Nintendo-published titles rank second in maintaining their price as used games, and several even sell for more than their MSRP.
According to a recent analysis of the second-hand game market, Nintendo-published titles retain their value longer than those of any other publisher save Bethesda.
The study, conducted by pricing data site Video Game Price Charts, compared the resale price of games from publishers who had released six or more game SKUs (meaning different editions of the same game are counted separately) in 2008. They found that Nintendo-published titles have an average value decrease of 12.9 percent between MSRP and second-hand pricing. They also discovered that Mario Kart Wii, Wii Fit, Rapala Fishing Frenzy, and the Rock Band 2 bundle actually surpassed their MSRP pricing by 16 to 55 percent when sold used.
Although Nintendo-published games did not claim the top spot in value retention, used games for Nintendo's Wii and DS consoles maintained their prices better than all other consoles on the market. On average, secondhand DS games sold for 25.5 percent off their MSRP, and used Wii games sold at only a 25.4 percent decrease.
VGPC discussed some of the factors that lead to a particular titles value retention including game quality, lastability, and appeal. They stated that "casual games," such as Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit, tend to sell consistently over time and have better resale values because people are more likely to play them continuously. Games for the "hardcore" crowd tend to be played through quickly and then resold in order to purchase a new game.
VGPC also suggested that retailers are raising the demand for used Wii games by failing to stock enough titles to begin with. Electronic Entertainment Design and Research Director of Analytical Services Jesse Divnich stated that retailers "don't fully understand the Wii consumer yet which often leads to retail sell-outs, which correlates with higher resale prices." VGPC pointed out that "the top four titles on the top games by resale price list are Wii games that were sold out at many stores at the end of 2008."
