Over the past few years, vintage video game fans have seen the prices of vintage games skyrocket. However, some believe that these prices have been artificially inflated by rating company Wata Games and Heritage Auctions. A class action lawsuit was filed against Wata in the Central District of California by plaintiffs who paid for the company’s services. lawsuit based on Reports that Wata and Heritage Auctions colluded to manipulate ancient game values, overvalue the increased values and failed to disclose the fact that Jim Halperin, co-founder of Heritage Auctions, is a member of Wata’s advisory board.
In a file obtained by Chronicle video gamesWata is accused of “engaging in affirmative action to manipulate the market for older video games, engaging in unfair business practices, engaging in false advertising, making false statements about response times for service rating services and failing to disclose material delays to customers.”
The crux of the accusation is the fact that Wata charges customers a higher percentage for appreciation based on the market value of the game. As such, Wata benefits when the game’s value increases. In 2019, a graduated version of Wata . was released Super Mario Bros. The NES sold for $100,150, breaking the previous record for the most expensive game ever sold; In 2017, a similar copy of the game sold for about 30 thousand dollars. However, Wata failed to indicate in any of its press releases about the sale that one of the three buyers was Halperin, who sits on the company’s advisory board.
The lawsuit also refers to the 2019 episode of star pawnwhere Richard Lecce, one of the three buyers, brought the same copy of Super Mario Bros. to try to sell it for a million dollars. Host Rick Harrison declined the number, stating that he believed “Mario hit him on the head with a pipe wrench,” but consulted Watta CEO Deniz Khan before making a final decision. For this segment, Khan estimated the game at $300,000, a much higher amount than what the three men paid earlier in the year. At no point in the episode did Khan or Lecce indicate any connection or relationship, and the value of the game could have been seen as much greater for the general public following the segment.
“Frankly, the pawn shop did not enter into any transaction to purchase the game,” the lawsuit reads. “However, the vision and purported value of the game has been successfully amplified to the public.”
What do you think of the class action? Were you surprised by the high prices of old games? Tell us in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at Tweet embed To talk about all things gaming!
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