Collectors Universe Buys Video Game Grader Wata

The major acquisitions for CU continue:

www.google.com/amp/s/www.actionnetwork.com/news/psa-grading-parent-buys-video-game-grader-wata%3famp=1

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Smart

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Maybe now they’ll actually have a publicly accessible pop report…

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Without going off tangent, any predictions with regards to grading companies touching sealed product now that graded video games are gaining traction? (booster boxes, etbs, etc) Of course there exists many variations, but interesting nonetheless

Interesting acquisition, would be nice to a pop report of games to be fair.

Oh, what a coincidence that the Super Mario just sold for a record breaking 1.5mil!

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Another round of Covid and they’ll have enough money to buy the earth.

I thought wata had been around for a while, kind of surprising to see in the article that they were founded in 2017.

Just seeing this. I’m surprised it was CU and not the parent company. Seems they plan to be closely integrated. Infamous label change in order?

CU seems to be in a pretty good position for success, will be cool to see how this comment ages though

Isn’t the parent company an investor group that controls the board but does not run the business

Think it better to acquire at CU level for management to integrate WATA

This trend will continue - now that many of the players have been acquired by investment funds; they basically have an almost unlimited pool of capital to do roll up acquisitions both vertically and horizontally - the owners will seek to grow them as much as possible over the next 3-5 years before selling the company as a bigger platform with a much bigger price

You graded gamers just brought a sealed box within another seal. Not even sarcophaguses get that much concealment now. Well done. The only game getting played here is yourselves.

These comebacks are gonna be juicy. :grin:

You can get Complete In Box games that is open and includes grades for the contents of the box if you prefer. Additionally, there’s not really a difference between graded sealed games and graded TCG packs. Not sure where the judgment is coming from.

And least you don´t know exactly what´s inside a graded pack, there´s always the mystique of thinking that this pack could contain a flawless zard, or whatever chase card is in there.

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I don’t think that’s relevant. People collect sealed theme decks and the contents are known. And when it comes to graded packs, they are almost all weighed light for obvious reasons. There are also people who collect promo cards in the original cellophane

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I was not arguing that sealed (graded) stuff in general is not collectible. I absolutely do think it´s relevant that you don´t know what is inside packs, that´s a main selling point for them. While a lot of graded packs are light weighed, it doesn´t mean that there aren´t packs out there that don´t contain holos, there´s always a chance. You don´t have any chance with a video game.
Theme decks and promo cards were not part of the point, that´s something entirely different to collect.

What was the acquisition price?

Really?

But they’re not grading boxes and decks as of yet so it’s a weird straw out. Games won’t go where they’re supposed to be when grades yet you could actually still play with a graded deck of cards. You might need some servants I mean assistance.

To be honest, I’m not really sure what your point is then. No, graded games are not 1:1 identical to packs but the general idea of preserving a sealed artifact is the same.

I have a WATA CIB graded Tooie myself. Here’s an example. Note the subgrades on the back:
www.ebay.com/itm/265228762781

I think it’s undeniable that the demand for such a service exists, there’s just no legitimate company that currently does theme decks or booster boxes for pokemon.
The whole concept of collecting extends beyond practicality. Ignoring some esoteric examples, people don’t collect things to serve some practical function. It’s almost exclusively about preserving and displaying artifacts of significance. Which is exactly why people pay more for better preserved items (ie. condition/sealed), why people value a graded case (protection/display) and why significant (rarity/popularity) items go for significantly more.
I’ve seen multiple people not “get” graded games. It’s weird to me to hear it from people who collect graded cards since the underlying fundamentals are identical.

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