The world's largest video game collection has found a new home.
Michael Thomasson’s epic collection, which includes over 11,000 unique games, was sold fora whopping $750,250 at auctionthis week. While the name of the winning bidder (who goes by the online handle "peeps_10091970") is unknown, he or she is now the proud owner of a Guinness certificate proving the collection is the world's largest, a lifetime subscription to Retro magazine, and enough video games to last several lifetimes.
The auction pulled in 56 bids, but the majority of those were between 'peeps_10091970' and another bidder who uses the online alias ‘catch123’. The two began their battle at the $150,000 mark.
The bidding escalated so quickly that even cash-rich Oculus founder Palmer Luckey (who put in bids for $50,000 and slightly more than $90,000) quickly backed out.
Of course, any auction that hits these sorts of numbers raises legitimacy questions. 'Peeps' has no feedback attached to his/her online identity -- a classic red flag -- but until there's word otherwise, the collection has been sold. At a rate of about $68 per game, that's a sizable return on Thomasson's investment. It's also in line with his valuation of between $700,000-$800,000.
Thomasson’s collection began back in 1998, when he ran a game resale website and managed a retail game store. It's a treasure, for sure, boasting over 20 complete U.S. sets (that's the system plus every official game). Several thousands of games are still in their original factory shrink wrap.
Ironically, it's not out of the realm of possibility that Thomasson may hold the record again some day. This was actually his third collection of games. The first he sold in 1989 to buy a Sega Genesis, then he sold a larger one in 1998 to pay for his wedding.
It can't be an easy living, but it's certainly proving to be a lucrative one.
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