What is going on with SMT Devil Summoner?

[GrayGhost81]

The other day I posted in the hot deals thread that Play Canada was selling Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner BRAND NEW for only $30. As you can see here this game has had a pretty high value thanks to those short Atlus print runs:

http://videogames.pricech...noha-vs-the-soulless-army

I was able to grab one but very soon the price jumped a bit to $40. Later in the day it had sold out and back over a hundred bucks, from different sellers.

I just checked amazon because I'm intrigued as to why this historically rare and valuable game was sold for so cheap, and I now see that there are nine vendors selling the game for about $40 or less:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/...ie=UTF8&condition=new

Blklblskt mentioned a possible reprint forthcoming, but I cannot find any info. This is the last sub-series of SMT games for PS2 that hasn't gotten a reprint.

I'm trying to figure out why this previously rare game is now available cheaply in such abundance. Does anyone have any info?

[blcklblskt]

Reprint.  I'm too lazy to find confirmation, but it is definitely a reprint.  I'm not sure if it will be a huge reprint, but I'm OK with buying it at $40.

[BadEnoughDude]

I understand their place, but I really can't stand reprints.

[GrayGhost81]

Reprint.  I'm too lazy to find confirmation, but it is definitely a reprint.  I'm not sure if it will be a huge reprint, but I'm OK with buying it at $40.

I feel you, as the only other alternative could be someone discovered a warehouse full of them.

It just seems weird that I can't find anything about it.

Maybe I'm just naive about how this works when Atlus does a reprint. Was there any hubbub when the DDS games got reprinted? Weren't people pissed when Nocturne got reprinted because some had paid a ton for a copy? The Nocturne reprint didn't have the soundtrack making it obvious. Is it just that they do a reprint, the price plummets and people complain about it after the fact?

[Shadow Kisuragi]

It's because the quantity was meant to be less, people pay large money thinking there won't be one, and then there inevitably IS one and the value drops back down after everyone grabs their fill. Typically, though, the reprints don't have the original's extras.

[BadEnoughDude]

Does anyone even know when the price spike happened? I got my copy used from GameStop for like $7 really shortly after it came out. They were available cheaply for quite a while - long enough to assume that they game was a pretty big failure for Atlus. Seems like that wasn't the case after all.

[GrayGhost81]

FYI the second one has now followed suit:

http://www.amazon.com/Shi...p;keywords=devil+summoner

[blcklblskt]

Wow.  So now all of the SMT PS2 games have been reprinted, correct?

[GrayGhost81]

On PS2 I believe that is correct.

[BadEnoughDude]

Every single one of them, forever crippling any collectibility they had. Such a shame. My once-proud and complete SMT PS2 collection is worth less than what Nocturne used to be worth all by itself. Sigh.

[techwizard]

that really sucks for collectability, hopefully there aren't many other rare games that get reprints like this.

[Shadow Kisuragi]

Gitaroo Man...

[GrayGhost81]

that really sucks for collectability, hopefully there aren't many other rare games that get reprints like this.

I agree that it sucks for collectability, and is kind of a burn for anyone who shelled out for these games when they were worth more, but that's the risk you take as a collector.

Gitaroo Man...

That would be cool, though that game is way more affordable now than SMT:DS1&2 were about two months ago.

[slackur]

Despite buying my SMT collection as each game is released (usually catch a deal on them though) and therefore not suffering from the price hikes, I'm very happy when the price stays or returns low.  I guess I'd just want more people to experience the games as opposed to them staying rare and less available.  Every time I learn that a game I own, especially ones I enjoy, spike up into high price ranges, I get disappointed. 

Maybe I'm just not a good collector. 

[GrayGhost81]

Despite buying my SMT collection as each game is released (usually catch a deal on them though) and therefore not suffering from the price hikes, I'm very happy when the price stays or returns low.  I guess I'd just want more people to experience the games as opposed to them staying rare and less available.  Every time I learn that a game I own, especially ones I enjoy, spike up into high price ranges, I get disappointed. 

Maybe I'm just not a good collector. 

I agree 100% though. Way better that more people get to play the games.