Hope everyone's spring is off to a better start than LAST year's!  Here's all the new and restocked titles in our store TODAY, including some stupid-rare PS2 titles.  Check 'em out:

Atari 2600:
Basic Math
Sky Skipper

Colecovision:
Super Action Football

NES:
Mega Man 6
Galaga
Godzilla
Popeye
M.C. Kids
Metroid
Genghis Khan
Ghostbusters II
Harlem Globetrotters
Beetlejuice
Pac-Man (Tengen black cartridge)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

GameCube:
Peter Jackson's King Kong
Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg

N64:
F-Zero X
Asteroids Hyper 64

Wii:
Cruis'n
Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 2
Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Duel Transer
EA Sports Active
Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2010
Resident Evil 4
Go Diego GO! Great Dinosaur Rescue
Kirby's Epic Yarn
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

DS:
Ultimate Mortal Kombat (Sealed!)

Genesis: 
Alisia Dragoon

Sega CD:
Dune
Road Avenger

Saturn:
Worldwide Soccer

3DO:
Shockwave 2: Beyond the Gate
Star Fighter
Pebble Beach Golf Links
John Madden Football
Slam n' Jam '95
The Need for Speed
Twisted: The Game Show

PS1:
The King of Fighters '99
Mortal Kombat 3 (longbox)
1Xtreme

PS2: 
Fatal Frame (Sealed!)
Need for Speed Most Wanted
Silent Hill 2 
Silent Hill 3
Spyro: A Hero's Tail
God Hand
Echo Night: Beyond (x4)
Haunting Ground (PAL, Sealed)
Haunting Ground (PAL)
Rayman 2 Revolution
Death by Degrees
King's Field 4: The Ancient City
Mister Mosquito

PS3:
Shadows of the Damned
God of War III
Resident Evil Revelations 2
Fallout 3
Need for Speed Pro Street

PS4: 
Last of Us Remastered
Star Wars Battlefront II
Until Dawn

Xbox:
Leisure Suit Larry Magna Cum Laude
Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb
Red Dead Revolver
Voodoo Vince
Capcom Vs. SNK 2 EO
Fantastic Four
Judge Dredd: Dredd vs Death
King of Fighters 2002 - Challenge to Ultimate Battle

Xbox 360:
The King of Fighters XIII
Need for Speed Undercover
Lollipop Chainsaw

One year after the shutdown of the entire freakin' planet, the cost of retro gaming has been on a meteoric rise.  Rare games that might have been occasional indulgences for some collectors may now be completely out of reach to all but a few. We've personally heard from fellow gamers that the state of collecting as a hobby seems abysmal compared to, say 2019, and while that might seem extreme, there's certainly an overwhelming malaise in the hobby.

Let's take a look at some causes and effects of retro game inflation:

1. More entertainment dollars being spent at home. With less options available to the public, focus turns to spending money on home entertainment options, like video games, music, and streaming/physical media movies.  This increases demand.
2. Stimulus payments (U.S.)  It's important to note that we've seen a jump in sales at every stimulus payment.  It's easy to draw the correlation between extra money in everyone's account and increased investment in our favorite hobby.  This feeds the willingness of some to pay exorbitant prices for certain games. 
3. Decreased supply, increased demand. Because of the pandemic, less people are out selling their used games at local brick-and-mortar stores, yet there is an increased demand for them.  As a result, hard-to-find games are showing up on outlets like OfferUp and eBay regularly instead of stores, but the increase in gamer budgets leads to bidding wars and prices increasing for retro games and systems across the board.  

And here lies the heart of the problem: prices are rising, and for retailers, both online and brick-and-mortar, getting new stock at reasonable prices is much more difficult.  The result is an jump in prices to accommodate businesses' growing costs.

It seems like a snake eating its own tail...a never-ending cycle of inflation.  But with the world opening up again, there is hope that the gaming economy will course-correct and we'll see prices come back down.  As more people venture out and sell their items in bulk, game stores and websites like ours will be able to make deals that will be beneficial to both the gamer and the business.  

As a family-owned small business, Retro Rocket has been able to sustain itself because of our size.  It seems counter-intuitive, but our lower volume and online-only presence means that we can price fairly and pick-and-choose what we decide to buy and sell easier than, say, a GameStop.

Overall, we believe the inflation will right itself over the course of the next year and hopefully collecting can remain fun for everyone...not just to those with deep, deep pockets.