等各大媒体节目，给各种卡带开出令人瞠目结舌的天价。这场声势浩大的公关造神运动目的非常明确：必须把刚成立的 Wata 包装成电子游戏评级领域至高无上的终极权威。一旦公众确信其权威地位，卡恩口中说出的每一个虚高估价就会变成刺激市场投机的强效兴奋剂。在接下来的数年里，卡恩不断滥用 Wata 掌门人的话语权，在无数专访中煽风点火。即便到了 2021 年 7 月，一盘《超级马力欧64》（Super Mario 64）在 Heritage 拍卖出令人匪夷所思的 150 万美元时，卡恩依然在 The Verge 的专访中毫不脸红地表示：“I think that we are going to continue to see record-breaking sales.”（正如丹尼斯·卡恩所声称的那样：“我认为我们还将继续见证创纪录交易的诞生。”）其唯一的目的，就是维持只涨不跌的泡沫幻觉，源源不断地吸引热钱入场。 - 丹尼斯·卡恩和吉姆·哈尔珀林利用媒体专访大肆散布“百万美元游戏即将诞生”的预期。 - 10 万美元购得的马力欧卡带被送上《典当之星》，并在节目中被单方面估价 100 万美元。 - 2021 年 7 月，《超级马力欧64》以 150 万美元结标，卡恩依旧对外宣称价格纪录还会不断被打破。 --- ### [15:10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=910s) 谁在真正买单？碎片化股权投资与炒作机器媒体狂轰滥炸带来的轰动效应只是这套机器的一半，要让击鼓传花的游戏持续下去，就必须有真实的资金进场承接。然而，真正出资买下这些天价藏品的买家，根本不是大众想象中那些为了弥补童年遗憾、试图收齐整套全藏的游戏爱好者。在过去十年里，真正的硬核收藏家往往乐于在 YouTube 上发布视频展示自己的藏品，热衷于分享与交流。然而，在 Heritage Auctions 的这些天价拍卖中，买家身份全部处于严密隐匿状态，无人公开认领，拍卖行更是对真实的资金交割过程讳莫如深。深入调查 Wata 与《典当之星》的共谋链条后，真实的买家面目浮出水面。在此前的一期《典当之星》中，卡恩曾为一盘《迈克泰森拳击》（Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!）开出 8 万美元的估值。通过一份公开的买卖协议可以发现，卡带原主布莱恩（Brian）随后以完全一模一样的 8 万美元价格，将卡带卖给了一家名为 RSE Archive LLC 的商业实体，也就是大众熟知的另类资产投资平台“Rally”。所谓 Rally，是一个允许散户投资者买卖收藏品“碎片化股权”（Fractional Equity）的平台。散户不必买下整盘游戏，只需花几块钱购买几千分之一的份额，押注藏品价格上涨后再转手套利。这本质上就是一种披着收藏品外衣的金融赌博，散户不仅根本拿不到实物，唯一的目标只是快进快出投机赚快钱。由于发行碎片化证券的公司必须向美国证券交易委员会（SEC）提交监管文件，这些天价游戏背后的资金流向得以被精准追踪。调查显示，在 Wata 创立之后，市场上随即涌现出三家专门买卖电子游戏碎片股权的公司：Rally、Otis 以及 Mythic Markets。通过梳理它们向 SEC 提交的合规文件，其大肆买入 Heritage 拍品的清单一览无遗： ``` +------------------+------------------------------+---------------+ | 碎片化投资平台 | 购入游戏藏品名称 | 购入金额 | +------------------+------------------------------+---------------+ | Rally | 超级马力欧兄弟 (2020 年买入) | $140,000 | | Rally | 黄金眼 007 | $22,800 | | Rally | 侠盗猎车手 | $13,200 | | Rally | 大金刚 | $38,400 | | Mythic Markets | 银河战士 | $46,800 | | Otis | 迈克泰森拳击 | $130,000 | | Otis | 宝可梦黄 | $78,000 | | Otis | 高尔夫 | $18,000 | +------------------+------------------------------+---------------+ ``` 值得注意的是，Rally 在 2020 年以 14 万美元购入的那盘《超级马力欧兄弟》，在仅仅一年多后的本月就以 200 万美元的所谓天价被转手出让。除了这些投机平台外，另一类买家则是纯粹倒买倒卖的黄牛黄雀——例如有人在 2020 年 9 月花 8.4 万美元从 Heritage 拍下一盘《超级马力欧兄弟》，转头就以 150 万美元的标价挂在 eBay 上待沽。市场上根本找不到任何一个真正的电子游戏玩家或严肃藏家在购买这些天价卡带，整个高位交易市场完全由追逐暴利的投机资金所绑架。 - SEC 披露文件证实，Rally、Otis 和 Mythic Markets 均在 Wata 成立后密集成立，并大举在 Heritage 扫货。 - 散户在碎片化平台上购买的只是金融份额，对卡带实物没有任何占有权与处置权。 - 极少数个体买家也是为了立刻在二级市场以十倍以上溢价挂牌倒卖。 --- ### [18:41](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=1121s) 虚假叙事：被包装成“狂热藏家”的投资人代理为了防止公众察觉这只是一场脱离玩家基础的金融炒作，幕后推手们精心炮制了一套“真正的藏家正在豪掷千金”的伪叙事。在这场公关骗局中，牙医埃里克·奈尔曼（Eric Naierman）被塑造成了最核心的样板门面。2019 年，《华盛顿邮报》（The Washington Post）等各大主流媒体刊登了大量耸人听闻的报道，大肆宣扬一位从事牙医职业的“全美最狂热电子游戏收藏家”，一口气斥资 100 万美元扫货收藏。如果还原事实真相，这篇报道的内容极其荒谬可笑。文章将埃里克·奈尔曼吹捧为全球最资深、最狂热的电子游戏藏家之一，但实际上，他在 2019 年才刚涉足游戏圈几个月，入场时间恰好与这场泡沫的开启时间完全重合。许多倾尽毕生心血收集了几十年的硬核藏家无人问津，一个刚入场几个月的新人却被媒体瞬间封为世界顶尖狂热藏家。更为虚假的是，报道声称奈尔曼自己出资买下了这批百万美元的藏品，但实际上这笔巨款根本不是他个人的积蓄，而是由其背后的一整支专业投资财团所注资。随着报道的深入，整套利益链条上的熟悉面孔再次整齐亮相：丹尼斯·卡恩以行业权威的姿态再次登场，大肆鼓吹复古游戏市场潜力无限；Heritage Auctions 也迅速跟进，对外高调宣扬复古游戏行情全面暴涨。在这场由投资财团借壳入场、公关媒体涂脂抹粉、评级机构与拍卖行联手抬轿的闹剧中，奈尔曼的表态也彻底暴露了其背后的金融投机本色。 ### [19:50](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=1190s) 投机客与媒体造势：捏造出来的复古游戏泡沫《华盛顿邮报》（The Washington Post）等主流媒体不断将埃里克·奈曼（Eric Naierman）塑造成老游戏收藏界的领军人物，宣传老游戏理应卖出数百万美元的高价。然而，Karl Jobst 尖锐地指出，奈曼直到 2019 年才进入该领域，而报道中所谓“奈曼买下天价游戏”的说法完全是假象，背后的实际买家是一家投资对冲基金。每当有高价成交新闻出现时，Wata Games 和海瑞得拍卖行（Heritage Auctions）总是作为权威专家第一时间发声。Karl 直言，这种报道根本不是新闻，而是赤裸裸的公关宣传。埃里克·奈曼本身就是处于金字塔顶端、联手制造市场泡沫以谋取暴利的小圈子成员之一。他就像一个提线木偶式的代言人，唯一目的就是误导公众，让人相信这些老游戏真的价值数百万美元，从而高位套现。在公开访谈中，奈曼毫不掩饰自己的投机企图。他坦承自己在海瑞得拍卖行看到老式电子游戏时，顿感这比球星卡更有搞头： > “天啊，这可比球星卡好太多了，而且对我来说，这是一个新兴市场，就像你们现在经历的 NFT 一样，充满了那种让人血脉偾张的兴奋感：哇，如果这玩意的涨幅能赶上球星卡的四分之一，刚起步我们就能看到 100 倍的回报。” 奈曼把进入这个未成熟的利基市场形容为“搭上时间机器”，就像回到了十年前去疯狂抄底顶级收藏家的资产一样。他成立了有限责任公司（LLC），起草了商业计划书，并向富裕的邻居、朋友和家人拉集资，以“哪怕亏损 1.5 万美元也无关紧要”的说辞筹集资金。他甚至在公开访谈中直言不讳地宣称，自己就是要走出去“协助做市”（help make the market），强行打造一个原本根本不存在的市场。 Karl 总结指出，眼下争相抢购这些天价老游戏的根本不是真正的老玩家或收藏家，而是一帮企图空手套白狼的暴利资本，通过人为捏造泡沫来收割受害者。然而，舆论宣传只是他们手中的武器之一，更阴暗的手段隐藏在拍卖交易的内部操作中。 - 埃里克·奈曼入局时间极短（2019年才涉足复古游戏），却被主流媒体包装成行业资深领军者。 - 所谓的个人收藏购买，本质上是奈曼联合富人朋友、亲属及投资对冲基金成立 LLC 进行的投机炒作。 - 奈曼将复古游戏类比为球星卡和 NFT 的爆炒逻辑，目标是谋求百倍收益。 --- ### [22:55](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=1375s) 托儿竞标（Shill Bidding）与自买自卖的黑幕在传统拍卖机制中，唯一能持续推高商品成交价的动力就是“竞价竞争”。如果全场只有一个买家，价格绝不可能暴涨。而“托儿竞标”（Shill Bidding）是指卖家或拍卖行安排虚假竞标者参与出价，恶意抬高价格的行为。通常情况下，卖家会串通第三方持续出价到预定点位，若有真实买家（受害者）接盘，托儿便随即收手让其高价中标。拍卖行自身同样拥有极强的恶意竞价动机：拍卖行售出的价格越高、创造的纪录越惊人，知名度就越高，进而能吸引更多卖家将珍贵藏品交由他们独家拍卖。海瑞得拍卖行在暗箱竞标方面劣迹斑斑。早在 2008 年，其前雇员加里·亨德肖特（Gary Hendershott）就曾起诉海瑞得拍卖行，指控其利用化名为“N.P. Gresham”的虚假竞标者恶意抬价。尽管该诉讼最终达成了庭外和解，但在诉讼过程中，海瑞得的核心高管、同时也是天价《超级马力欧兄弟》投资团成员的吉姆·哈珀林（Jim Halperin）在宣誓证词中当场说谎——他最初矢口否认“N.P. Gresham”这个竞标人的存在，随后却被迫承认该托儿账号确实属实。 ```mermaid flowchart TD accTitle: 托儿竞标与自买自卖炒作链条 accDescr: 展示吉姆·哈珀林等拍卖行内部人员如何通过托儿竞标、自买自卖来虚构市场高价记录并吸引公众接盘 subgraph Manipulation ["内部操纵阶段"] A["拍卖行高管/大卖家（如 Jim Halperin）"] -->|"送拍自身藏品"| B["海瑞得拍卖行平台"] A -->|"指使托儿账号或亲自出价"| C["恶意顶价（Shill Bidding）"] C -->|"自买自卖或托到高位"| B end subgraph MarketImpact ["市场影响阶段"] B -->|"虚构数倍成交天价"| D["媒体大肆报道宣传"] D -->|"确立虚假参考数据"| E["推高同类藏品估值泡沫"] E -->|"吸引真实卖家与接盘受害者"| A end ``` 在调研过程中，著名 NES 游戏收藏家 Pat the NES Punk 为 Karl 引荐了另一位关键知情人士——经营 YouTube 频道“Comic Book Investments”的漫画收藏家兼经销商大卫·威尔逊（David Wilson）。威尔逊的父亲在 20 世纪 80 和 90 年代是顶级漫画书商，与吉姆·哈珀林保持了多年的深厚私人关系，随后进入海瑞得拍卖行担任了近两年的漫画评级师。威尔逊在视频证言中直截了当地揭露了父亲亲口向他吐露的黑幕： > “他说：‘对，他们正在操纵市场。’我爸还给我举了个例子：吉姆是全世界最大的漫画收藏家之一，他的藏品规模极其庞大。吉姆的操作手法是这样的——这是我爸的原话——他拿出一本漫画书放进自己的藏品库，三四年后挂上海瑞得拍卖，然后他会自己出价抬高价格；假设很久以前他花三千美元买下这本书，挂上拍卖后他一路自己顶到五千、六千美元，基本上就等于是自己卖给自己，顶完价后他又把书收回自己的藏品库里。” 根据威尔逊父亲的描述，吉姆·哈珀林每隔三五年就会把藏品拿出来故伎重演一次，通过这种自买自卖的虚假交易持续拉抬市场行情，以此向外界制造“这本书曾经以此天价成交过、所以它就值这么多钱”的虚假交易数据。大卫·威尔逊指出，目前在复古游戏领域上演的疯狂暴涨，完全就是这套剧本的翻版。 - 2008 年前员工加里·亨德肖特起诉海瑞得拍卖行采用代号为“N.P. Gresham”的托儿竞标推高拍卖价。 - 吉姆·哈珀林在作伪证后被迫改口承认“N.P. Gresham”存在。 - 资深漫画评级师向儿子大卫·威尔逊证实：哈珀林长期通过自买自卖抬价，再将藏品收回，人为建立虚高成交纪录。 --- ### [27:11](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=1631s) 评级公司的利益冲突：Wata 总裁声称的“红线” 虚构交易和托儿竞标的杀伤力极为惊人：一旦某件物品以破纪录的价格售出，整个市场同类物品的感知价值都会水涨船高；更重要的是，破纪录的成交价会引来全网媒体铺天盖地的免费宣发，使得海瑞得拍卖行在长达两年的时间里垄断了所有复古游戏天价成交的新闻版面。在这种完全缺乏透明度、充斥着托儿指控和自买自卖传闻的背景下，所有破纪录的天价拍卖——包括 Rally 平台上据称高达 200 万美元的未公开私人收购——其真实性都疑点重重。拍卖行可以靠自买自卖和恶意抬价牟利，而游戏评级机构 Wata Games 内部的滥权手段同样触目惊心。对于一家评级机构而言，最显而易见的利益冲突莫过于“评级人员为自己的藏品打分认证”。如果在没有防火墙的情况下给自己的游戏打出高分再挂牌出售，评级机构的公信力将荡然无存。面对这种质疑，Wata Games 总裁丹尼斯·坎（Deniz Kahn）在接受《纽约时报》（The New York Times）采访时曾公开发表声明，斩钉截铁地立下规矩： > “Wata 的员工绝不允许让公司为自己的游戏进行评级，也绝不允许出售那些被评过级的游戏。” Karl Jobst 对此表态称，如果这条红线真能被严格执行，那确实值得赞赏。然而，事实却大相径庭。紧接着，Karl 将目光投向了 2019 年发生的一笔极为关键的幕后交易。该交易的当事人之一，正是复古游戏界传奇社区 NintendoAge 的创始人戴恩·安德森（Dain Anderson）。NintendoAge 曾经是互联网上规模最庞大的复古游戏玩家聚集地，其论坛不仅汇聚了最忠实的硬核玩家，更坐拥全网最详实、最无可替代的复古游戏数据库。这笔交易，将彻底揭开 Wata Games 高管如何践踏自身规则的惊人内幕。 ### [29:20](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=1760s) “卡罗来纳收藏”交易与暗箱利益冲突在中古游戏圈内，Dain Anderson 凭借其一手创立的 NintendoAge 平台及无与伦比的个人藏品声名赫赫，他手握全美乃至全球规模最庞大的未拆封任天堂游戏阵容之一。然而在 2019 年，Dain 将全部藏品整体打包，出售给了美漫估价指南平台 GoCollect 的创始人兼 CEO Jeff Meyer。这笔轰动业界的交易不仅是游戏收藏史上规模最大的收购案之一，甚至引发了评级机构 Wata Games 的高调介入——Wata 将这批游戏专门命名为“卡罗来纳收藏”（Carolina Collection），取自交易双方均来自卡罗来纳州的渊源。Jeff 将这批游戏悉数送往 Wata 进行封装评级，而 Wata 更破例将专属收藏名印制在每一盒游戏的评级标签上。随后，Jeff 迅速通过 Heritage Auctions 等拍卖行将这批新评级的游戏大肆倒买倒卖，仅第一场拍卖就套现逾 50 万美元。 ```mermaid flowchart TD accTitle: 卡罗来纳收藏利益输送网络 accDescr: 展示 Dain Anderson、Jeff Meyer、Wata Games 与拍卖行之间的闭环关联 subgraph Internal ["Wata 关联方闭环"] Dain["Dain Anderson (NintendoAge 创始人 / 2017 年 Wata 高管)"] Jeff["Jeff Meyer (GoCollect 创始人 / Wata 隐秘董事)"] Wata["Wata Games (评级机构 / 赋予卡罗来纳专属标签)"] end subgraph Market ["套现通道与信息控制"] HA["Heritage Auctions (首拍斩获超 50 万美元)"] Control["信息垄断 (关停 NintendoAge / 收购 Game Value Now)"] end Dain -->|"2019 年整体抛售藏品"| Jeff Jeff -->|"送评并获取特权标签"| Wata Wata -->|"定制 Carolina 专属外壳"| Jeff Jeff -->|"高调拍卖套现"| HA Jeff -->|"控盘价格参考系"| Control ``` 这看似只是一次成功的资本运作，但背后隐藏着极深的黑幕：Wata 向美国证券交易委员会（SEC）提交的备案文件赫然显示，Jeff Meyer 本人正是 Wata Games 的董事会成员（Director）。Wata 总裁此前曾在媒体前信誓旦旦地宣称内部员工绝不允许送评或倒卖本公司评级的游戏，但实际上，自家董事不仅送评了整批海量藏品，还享受了在标签上添加专属名称以抬高溢价的特权待遇，并转头送入拍卖行以天文数字获利。“Considering the fact that they were graded in a unique and special way, there is a very good argument to be made here for fraud, especially given that Jeff's relationship with Wata Games was never disclosed to the public,” Karl Jobst 严厉指出，这种向公众隐瞒关联交易的行为已涉嫌严重欺诈。更令人脊背发凉的是信息维度的垄断：Jeff Meyer 在买下藏品的同时一并收购了行业最大数据库 NintendoAge，并立即将其彻底关停；随后他又将游戏销售价格指南网站 Game Value Now 收入囊中。表面上看，Jeff 显然是在极力掌控并切断二手游戏真实价格的数据源流。在此期间，Jeff 从未公开承认自己是 Wata 的董事，反而在自家宣传新游戏价格指南的博文中以第三人称写道“感谢与 Wata Games 极佳团队的良好合作”。甚至溯源至 2017 年 Wata 注册成立之时，Dain Anderson 本人就是该公司的执行管理人员（Executive Officer）。这一整场涉及数百万美元的世纪交易，完全是在两位 Wata 内部关键人物之间闭门完成的，而首席执行官 Deniz Kahn 在官网大肆撰文吹捧卡罗来纳收藏时，刻意对这种赤裸裸的利益冲突只字不提。 - Dain Anderson 于 2019 年将个人庞大的全套未拆封 NES 游戏整体卖给 GoCollect 创始人 Jeff Meyer。 - Wata Games 为这批游戏定制了专属的“Carolina Collection”标签，成为日后高溢价出货的资本背书。 - SEC 官方文件确凿证明 Jeff Meyer 为 Wata Games 董事，而交易前身 Dain Anderson 亦为 2017 年 Wata 创办时的高管。 - Jeff Meyer 在收购藏品后同步关停了汇聚十余年成交历史的 NintendoAge 论坛，并收购了竞品数据库 Game Value Now。 --- ### [32:46](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=1966s) 评级神话破灭：主观估算与品控双标自身员工送评之所以构成严重的利益冲突，根本原因在于评级分数直接决定了藏品的市场价值——分数的微小提升能带来呈几何级数暴涨的财富。最典型的案例莫过于 Heritage Auctions 拍出的那盒 156 万美元的《超级马力欧 64》（Super Mario 64），其获得了 Wata 9.8 A++ 的近乎完美评价；而在同一天的拍卖中，另一盒获得 8.5 评分的同款游戏仅仅拍出了 31,000 美元。仅仅是一个层级微小的品相差距，价格落差便高达惊人的 5000%。面对如此荒谬的溢价，收藏者自然要求评级必须具备无可挑剔的精准度与客观性。然而评级机构标榜的“客观标准”在现实中完全是一纸空谈，评级本质上是人工极其主观的肉眼审视，不同评级员的裁量尺度往往天差地别。在收藏圈内，由此催生出了屡见不鲜的“破盒重评”（Re-grading / Crack-out game）潜规则。藏家博主 Reserved Investments 形象地描述了投机者的玩法：当送评一本漫画只拿到 CGC 9.6 时，藏家便会暴力砸开塑料密封盒，将其重新送回机构反复评级，赌下一次某个评级员手抖或者眼花，随手给它扣上一个 9.8。“The average collector, the average speculator and the average investor out there is overvaluing a lot of these items based on the grade, not realizing that in certain instances the grade is arbitrary, it is an estimation, it is not an exact science,” 该藏家一针见血地指出了评级体系的投机本质。甚至无需玩家砸盒重评，Wata 自身的品控漏洞也早已荒唐至极。在 2021 年 7 月的拍卖中，一盒世嘉土星（Sega Saturn）版的《古墓丽影》（Tomb Raider）以 12,000 美元成交，标签显示为 9.8 A+。然而只要肉眼查看其实物细节，就会发现塑封膜上布满了数个肉眼可见的巨大破洞、密密麻麻的细微孔隙、划痕与污迹。按照 Wata 官网公示的评级准则，A+ 级封膜绝对不能出现任何破洞，但这盒品相甚至不如许多 B 级藏品的卡带却大摇大摆地拿到了 A+ 高分。这种毫无科学逻辑的打分体系，却被整个投机链条捧为多花上百万美元的“终极依据”。 - Wata 9.8 A++ 的《超级马力欧 64》以 156 万美元成交，同场 8.5 分仅售 3.1 万美元，溢价幅度达 5000%。 - 藏家之间广泛流行“开盒重评（Crack-out game）”，利用评级员的人工主观性重复撞大运博取更高评级以套现。 - Heritage 拍出 1.2 万美元的世嘉土星《古墓丽影》评为 A+ 塑封，但实物封膜存在巨大破损与污渍，完全违背 Wata 自身制定的打分细则。 --- ### [36:10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=2170s) 创办前夕暗中扫货与 1980 年代硬币泡沫预警如果有人在提前知晓一场未拆封游戏投机狂潮即将被人工制造出来的前提下，最符合人性的操作无非是——在泡沫成型前以白菜价疯狂囤货。Wata Games 的联合创始人兼现任首席顾问 Mark Haspel 便上演了这一幕。Haspel 浸淫美漫收藏圈数十年，此前在游戏收藏界查无此人；然而在 Wata 成立前后，他突然反常地频繁出没于全美各大复古游戏展会，近乎饥渴地横扫各类未拆封的 NES 游戏。他重点扫货的目标极其精准，清一色是《马力欧》、《银河战士》、《洛克人》、《恶魔城》、《塞尔达传说》等数年后在拍卖场上被爆炒出天价的头部 IP。知名藏家 Pat the NES Punk 便在 2019 年 6 月的展会上目击到不可思议的一幕：一群人在展厅内行色匆匆地从摊位大肆收刮原封整盒游戏，随后他亲眼看到 Mark Haspel 手中捧着厚厚一叠 NES 游戏径直返回了 Wata 的官方展位。 ```mermaid flowchart LR accTitle: 80年代钱币泡沫破灭演进图 accDescr: 展示80年代钱币评级盒机制催生泡沫及暴跌的过程 subgraph Phase1 ["泡沫酝酿"] Slabbing["封装评级盒技术 (Slabbing 引入)"] Speculation["PCGS 评级体系 (第三方背书催生狂热)"] end subgraph Phase2 ["市场冲顶与崩盘"] Peak["PCGS 3000 指数暴涨 (80年代末投机登顶)"] Crash["泡沫彻底破裂 (长达30余年未能恢复元气)"] end Slabbing --> Speculation Speculation --> Peak Peak --> Crash ``` 这种预知走势一般的提前扫货行径，令 Karl Jobst 感叹这绝非巧合，而是操盘手们早已成竹在胸的早期布局。为了揭示这种运作模式的终局，Jobst 引用了金融收藏史上惊人相似的先例——1980 年代的硬币收藏大泡沫。在 80 年代后期，行业权威评级机构 PCGS 成立，并推出了著名的 PCGS 3000 价格指数。伴随着当时刚刚兴起的“封装盒”（Slabbing，即将钱币装入防篡改塑料盒并评级）技术与第三方认证背书，海量投机资金疯狂涌入钱币市场，将 PCGS 3000 指数推向史无前例的天空。然而好景不长，这场泡沫在 80 年代末轰然崩塌；时至今日，即便不计通货膨胀因素，该市场的价格指数在整整 30 年后依然没能重回当年的泡沫顶点。历史总在重演，如今在复古游戏市场借由 Wata 评级封装盒卷土重来的暴利游戏，其运作内核与当年的硬币泡沫如出一辙。 - 知名博主 Pat the NES Punk 亲历证言：“At one point I witnessed an individual who I later learned to be Mark Haspel returning to the Wata expo booth while holding a stack of NES games.” - 另一名藏家指认，早在 Wata 开始正式对外提供评级服务的一年前，Mark Haspel 就已经开始从其友人处成批购入未拆封的连包（Six-packs）游戏。 - 1980 年代钱币泡沫由第三方评级机构 PCGS 的“塑料密封封装（Slabbing）”背书直接引爆，投机高潮退去后整整 30 年未能复苏。 ### [39:02](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=2342s) 1980年代硬币泡沫的历史重演：封装评级与投机狂潮在1980年代中后期，专业钱币评级服务机构 PCGS 和 NGC 相继成立。根据《Antiques Age》相关文章的记载，这两家评级机构的出现几乎一夜之间彻底颠覆了整个钱币收藏行业。从此，币商、收藏家和投资者可以在“盲买盲卖”（未见实物）的情况下直接交易封装硬币（slabbed coins），因为所有人都完全信任大型评级机构所给出的品相分数。这种机制与如今复古电子游戏市场发生的状况如出一辙。评级硬币的便捷性与公信力极大地推动了交易量的暴涨，进而拉动价格持续飙升。看到暴利之后，外部投资者乃至大型对冲基金也纷纷下场介入：基德尔·皮博迪公司（Kidder, Peabody & Co.）、美林证券（Merrill Lynch）以及瑞银（UBS）等金融巨头都设立了专门的硬币对冲基金，向公众和投资者募集巨额资金投入硬币市场，将整个投机泡沫推向了极端。然而，投机泡沫的铁律在于其终究必然破裂。资产价格不可能无休止地上涨，一旦市场出现见顶的蛛丝马迹，恐慌性抛售便会瞬间爆发。参与这种纯粹财务投机的人根本不是为了真正收藏或长期持有这些物品；当币价开始下挫，每个人都争先恐后地清仓止损。由于市场在极短时间内充斥着海量抛盘，而接盘买家彻底消失，整个资产价格体系瞬间崩溃。最终，所有在泡沫顶峰接盘的迟到者都蒙受了毁灭性损失。80年代硬币泡沫的破裂引发了剧烈震荡，对冲基金遭遇了投资者的漫天诉讼，其中美林证券最终被迫向投资者赔付超过2000万美元，美国联邦贸易委员会（FTC）也随即介入立案调查。 - 关键机构：PCGS（Professional Coin Grading Service）与 NGC（Numismatic Guaranty Company）重塑了硬币市场的交易信用基础。 - 涉事金融巨头：基德尔·皮博迪、美林证券与瑞银均成立了硬币对冲基金；泡沫破裂后面临海量诉讼，美林证券向投资者退赔逾2000万美元。 - 泡沫破裂机制：纯粹以牟利为目的的投机者无意真正收藏，价格下挫时恐慌出逃引发流动性踩踏。 ### [41:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=2464s) 惊人重叠的黑历史：FTC 对 Jim Halperin 与 Heritage 的欺诈裁决深入调查硬币评级历史会发现更为触目惊心的事实：《Antiques Age》文章声称 PCGS 和 NGC 是最早的第三方硬币评级机构，但这在历史上并不准确。第一家第三方硬币评级公司实际上是成立于1984年的“钱币认证协会”（Numismatic Certification Institute，简称 NCI）。经过调查，FTC 认定 NCI 在硬币价值上严重误导了消费者。《洛杉矶时报》在1989年刊登的一篇报道精准剖析了这一骗局的机制，即使跨越30多年，其内容在今天看来依然字字诛心。硬币的价值主要由“稀缺性”与“品相等级”决定；稀缺性显而易见，但评级很大程度上属于主观判断。评级机构的核心宗旨本应是提供客观公正的分数，从而为市场锚定公允价格。然而，一旦评级机构恶意虚标等级以人为抬高标的物价值，整个体系便沦为欺诈。FTC 明确裁定“虚标评级”（overgrading）构成欺诈与不公平竞争。遭 FTC 指控的两家得克萨斯州公司正是 Heritage Capital Corp 与 NCI，而被直接点名的关键操盘人物正是史蒂夫·艾维（Steve Ivy）与吉姆·哈尔珀林（Jim Halperin）。最终双方签署同意令，设立了一个120万美元的补偿基金，用以退赔受害收藏者。 ```mermaid flowchart TD accTitle: 1980年代硬币虚标评级欺诈网络 accDescr: 展示了 Heritage Capital、NCI 与 Jim Halperin 如何通过虚标硬币等级抬高价格并误导买家，最终被 FTC 处以罚款并设立赔偿基金。 subgraph Manipulation["操控核心与零售端"] JH["Jim Halperin & Steve Ivy"] NCI["NCI（评级机构） 故意虚标品相等级"] HCC["Heritage Capital Corp 提供核心协助"] Retailer["Certified Rare Coin Galleries （迈阿密硬币零售商）"] JH --> NCI JH --> HCC NCI -->|"出具虚高评级封装"| Retailer HCC -->|"明知故犯提供协助"| Retailer end subgraph Consequences["监管查处与破灭"] FTC["FTC 联邦贸易委员会 判定虚标评级构成欺诈违规"] Fund["设立 120 万美元 消费者退赔补偿基金"] Retailer -->|"误导宣传高回报并卖给"| Buyers["受害投资者 / 收藏家"] FTC -->|"查处并签署同意令"| JH FTC -->|"下令建立"| Fund Fund -->|"赔偿损失"| Buyers end ``` 根据 FTC 1989年年度报告的记录，NCI 及其负责人 Steve Ivy 和 Jim Halperin 达成和解，承认其虚假陈述与未如实披露信息的行为误导了消费者对认证硬币的价值判断；其关联机构 Heritage Capital Corporation 同样就其明知零售商虚假宣传收益及安全性仍提供实质性协助的指控达成和解，两家机构共同被判处永久禁令，并出资120万美元用于赔偿受害者。更耐人寻味的是，Jim Halperin 还在1985年编写了《如何为美国硬币评级》（*How to Grade U.S. Coins*）一书，而该书正是随后主导市场的 PCGS 与 NGC 确立评级标准的基石。 Karl Jobst 直言不讳地指出：“There is a very strong case to be made that Jim Halperin is the single most responsible person for the coin bubble of the 80s.”（有极充分的理由证明，吉姆·哈尔珀林是导致80年代硬币泡沫的最核心责任人。） - 涉案实体：评级机构 NCI、母公司 Heritage Capital Corporation，以及关键人物 Steve Ivy 与 Jim Halperin。 - 法律定性：FTC 依据1914年设立法案，认定恶意虚标评级属于非法的不正当竞争与欺诈行为。 - 历史关联：Halperin 撰写的评级著作直接奠定了 PCGS 和 NGC 的评级规范，直接催生了当年的大泡沫。 ### [44:01](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=2641s) 惊人的巧合：跨越四十年的同套操盘手法如果说四十年前在硬币市场掀起惊天风浪是历史，那么如今在电子游戏收藏市场发生的一切，看起来就像是 Jim Halperin 将当年的剧本一字不差地重新上演了一遍。正如 Karl Jobst 所强调的，虽然法律上很难百分之百直接证明当事人的主观恶意意图，但有一点绝对可以彻底排除——那就是无知。Jim Halperin 曾因在80年代硬币泡沫中的恶劣行为被联邦政府重罚上百万美元，没有人会忘记这等教训。他深谙泡沫是如何构筑的，他亲眼见证过全过程，因此他也完全掌握再次制造泡沫的技术路径。回顾近年来复古游戏暴涨的关键节点，Jim Halperin 的身影无处不在、串联了整个闭环： 1. 2019年那盘以100,150美元创纪录成交、彻底引爆整个复古游戏炒作狂潮的《超级马力欧兄弟》（*Super Mario Bros.*）未开封卡带，其主要买家之一正是 Jim Halperin； 2. 他是垄断当前游戏评级行业的话语核心——Wata Games 的官方顾问，甚至据业内传闻他还是该公司的直接投资人； 3. 他是 Heritage Auctions（海瑞得拍卖行）的联合创始人兼联合董事长，而几乎所有创纪录的天价评级游戏都是通过该拍卖行落槌成交的。一个人同时作为顾问和潜在投资人渗透进评级机构、联合掌管拍卖平台、并且亲自带头以破纪录天价买入标的物造势，这一切绝对不可能仅仅是巧合。Karl Jobst 对此评价道：“Jim Halperin was extremely caught up in the 80s coin bubble and was so responsible that he was fined over a million dollars. You don't forget something like that. He knows exactly how bubbles are formed; he's seen them before, which is why he would know exactly how to create them again.”（吉姆·哈尔珀林曾极深地卷入80年代的硬币泡沫，并且由于责任重大被罚款超过百万美元。这种事是绝不会被遗忘的。他非常清楚泡沫是如何形成的，他曾亲身经历过，这正是为什么他精准知晓如何重新制造一个泡沫。） ### [45:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=2704s) 隐藏存世量报告与《蜘蛛侠》价格崩盘案例投机狂欢不可能无限期持续下去，复古游戏泡沫的破灭只是时间问题，而最有可能成为刺破泡沫导火索的，正是“存世量报告”（Population Reports）的公开。在所有正规且成熟的收藏品门类中（如漫画、球星卡、硬币），决定物品价值的核心是稀缺性，而评级机构公开存世量报告是行业标准实践。例如，只要在第三方漫画评级公司 CGC 的数据库中搜索《动作漫画》第1期（*Action Comics* #1），任何买家都可以清楚获知该公司到底评级过多少本该漫画、各个品相评级分别有多少本，从而在出手竞拍前对真实稀缺程度做出理性判断。然而，Wata Games 却反其道而行之，刻意向公众死守这些数据，坚决拒绝公开任何一款游戏的已评级数量和等级分布，导致整个市场对真实存世量一抹黑。一旦某款被吹捧为极度稀缺的游戏被曝出存世量巨大，其泡沫价格便会立时崩盘。雅达利2600（Atari 2600）平台的《蜘蛛侠》（*Spider-Man*）卡带便是最生动的惨痛例证： - 2020年5月，第一盘密封的《蜘蛛侠》卡带登上海瑞得拍卖行，评级高达 9.8 A++（几乎属于完美品相）。买家认为这款老游戏如此高分必然极度稀缺，最终以9,000美元的高价成交。 - 但事实极其讽刺：雅达利2600的《蜘蛛侠》根本一点都不稀缺，即便全新品相也存量颇丰。在9,000美元成交的示范效应刺激下，大量藏家将手中的库存送评并送拍，海瑞得拍卖行随即被海量 9.8 A++ 品相的《蜘蛛侠》彻底淹没。 - 随着大量货源涌入，成交价一泻千里：到了2021年4月，同样是 9.8 A++ 评分的《蜘蛛侠》卡带，拍卖成交价暴跌至仅870美元。在不到一年的时间里，价格暴跌了超过90%。这种情况正是 Wata Games 与海瑞得拍卖行最为忌惮的噩梦。真正的长线收藏家在过去两年里不断对这种黑箱操作表达抗议，但由于缺乏庞大的发声渠道和受众，在推波助澜的资本力量面前无能为力。不仅如此，主流媒体在报道天价游戏成交时，往往根本不向资深收藏家核实，仅仅机械引用 Wata 和海瑞得单方面提供的宣传公关稿，任由带有明显利益冲突的机构利用狂热炒作继续吹大泡沫。 - 关键机制：公开存世量报告（Population Reports）是衡量藏品真实稀缺性与市场定价的基础，Wata 故意隐藏该数据以维系暴利预期。 - 崩盘实录：雅达利2600《蜘蛛侠》（9.8 A++）在2020年5月以9,000美元成交，至2021年4月跌至870美元，跌幅超90%。 ### [48:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=2884s) 资深收藏界的痛诉：纯粹爱好的异化与掠夺面对被资本操弄得面目全非的生态，Karl Jobst 采访了在硬核复古游戏圈内深耕多年的元老级收藏家，倾听他们的控诉。油管博主、播客主持人兼资深游戏收藏家 Pat Contri（网名 Pat the NES Punk，自1990年代末起投身游戏收藏）表达了无尽的痛心与愤怒。 Contri 回顾道，电子游戏收藏原本是由无数玩家、小店店主、论坛研究者凭借纯粹的热爱、深度的钻研与多年的心血，一步一个脚印建立起来的宝贵亚文化。然而，这个大家共同珍视并呵护了几十年的领域，如今却被极少数投机客彻底扭曲并玷污，沦为了富豪敛财洗钱的投机赌场。几十年间为游戏历史梳理做出奉献的所有真实玩家和爱好者，如今全都被踩在脚下，成为了这群极少数操盘手牟取暴利的工具与垫脚石。 Pat Contri 沉痛地总结道：“The unfortunate end result is that this hobby that we all love has been perverted. It's been twisted to the ends of a small group of people to line their pockets. These are rich people getting richer, and they've stepped on and stepped over all the video game collectors, all the people that have sold the games, run video game shops, all the people on forums researching this illustrious and beautiful past history of video games... they've all been used. We've all been used now for the select few individuals to get richer, and it's a crying shame.”（令人痛心的最终结局是，我们所有人深爱的这项爱好已经被扭曲了。它被异化成了极少数人中饱私囊的工具。这是富人变得更富的把戏，他们践踏了所有的电子游戏收藏家、践踏了所有卖过游戏、开过游戏店的人，以及论坛上所有潜心考据电子游戏辉煌灿烂历史的人……他们全都被利用了。我们所有人都被利用成了让极少数人变得更有钱的工具，这真是一种莫大的耻辱与悲哀。） ### [49:29](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=2969s) 呼吁市场透明度与规范：严禁利益冲突与发布存世量报告复古游戏收藏界目前最根本的危机在于严重缺乏道德约束与信息透明度。在拍卖与评级环节中，潜在的利益冲突必须被置于阳光之下：公众有权知道拍卖行的运营管理人员是否亲自参与了被拍卖游戏的买卖，也有权知道负责评级游戏的机构人员是否在私下交易这些藏品。如果评级者和拍卖方一边制定规则、给出评分，一边亲自下场倒买倒卖，这在商业伦理上是绝对不道德的，必须彻底曝光并予以纠正。解决这种信息不对称与人为操纵的方法其实非常简单：Wata 等评级机构必须定期公开并即时更新所有已评级藏品的存世量报告（population reports）。正如收藏专家 Shawn（来自频道 Reserved Investments）在呼吁中所指出的那样，只要能确切掌握存世量数据，很多人为制造的稀缺假象便会不攻自破。他强调，普通收藏者绝不应盲目指望靠跟风炒作实现长期暴富，而是应当联合起来向评级机构和拍卖行施压，要求全行业推行公开透明的制度。Shawn 尖锐地总结道：“Guys, this is a problem due to the fact that there is a lack of ethics and a lack of transparency in these markets.”（各位，这个问题归根结底是因为这些市场严重缺乏职业道德与透明度。） ```mermaid flowchart TD accTitle: 规范复古游戏市场所需的透明度机制 accDescr: 展示规范复古游戏市场所需的两项关键透明度举措及其实施目标 subgraph 核心诉求 A["评级与拍卖机构利益隔离"] B["定期公开发布存世量报告 (Population Reports)"] end subgraph 治理目标 C["杜绝内部人员利用评级与拍卖自买自卖"] D["打破人为虚构的稀缺假象，恢复真实供需"] end A --> C B --> D ``` - **利益冲突披露**：拍卖行运营者及评级公司员工若参与藏品的买卖交易，必须被视为不道德行为并予以制止。 - **信息公开化**：评级机构必须定期且持续地更新各等级卡带的存世量统计，消除利用信息差操纵价格的土壤。 - **收藏者的诉求转变**：玩家不应沉迷于投机发财的幻想，而应向评级公司和拍卖平台索要应有的知情权与行业操守。 --- ### [50:36](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=3036s) 投机泡沫的外溢伤害：普通玩家受害与假象破灭这场资本炒作引发的恶果绝非仅仅局限于动辄百万美元的未拆封天价神作，而是迅速蔓延至整个复古游戏生态。在过去的两年时间里，几乎每一款复古游戏的二手售价都在急剧上涨，甚至连普通的裸卡或非密封卡带也不能幸免。这种非理性的恶性通胀使得真心热爱、希望一点一滴建立自己藏品库的普通玩家彻底受到伤害，整个爱好因门槛高不可攀而难以为继。更为恶劣的是，投机分子利用媒体对天价成交记录的宣传在二级市场上大肆欺诈，例如在 eBay 上，原本仅值 10 美元的任天堂 64 单卡《超级马力欧 64》（Super Mario 64），竟被标价数百乃至数千美元出售。少数拥有雄厚资本与行业权力的人已经劫持了原本纯粹的收藏圈，他们对暴利的渴求正在让所有真正热爱游戏的人承担代价。Karl Jobst 表达了自己深切的愤怒与反感，坦言看到无数玩家童年时珍视的心爱之物沦为金融投机者赌博、圈钱的工具，令人感到生理上的厌恶。他由衷希望这种试图榨干盲目跟风受害者最后一分钱的荒谬行径能够尽快画上句号。Karl Jobst 直言不讳地指出：“As someone who does care deeply about gaming, it honestly sickens me that these people have turned these cherished possessions into a means to gamble and speculate, and I hope this ridiculous practice of trying to extract profit from the suckers who buy the hype will end sooner rather than later.”（作为一个对游戏怀有深厚感情的人，看到这些人把大家珍视的宝物变成投机和赌博的工具，我真心感到恶心，我希望这种从盲从炒作者身上榨取暴利的荒唐行径能尽早终结。） - **价格全面恶性通胀**：过去两年间，不仅密封未拆封游戏飙升，各类常见卡带与配件的二手价格也全面飞涨。 - **二手平台欺诈横行**：投机者利用破纪录的天价新闻误导外行，在 eBay 上将仅值 10 美元的裸卡标出几百乃至数千美元的荒谬价格。 - **玩家生态遭受挤压**：高昂的投机溢价彻底破坏了收藏门槛，使真正热爱游戏的平民玩家无法建立属于自己的藏品。 --- ### [51:31](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=3091s) 致谢调查协助者与最终警示在调查的尾声，Karl Jobst 向几位在整个调查过程中提供关键洞见与行业内幕的真正收藏家表达了由衷的感谢，并呼吁观众订阅他们的频道以获取真实客观的声音。其中包括长期深耕复古游戏圈的“Pat the NES Punk”，以及对另类资产投资与收藏市场有着深厚研究的 Shawn（Reserved Investments）。这两位藏家大半生都致力于游戏收藏，不仅具备专业知识，更难能可贵的是他们敢于站出来揭露行业黑暗面并讲出真相。此外，Karl Jobst 还特别向来自 Comic Book Investments 的 David Wilson 致敬，赞赏他极具担当与勇气，敢于冒着风险向外界透露其所掌握的内幕情况。最后，Karl Jobst 告诫广大玩家与观众，希望这期调查能让大家看清掌权者是如何在小众收藏品市场中一手制造投机泡沫的。当未来再次出现类似的资本作局与炒作苗头时，社区绝不能保持沉默，必须果断站出来予以揭穿和抵制，向操纵者明确表明公众不会纵容此类欺瞒行为。 - **致谢名单**： - **Pat the NES Punk**：多年专注 NES 与复古游戏文化的元老级创作者。 - **Shawn（Reserved Investments）**：揭示收藏品投机本质与市场伦理的资深投资观察者。 - **David Wilson（Comic Book Investments）**：冒着行业压力勇敢提供关键内幕信息的揭发者。 - **行动呼吁**：呼吁整个游戏社区保持清醒与警惕，一旦发现任何权贵资本再次试图构建虚假投机泡沫，必须坚决发声抵制。 ## Notable quotes > [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=0s) The bubble we are seeing in video games has been seen before in other collectibles for almost half a century and the crazy thing is that each time it happens the same people are involved. — Karl Jobst > [05:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=326s) Whenever you see a grading company or an auction house talking about how valuable games are, you know it's because they want to drive prices up again. — Karl Jobst > [32:46](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A&t=1966s) The average collector, the average speculator and the average investor out there is overvaluing a lot of these items based on the grade, not realizing that in certain instances the grade is arbitrary, it is an estimation, it is not an exact science — Shawn ## Mentioned Karl Jobst, Jim Halperin, Steve Ivy, Deniz Kahn, Zac Gieg, Richard Lecce, Eric Naierman, Gary Hendershott, Pat Contri, David Wilson, Dain Anderson, Jeff Meyer, Mark Haspel, Shawn (Reserved Investments), Wata Games, Heritage Auctions, Video Game Authority (VGA), Just Press Play, Rally (RSE Archive LLC), Otis, Mythic Markets, GoCollect, NintendoAge, Game Value Now, PCGS, NGC, CGC, Numismatic Certification Institute (NCI), Heritage Capital Corporation, Certified Rare Coin Galleries, Kidder, Peabody & Co., Merrill Lynch, UBS, FTC (联邦贸易委员会), SEC (美国证券交易委员会), Pawn Stars (《典当之星》), The Washington Post, The New York Times, Kotaku, Ars Technica, The Verge, 超级马力欧兄弟 (Super Mario Bros.), 超级马力欧64 (Super Mario 64), 迈克泰森拳击 (Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!), 黄金眼 007 (GoldenEye 007), 侠盗猎车手 (Grand Theft Auto), 大金刚 (Donkey Kong), 银河战士 (Metroid), 宝可梦黄 (Pokémon Yellow), 高尔夫 (Golf), 古墓丽影 (Tomb Raider), 蜘蛛侠 (Spider-Man, Atari 2600), 洛克人 (Mega Man), 恶魔城 (Castlevania), 塞尔达传说 (The Legend of Zelda), Action Comics #1 ## Video description Support the channel on Patreon - http://patreon.com/karljobst Absolute Legend MERCH - https://streamlabs.com/karljobst/merch In today's video we take a look at the current retro video game bubble. We learn who caused it to happen, who is profiting, and what needs to be done to fix it. Subscribe to these collectors: Pat the NES Punk - https://www.youtube.com/user/PatTheNESpunk Reserved Investments - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx7Bgclw--3869YPuztSH9A Comic Book Investments - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvllaJtVO3hlWTd8IM2cTnw Please follow me on these platforms, it really helps! Discord: https://discord.gg/EjDRvg7 Twitter: https://twitter.com/karljobstgaming Twitch: https://twitch.tv/karljobst Music: GTA V - Pause music Galaxy map - Mass Effect Steady - Veritas Deep Sea - Perfect Dark Carrington Institute - Perfect Dark Maian Tears - Perfect Dark Resurrections - Celeste Home Bay - Ecco Level 0 - Tetris Cd-i [Source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvLFEh7V18A)

Source quotes

[0:00] Karl Jobst: The bubble we are seeing in video games has been seen before in other collectibles for almost half a century and the crazy thing is that each time it happens the same people are involved. [5:26] Karl Jobst: Whenever you see a grading company or an auction house talking about how valuable games are, you know it's because they want to drive prices up again. [32:46] Shawn: The average collector, the average speculator and the average investor out there is overvaluing a lot of these items based on the grade, not realizing that in certain instances the grade is arbitrary, it is an estimation, it is not an exact science

Source quotes

[7:59] Karl Jobst: The entire point of certification is to guarantee authenticity and quality, but a guarantee is worthless if you haven't established a history of accurate work. [5:47] Karl Jobst: Whenever you see a grading company or an auction house talking about how valuable games are, you know it's because they want to drive prices up. [2:52] Karl Jobst: If you know how speculative bubbles work, you can theoretically create them at will. [12:40] Dennis Kahn: I've always said video games are going to go the way of comics or cars or coins. It's only a matter of time until a video game sells for a million dollars. [40:48] Karl Jobst: It’s impossible to prove intent, but one thing you can certainly disprove is ignorance.

Original transcript

[0:00] hello you absolute legends in 2017 the [0:04] most expensive video game ever sold cost [0:06] thirty thousand dollars it was a mint [0:09] condition sealed copy of the original [0:11] super mario brothers in 2021 the most [0:14] expensive video game ever bought cost [0:16] two million dollars but this was a very [0:19] special game oh actually it was the same [0:22] game that's an increase of over six [0:24] thousand percent for the same game in [0:26] just four years something very strange [0:29] is happening in the world of video game [0:31] collecting headlines are flooding the [0:33] internet describing new records set for [0:35] insane prices but this is an extremely [0:38] recent phenomenon and one that seems to [0:40] have arisen overnight for the past [0:43] several decades video game collecting [0:45] has honestly been pretty niche truly [0:48] dedicated collectors seemed to be few [0:50] and far between and even if they did [0:52] amass a respectable collection there was [0:54] little fame to be gathered from it in [0:56] contrast to something like the art world [0:58] where collectors represent the richest [1:00] of society flaunting their lavish [1:02] purchases video game collecting was [1:04] mostly done by the purist of heart [1:07] regular gamers nerds in the truest sense [1:10] who were just so passionate about the [1:12] hobby that they were happy to spend [1:13] whatever spare cash they could scramble [1:15] together to acquire a cart here or there [1:18] often as cheaply as they possibly could [1:20] video game collectors weren't rich but [1:23] they didn't need to be either retro [1:25] video games were never that expensive [1:27] therefore basically anyone could do it [1:29] and that was one of the great things [1:31] about it all you really needed was [1:33] passion and time but in 2018 something [1:36] happened that would change everything [1:39] the launch of a company called water [1:41] games this was no ordinary launch and [1:44] water is no ordinary company there is a [1:47] select group of very wealthy very [1:49] powerful people who are pulling the [1:51] strings behind this recent spike in [1:53] video game prices and those same people [1:55] are making money hand over fist when i [1:58] heard the news of a 1.5 million dollar [2:00] super mario 64 this seemed too [2:03] ridiculous for me to ignore i knew there [2:05] had to be more to this story than meets [2:07] the eye and boy was i not wrong this [2:10] rabbit hole is deep the bubble we are [2:12] seeing in video games has been seen [2:14] before in other collectibles for almost [2:16] half a century and the crazy thing is [2:19] that each time it happens the same [2:21] people are involved they know exactly [2:23] what they are doing and they know how to [2:25] extract as much money as possible from [2:27] suckers who believe the headlines there [2:29] is a lot of shady stuff going on and you [2:32] won't believe what i've found this [2:34] entire situation is fraught with [2:36] unethical business practices deception [2:38] collusion and even fraud by the end of [2:41] this video you will know exactly why [2:43] this is happening who is causing it to [2:44] happen and what needs to be done to stop [2:47] it i really hope you enjoy [2:52] now before we get into the specific [2:54] details about how this entire racket [2:56] works there are some concepts that i [2:57] want you to be familiar with so that you [2:59] can better understand the context the [3:01] first is the difference between the [3:03] intrinsic and extrinsic properties of an [3:06] object and how they relate to perceived [3:08] value intrinsic properties lie within [3:10] the object itself for example if we were [3:13] to examine a painting the intrinsic [3:15] properties would be the materials it was [3:17] made of and also of course how the [3:19] painting actually looked the extrinsic [3:21] properties would be the relationship the [3:23] artwork had with everything else who it [3:25] was painted by when it was painted the [3:27] context in which it was painted and how [3:30] sought after the pieces are all [3:31] important qualities when it comes to [3:33] perceived value it is the extrinsic [3:36] qualities of a collectible that raises [3:37] the cost significantly van gogh [3:40] paintings often sell for tens of [3:42] millions of dollars but if we were to [3:44] program a robot to paint an identical [3:46] piece it wouldn't be worth much more [3:48] than the cost of the paint and the [3:50] canvas ultimately both pieces would look [3:53] the same on our wall but us weird and [3:55] wacky humans like to care about the [3:57] details that don't directly impact us we [3:59] are even willing to spend millions of [4:01] dollars more than we need to because of [4:04] these details in the 17th century during [4:07] the dutch golden age an event happened [4:09] known as tulip mania where the price of [4:12] tulip bulbs reached insane levels at the [4:15] time tulip bulbs were a luxury item that [4:17] were highly desired for their intense [4:19] colors and as their popularity slowly [4:21] increased over the years the price [4:23] inevitably went up eventually people [4:26] began noticing the trend of rising [4:28] prices and started to speculate on the [4:31] market speculating means buying a good [4:34] not due to need but purely in the hopes [4:36] that the price will increase so that you [4:38] can sell it at a later date for profit [4:41] with investors beginning to flood the [4:43] tulip market this began a positive [4:45] feedback loop driving prices up even [4:48] more as the price increased faster not [4:50] wanting to miss out on the opportunity [4:52] even more people started buying in this [4:55] caused the first recorded speculative [4:57] bubble in history and there are two [4:59] important things to know about these [5:01] types of bubbles first no one buying [5:03] actually wants tulips they just hope to [5:06] make money and secondly this process is [5:09] not sustainable and eventually people [5:11] stop buying and the price crashes those [5:15] left holding tulips lose everything as [5:17] their value plummets back to normal i [5:19] want you to remember this process [5:21] because the exact same thing is [5:23] happening with video games right now but [5:26] the difference is that this current [5:27] video game bubble isn't an accident you [5:30] see if you know how speculative bubbles [5:32] work you can theoretically create them [5:34] at will all you would have to do is [5:36] raise the perceived price of a good [5:38] quick enough so that speculators see the [5:40] trend and start entering the market then [5:43] you can just sit back and let the [5:44] positive feedback loop do the work [5:47] profiting from your artificially created [5:49] bubble by buying games early and selling [5:51] later is rather obvious but there are [5:54] actually smarter ways to make money ways [5:56] that incur far less risk in the current [5:59] video game market and the collectible [6:01] market in general there are two [6:02] institutions that stand to gain the most [6:05] from increasing prices those are grading [6:08] companies and auction houses a grading [6:10] company is a business that inspects [6:12] games certifies them and gives them a [6:14] rating of quality they are basically [6:17] quality assurance they allow buyers to [6:19] know exactly what they are getting which [6:21] enables quick and easy transactions in a [6:24] bubble people are flocking to get their [6:26] games graded in the hopes of profiting [6:28] from the increasing prices but it's not [6:30] just the extra business that helps [6:31] grading companies as they also take a [6:34] percentage of the market value when [6:36] grading a game a game worth ten thousand [6:38] dollars might cost around four hundred [6:40] dollars to have graded but if that exact [6:42] same game was valued at one million [6:44] dollars it would cost over twenty [6:47] thousand dollars to have graded it's a [6:49] pretty good deal but the institution [6:51] that really profits the most by far is [6:54] auction houses take heritage auctions [6:56] for example which is where all of the [6:58] current record-breaking video game sales [7:00] are taking place they charge a 20 [7:03] percent buyer's premium on every sale so [7:06] if you buy a video game for 1 million [7:08] dollars you need to pay the auction [7:10] house 200 000 on top and just for shits [7:13] and giggles they also take five percent [7:16] from the seller as well you can begin to [7:18] see why grading companies and auction [7:20] houses would really want prices to go up [7:23] it's in their interest this is also why [7:25] grading companies and auction houses [7:27] should never be speculating on the price [7:29] of goods or impacting markets directly [7:32] they have a huge conflict of interest [7:34] and whenever you see a grading company [7:35] or an auction house talking about how [7:37] valuable games are you know it's because [7:39] they want to drive prices up again [7:42] you'll need to keep all of this in mind [7:44] i'm going to provide you with a ton of [7:45] information and i'm going to trust you [7:47] to connect the dots if you are really [7:49] interested in learning what's going on i [7:51] suggest writing down details as we go or [7:54] watching sections more than once let's [7:56] begin [7:59] the two institutions that you will [8:00] become very familiar with are water [8:03] games the video game grading company and [8:05] heritage auctions the auction house [8:08] water games was founded in 2017 but it [8:11] didn't officially launch until april of [8:13] 2018. water games is the linchpin behind [8:16] this entire bubble and the certification [8:19] that water provides is the justification [8:21] for why they are sold at such high [8:23] prices interestingly water wasn't the [8:26] first video game grading company to [8:28] exist in fact the video game authority [8:30] aka vga has been grading games since [8:33] 2008 but the introduction of vga didn't [8:37] cause a bubble like the introduction of [8:39] what a games did and the reason is [8:42] simple vga didn't manipulate the market [8:45] or go out of their way to create a [8:47] bubble the same can't be said for water [8:50] however the president and ceo of water [8:52] games is dennis khan and he is a key [8:55] player the other important company [8:58] heritage auctions was founded in 1976 by [9:01] steve ivey and jim halperin steve ivey [9:04] isn't very important to this story but [9:06] jim on the other hand is critical [9:08] heritage auctions are in the business of [9:10] selling rare collectibles and [9:12] memorabilia they sell coins comics art [9:16] anything you can collect that has value [9:18] and in 2019 they started selling video [9:21] games but not just any video games only [9:24] games that had been graded through water [9:26] games the interesting thing about the [9:28] relationship between water and heritage [9:30] is that it seems to have existed before [9:32] water even began grading games on the [9:35] initial website of water when it [9:37] launched it had a dealer spotlight [9:39] section where it listed key [9:40] relationships one was heritage auctions [9:43] where it stated that water certified [9:44] video games will be featured in heritage [9:47] online auctions this doesn't make sense [9:50] the entire point of certification is to [9:52] guarantee authenticity and quality but a [9:55] guarantee is worthless if you haven't [9:57] established a history of accurate work [9:59] 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