Those who are big fans of the American TV show "Pawn Stars" will likely have come across a segment featuring Halo: Combat Evolved in the most recent episode, in which an owner believes they possess a copy worth $13,000.
What follows is a bizarre explanation of the game by host Chumlee (who has seemingly doesn't know it very well despite suggesting otherwise), after which he advises he'll need someone to take a further look and verify its legitimacy.
The conclusion is that, unfortunately, the game appears to have been re-sealed at some point in its existence, and therefore isn't an original sealed copy from back in 2001. It's claimed that it could have been worth up to (or over!) $25,000 depending on its condition, but its re-sealed status means its only worth around $25 at best. Bummer!
Anyway, it's an interesting little video that's been going viral over the past couple of days, even if it does appear very staged to us. We're assuming the deals are real... but whatever we're seeing on camera here feels very awkward!
What are your thoughts on this? Let us know down in the comments section below.
Comments 31
Lol wonder if it was purchased at GameStop?
Haven't seen the clip yet but why would a sealed copy of halo be worth that much? Other sealed popular games aren't even close to that amount
Pawn Stars is such B.S. they don't know what they are doing. I have seen them lowball people on alot of things while giving out ridiculous prices for ***** that isn't even worth it. You can't believe these guys they know Jack ***** and Jack just left town.
@Ribbitsneed It's a scam perpetrated by WADA and their ilk's, good way to launder money
Someone needs to explain to the appraisers that all copies sold by Game Stop in the US would have been unsealed before purchase, so an unsealed case, with a disc with fingerprints on it that was re-buffed and "used only by employees" indeed does count as mint-unopened, according to GameStop, and thus should sell for the full $25,000.
Also, I have an actual sealed unopened copy of Reach. And Fable 3. I accept cash and money orders.
I jest not, @NEStalgia, but I have probably have about 100 sealed 360 games. No idea whether any of them are worth anything though. In the early days of the 360, I would buy multiple copies of games for my 3 children and myself, and many of them never got opened at all. I would buy them for Christmas and birthdays, and never end up giving them to them (they would get other items instead!).
Out of curiosity, @FraserG, do you happen to know of any games that if sealed are worth a tidy sum? I have about 250 Xbox 360 games in my collection, and a further 100+ duplicate of Xbox 360 games that I was looking to sell. I'd estimate a good 100 or more of them are still sealed... 🤑
@Fiendish-Beaver You're worse than me! From 360 I think I have only those two. I have a few PS4 games unopened. I do have the Persona 4 Take Your Heart Edition sealed and unopened, that's probably worth money, but nobody will ever pry my Morgana plushie from my cold dead hands. I have the steelbook FFXV sealed (the one with the movie you need to watch to understand the plot but without half the game in it.) Ni No Kuni II steelbook. I have some 3DS games unopened. MK7, a few more uncommon ones.
All tolled I probably have a good month of game pass at 2025 pricing in unopened games.
The entire show is staged and always has been
@Ryu_Niiyama Surely nfts were attached...
Dude traded "Half his collection" for that sealed copy of the game.
I'd be super effing pissed!
I have to say that I call BS on that his game, just because it was 'resealed', loses that much value.
Pretty much unplayed OG XBOX games, sealed or otherwise, are extremely valuable to the right collector. That kind of lowballing is all over the pawn shops.
Christ, I can't believe Pawn Stars is still on. 🤦♂️ Fake, phoney staged BS.
@Ribbitsneed Because games like Pokémon, even opened, command hefty prices. Emerald for example sits around $250 for a used copy without box or instructions. More if you have both. Tons more if sealed.
Even Otogi 2 for the OG Xbox sits around 150-250 sealed.
Alot of games go up in value. Especially Nintendo games.
A used copy of Silent Hill Downpour on X360 sells for upwards of £50, Origins sells for upwards of 50. Hell even silent 4 sells for big bucks opened
I need to start buying sh×t and not opening it.
I have a few unopened games the one thing I do have a lot of is the official Xbox magazine still in the plastic. whenever I would go to the grocery store I would buy both copies they had and never open the second one. my wife still gives me a hard time for saving the magazines and guide books.
@d0x3601 That's only partially true. I've been on the show as a customer in the background. The scene I was there for was a real customer really trying to sell something. The store is closed during filming and everyone you see are people they asked to stay before closing. The customer selling the item came in at a pre-scheduled time and they already knew what item he was coming in with. However, he had already brought it in a previous unscheduled day and they thought it was interesting enough to be on the show. The negotiation was real too, but the director did cut a couple times just to have the customer speak a little more clearly or emphasize certain words for dramatic effect. I had to sign an NDA, but it had nothing to do with the show being "staged." It only meant I wasn't allowed to talk about the item until after that episode aired.
The really, big, most important, takeaway from this artcle is, you can't resell or ever hope to get good return value from digital media.
ONLY physical media.
@Tasuki you do know pawn stars is not real it is a staged television show
It sucks for that guy to realise he's not got ten grand, but for the greater good that's for the best. The "vintage" game market is a ridiculous farce that has been manufactured over the past 5-10 years as an effort for professional investors, grading companies, and auction houses to make money as they can control a small market.
Copies of games that sold millions of copies are going for suspiciously large sums of money in shady deals. There is no universe in which ANY copy of Halo should sell for $13k. It's gone from collectors wanting the rarest and most obscure games (AKA awful games nobody wanted) to suddenly the most common titles are the most valuable.
The problem is that now retro collecting has become unaffordable for the normal fan.
Love when these sealed collectors gets a reality check 😂
Screw them, and what they have done to this hobby. Hope the bubble breaks soon, so normal people can buy retro games again.
It's very rare to see Video Games that are actually worth the inflated prices they can sell for.
@Fiendish-Beaver I'll admit, this isn't my area of expertise!
@VisitingComet1 I find that really cool! Especially considering OXM isn't around these days...
@FraserG the three coolest games the oxm turned me on to was Morrowind jade empire and Crackdown those discs were awesome
@VisitingComet1 Classics! 👌
I don't really know why, but I want to collect all the demo discs at some point. Nostalgia, I guess.
Halo absolutely did make fps popular on console.
Was planning on seeing this, didn't bother as didn't think it was worth much either to watch or pay much attention to, not surprised this is the result.
I'll get my sealed Battlefield 3 (bought a Limited Edition cheap copy to play BF3 and keep the other I think it's a standard edition sealed) and Rage 2 for a few years and wait. Not for checking the value by sources, but for whatever they go for years later the smart way. I doubt people will care or they will be worth something but eh I can get easy copies of BF3 anyway like it matters to still play it.
@FatGuyInLilCoat Unfortunately, a lot of people have become aware of this and started keeping sealed copies of things in more recent years, so these kinds of items aren't going to be so rare in the future.
On the other hand, I've been telling myself that, and certain products have still managed to increase in value, so...
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