Will the 2006 Wii become an antique in 25-30 years? What console will become one?

[Dekema2]

I don't know how these antique devices work. If the original Mac sells for thousands of dollars today as an antique, will a console as popular as the original Wii have that same impact decades from now? Or, since it was mass produced, will it be worthless?

 

[casperes1996]

I sincerely doubt it will reach that point, though it's extremely hard to predict such things. If on the other hand you can get hold of a functioning NES, SNES or similar and keep it in working condition that, I would say, will go up in price soon. But again, hard to predict this stuff

 

[JohnGrey]

I don't know how these antique devices work. If the original Mac sells for thousands of dollars today as an antique, will a console as popular as the original Wii have that same impact decades from now? Or, since it was mass produced, will it be worthless?

It'll be worthless mostly, except to perhaps a Nintendo-specific collector and then only for the hardware itself. The problem with relatively modern game consoles' ability to be collectible is a combination of hardware failure and a changes in development trends. Most consoles today are built around optical media, and the combination of finicky laser optics and wear to high-speed rotational elements means that there's a much lower operational longevity and the failure rate for used hardware is much higher than for solid state cartridge systems, like those that were prevalent prior to the PS1 and which remain hugely collectible today. The other issue is development, which has shifted away from integral development, where the golden master is truly the final word with no patches or subsequent development to fine tune mechanics or performance, to one of constant tinkering. Whilst this is good in the sense that titles that are poorly optimised titles can be corrected after the fact, those changes aren't persistent, which means any future attempt to play games on a system without those updates will be done with the original launch versions with little to no possibility to patch game-breaking bugs. These two problems means that most of the sixth generation hardware one aren't going to be particularly collectible beyond strict brand enthusiasts. In the case of the Wii, which sold 101m units, someone will likely be able to walk into a goodwill for the next ten to fifteen years and pick one up for a under $20.

 

[0098386]

Computers go for a lot because of how iconic they are, but the problem with consoles is how mass produced they are. There will be retro value for sure. Even now a NES is worth a lot more than it was new.

What might be worth a lot are limited edition consoles. I've got a Famicon (com?) edition Gameboy Micro that's worth a bit more than a Nintendo Switch!

 

[gkarris]

It will if it is some sort of special edition or bundle and you have it CIB (Complete-In-Box).

It is the special stuff that is actually worth money (like the box/paperwork, special edition consoles, etc.).

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

Even the oldest consoles are not worth extremely much, ie. nothing compared to old Apples for instance, as they can easily be found. But a few games are *very* valuable, due to low production numbers: If you want to see what I mean.