Will Hard Drives Be Collectible in the Future?

[Rev]

With the change of digital copies replacing physical copies of games, I have to wonder if hard drives on game consoles will become valuable in the future. If you think about it, there are a bunch of games that are only ever released digitally anymore, and what happens when they are pulled from the digital stores? Some examples include Hydro Thunder Hurricane, which was pulled from digital shelves, as well as the Silent Hill demo. You can already see a trend of gamers trying to sell their consoles, with unique games downloaded onto them, for ridiculous sums of money. Will that be the future collectible in the coming years?

[ptdebate]

I don't think this will ever happen because of how fragile and temporary hard drives are. Even the very best hard drives in existence are subject to failure after five years of heavy use.

I'm not worried about the future of digital games because gamers generally do a good job of preserving ephemeral titles such as BS Zelda, Radical Dreamers, or any other early digital Nintendo title. At any given time, these 20-year-old titles can be sourced from any of thousands of users across the globe. The same will undoubtedly be true of current digital games twenty years from now, regardless of whether or not the publishers cease distribution.

[Rookie1]

Wouldn't surprise me. I remember people selling memory cards with save files for a ton of cash at one time.

[VideoGameCritic]

Nope. Hard drives are the most unreliable things known to mankind. Heck, most manufacturers won't even give you a five-year warranty. And once it breaks, it's gone. You can't run a disk doctor over that thing.

I have never liked having hard drives in consoles. I can understand the utility of using a hard disk for fast loading and game saves, but it's the most unsafe place to house a game you purportedly own.

[Rev]

Nope. Hard drives are the most unreliable things known to mankind. Heck, most manufacturers won't even give you a five-year warranty. And once it breaks, it's gone. You can't run a disk doctor over that thing.

I have never liked having hard drives in consoles. I can understand the utility of using a hard disk for fast loading and game saves, but it's the most unsafe place to house a game you purportedly own.

Hard drives are crazy unreliable. No doubt about that. Still, I can't help but feel that for a newer generation, that grows up on consoles that only has digital titles, many of the games might get pulled from the shelf and disappear forever. The only place to find titles like Super Meat Boy or whatever might be through purchasing consoles with that stuff already pre-loaded. I'm sure there will be most games that are available through some other means, even if they are pulled, but maybe more niche titles may not see the light of day without purchasing a console with the game pre-loaded. You can already see trends like that whenever something gets pulled from a digital store. People were selling Flappybird phones for stupid amounts on eBay until eBay kicked them off. While I think most of us will probably think it is stupid to buy a hard drive, for a newer generation, when they get disposable income, this could possibly become a thing. The question really isn't if you think it is a smart idea but if it could possibly become a reality in the future. I think it could. I guess we'll see in 20 years though.

Besides what do collectors typically like- authenticity. I'm not saying everyone will be crazy enough to buy into this idea. However, for the consoles that survive, with these games still loaded onto them, they will be very rare. Collectors like rare.

[Hardcore Sadism]

I must luck out because I still have a 360 hard drive first bought in 2008. It still runs clean without delays.

[Retro STrife]

A good thought, Rev. I'm totally with you on this. I do think it's a future reality for collectors. There are tons of download-only games out there. One day, those games will disappear off the Xbox, Wii, and Playstation servers. Once they do, the only way to get them and play them will be by owning a hard drive that has them stored on it. So, if future retro gamers (in, say, 2030) want to play an Xbox Live game that they loved while growing up in 2007, then they will have to find a working hard drive that contains the game. That'll be about as tough as finding a legit copy of Flintstones Surprise at Dino Peak on today's market. So, in other words, you'll be shelling out big $$$$ for that hard drive. While they won't be as collectible as physical media, I do think a collector's market for hard drives is real and likely to occur in the future, in order to play the downloadable games of the past.

Also, people have brought up the fragility of hard drives. True. But all that does is drive up the market for ones that actually are working. You can still get working hard drives from the early 90s. So let's not pretend that every Xbox 360 hard drive in the world is going to die simultaneously in 2020. Come 2030, you will still be able to find a working hard drive--you will just be paying a lot more for it due to diminished supply.


I brought this up a few years back too, and started a similar topic and discussion. Here is a link:

viewtopic.php?f=5084&t=9721

[Rookie1]

That'll be about as tough as finding a legit copy of Flintstones Surprise at Dino Peak on today's market.

Never heard of that game until just now. Looked it up, and the cheapest copy is $700?!?! Watched a gameplay video, and its basically a megaman clone. I asked myself, who would drop that kind of coin for that? But then I looked up completed auctions on ebay and saw them regularly selling for between $600-800 with some as high as $2500. That just boggles my mind.

[ptdebate]

Once they do, the only way to get them and play them will be by owning a hard drive that has them stored on it. So, if future retro gamers (in, say, 2030) want to play an Xbox Live game that they loved while growing up in 2007, then they will have to find a working hard drive that contains the game.
viewtopic.php?f=5084&t=9721

Or they can just download it on their PC and load it onto a modded system for free. It's not an answer that would please collectors, but it is making use of the advantages of digital media. If you just want to play the games, there will always be a way due to the Internet.

[Tron]

Once they do, the only way to get them and play them will be by owning a hard drive that has them stored on it. So, if future retro gamers (in, say, 2030) want to play an Xbox Live game that they loved while growing up in 2007, then they will have to find a working hard drive that contains the game.
viewtopic.php?f=5084&t=9721

Or they can just download it on their PC and load it onto a modded system for free. It's not an answer that would please collectors, but it is making use of the advantages of digital media. If you just want to play the games, there will always be a way due to the Internet.

I think emulators will evolve & destroy this idea.