Rally, an investment platform for “buying & selling equity shares in collectible assets” paid a huge $140k for a sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. (a record amount). But Rally is already planning to sell shares in the game worth $150k next week.
The reason for the hefty price tag was because it was rated “near-perfect 9.8 A+” by game grading company Wata Games. who also said it was one of only 14 factory-sealed copies of the game.
Ars Technica reported the story in detail and spoke to Rally’s VP of Operations, Fitz Tepper:
“Over the last year or so we’ve heard from our members and have observed the industry grow, and it’s clear that there is a community that believes in both the financial and emotional value of these games and wants access to invest in them. We’ve seen this demand from asset classes already on the platform, like sports memorabilia, trading cards, or collector cars and are now thrilled to add video games to that list.”
I don’t know much about stocks, shares, and assets, but this is another portrayal of capitalism as a game for rich people to play. In this case, the game stars a couple of Italian plumbers. I wonder how much my unboxed Japanese copy of Pokémon Silver is worth on the stock market.