Summary
- Don't sell games; you may want to replay them later for nostalgia or to prep for a sequel.
- Bad launches can be patched; remasters sometimes disappoint. Keep originals and discs for future play.
- Resale value is low; selling erases preservation and the chance to pass games to friends or family.
Players sell their games for all sorts of reasons. When gamers are kids, without jobs, selling games is one of the best ways to stay up to date with the latest and greatest. The fall season is one of the hardest times to be into video games, because there is so much choice and not a lot of cash or time to play everything.
So, there are definitely solid reasons to sell games online or at places like GameStop. However, as fans of games, players should think about the bigger picture. That’s why selling games can be a bad decision, or at least one that can lead to heartache in the future. Everyone has a right to do what they want, but here are some suggestions as to why selling can be a bad choice.
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It’s Fun Reliving The Past
Having a pristine library of games is a privilege, and forward-thinking players of the 80s and 90s have amassed quite a collection. Most kids probably threw their boxes from NES and SNES games away, which was a mistake from a value standpoint.
Regardless of boxes, it’s nice to be able to go to a shelf or binder and pick out a game to play without any sort of hassle. Players never know when the desire to replay a game will arise, like when a sequel is coming out. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, one of 2025’s biggest games, is a great example, as some fans went back to Death Stranding to get ready, and that’s just one example.
Selling For A Bad Experience Is Silly
Patches Can Fix Everything
The idea of paying $70 or more for games is nauseating to a lot of fans, as that’s a lot of money to invest in an unsure experience. Cyberpunk 2077 is a great example of a game that had a bad launch, no matter if players experienced it on a console or PC. It was so bad that some digital stores, like PSN, removed the game temporarily until CD Projekt Red fixed the big issues.
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This also made some players sell their physical copies back. The lesson here is that even if players have a bad experience and want to sell their games back quickly, they should have faith that the developer can fix things with patches. It doesn’t work for every game, but it did for Cyberpunk 2077.
Don’t Sell For A Remaster
The Original Could Be Better
Since the 80s, fans of all kinds of media have been trained to constantly upgrade their collections. For movies, fans went from VHS to DVD to Blu-ray, rebuying the same content over and over for a “better” experience. When a special addition, remake, or remaster comes out for a game, players may feel conditioned to sell the old version to trade up for the new edition.
This can sometimes be a bad thing, like in the case of Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3 in the Silent Hill HD Collection, which was not well received. Thankfully, Silent Hill 2 at least got a better version via the remake in 2024. Keeping the original versions around can have benefits.
Consoles May Have Great Backwards Compatibility
The Xbox Is A Trendsetter
When a new console gets announced, backwards compatibility can be a make-or-break feature for some players. For Xbox fans, Microsoft has been doing a lot since the Xbox One generation. Xbox 360 discs could be put into the console and played as long as the system itself supported that game.
Spec Ops: The Line is a good example. It is currently delisted on Xbox and Steam, but anyone who bought it digitally before the purge (or has a physical disc) is still good. It even works on an Xbox Series X with a disc drive, so players never know when their old games will work again on new consoles.
The Delisting Dilemma
You Never Know When Games Will Disappear
The idea of delisting games deserves some more attention. Most of the time, a game will get delisted when a license runs out on a specific property. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game is a good example, and once it disappeared, it was gone for years because it existed as a digital-only game. Thankfully, it has returned, and with physical additions too.
Sometimes delistings don’t make sense. For example, Battlefield: Bad Company 2. EA never released a remake or remaster, and it’s not based on a license. Sometimes companies just remove games, which is why physical copies are important to preserve video game culture. They're worth holding onto.
Most Shops Won’t Give You A Good Deal
Keep Your Investments
Selling a game back to a place like GameStop will usually not get players a lot of cash in return, even after just a week or two after launch. That’s one reason why the resale market is weird, but there is also value in holding onto something because the rarity can increase even if the game is perceived as poor.
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For example, the Greatest Hits version of Dead Space 3 was released in a limited supply. The case was new, but the disc was the same, which made this low-print run of the game rare and thus valuable. Players shouldn’t buy every game and hoard them in hopes of one day getting a big payout, but the Dead Space 3 example is still solid.
Pass Your Legacy Along
Lending To Friends And Family
The best reason to keep every game purchased is to build a legacy that can be passed on to friends or family members down the line. Game preservation isn’t for everyone, but for fans who are truly dedicated, it can be a magical thing.
Playing Chrono Trigger on a tube TV with a SNES is a great example of how rewinding the clock can provide a unique experience. It’s fitting since this classic RPG is all about time travel. That’s a very specific situation, but it’s just one of many reasons why physical copies are great, provided players have the storage space.
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