Q&A #1: Why Do You Buy Sealed Games?

I started buying sealed games not too long after I started collecting original PlayStation games, which began in the summer of 2015. At first, it was pretty sporadic— I would find a few in the wild at local game stores, and I was gifted a couple.

At the time, I was shooting YouTube videos in my bedroom, in front of my console setup. These were mostly shot by propping up my iPad on a TV tray— real professional stuff, as you can see below.

I thought a fun idea would be to open a few of the games on camera. The games were ones that I didn’t have in my collection yet, so opening them also added them to my library. It made sense. Of course, I had no idea that a game like Rising Zan would go on to be pretty valuable.

Eventually, my free time dwindled as I moved on to full-time work in the education field, and the YouTube channel took a back seat. I had ideas for blogs and video series, but my level of follow through was not great— it’s probably my biggest flaw, and one I know that affected any potential success in the space.

One idea that I kept coming back to was doing more videos of opening sealed games. It seemed like a unique concept, and a few online friends liked the idea of making a series of videos focused solely around the idea.

I rolled out the Unsealed series officially in January of 2017. I shot almost 200 videos over the next 6 years and often opened more than one game per episode. I sank a lot of money into the concept, but success just wasn’t in the cards. I struggled with technical issues, then a change in residence in 2020 that made shooting difficult, then slowing interest.

The plus side of the project, while it didn’t get many views or traction, was that the new copies of games that I had opened went into my collection. Discs with no scratches and everything included only made my library better.

As we close 2025, I still have dozens of sealed games. Some are games I bought for the Unsealed project that I never got around to opening before walking away. Others are games I’ve found decent deals on and have become upgrades to copies I had before.

I know that other collectors hate that I open my sealed copies. Why destroy their value? But here’s the thing: I don’t buy for investment. I want to get the best-condition copies I can, so the games will be reliably playable when I’m ready to play (and my free time allows). New games are untouched by anyone else. No scratches, no damage to or missing documentation, and no markings.

There’s also the satisfaction of opening these games for the first time. The sound of the plastic as it comes off, the flawless condition of the case and manual, and knowing that you’re the first person to access that copy. Back when games had instruction manuals (and sometimes other promotional stuff!), I always looked forward to opening them after buying— usually at a food court or sometimes in my car— and checking out the whole package. Modern games just don’t have that same feel when you open them. Many don’t have anything inside but the games, and that feels empty.

I sometimes think about giving the Unsealed idea another try, but it’s really all about collection upgrades now more than video ideas. I’d probably need a lot of guidance and lessons to make what would pass for a decent YouTube video these days… and besides, who wants to see my ugly mug on camera?

Q&A #2 will try to explain why I’m so interested in old sports video games. Look for that soon. Until then… thanks for reading!