2D Metroid returns in 2027 via Metroid Ravenous, a direct sequel to Metroid Dread. That announcement has got more people than ever itching to go back and play Dread to prepare for Ravenous’s arrival. The problem with that is, at least for people who want to own a physical copy of Dread, Nintendo has stopped printing new copies.
Metroid Dread shot to the top of the eShop following the Ravenous reveal and stayed there for quite a while. Turns out that sales spike translates to its physical version too. So much so that Dread is now sold out everywhere, which, in turn, has shown us just how much people are willing to pay to get their hands on a now far rarer physical copy.
Those who are done with Dread and willing to pass on their copies to an excited new Metroid fan have been selling them on eBay, and the asking prices people are willing to pay keep going up. The most a standard copy of Dread has sold for so far is a staggering $234.99 when you account for the seller’s $85 delivery fee. That’s almost four times its MSRP.
And 5.5x more than you can currently buy a digital copy for through the eShop since it’s on sale.
The special edition of Dread, which is naturally even harder to find and sold out a long time ago, is fetching even more. The special edition includes not just a physical copy of the game, but also an artbook and holographic cards that can’t be found anywhere else. Earlier today, a special edition of Dread was sold on eBay for $385.66.
You might be a little confused as to why a first-party Nintendo game would be out of print. Especially Dread, which is the only game in Metroid’s history to have sold more than three million copies. Well, while three million would be a lot for most series, it’s a relatively small number for Nintendo.
Even though Dread is the most successful Metroid game of all time, its 3.07 million copies sold mean it only just breaks the Switch’s top 50 bestsellers, although I’m guessing it will rank a little higher on that list when Nintendo publishes its next financial report. Nintendo clearly wasn’t expecting this sort of reaction to the Ravenous reveal either; otherwise it would have ensured there were enough copies of Dread to go around for new Metroid fans.
Even though Nintendo was unprepared for Dread’s renewed popularity, this is all very good news for Ravenous. It will have a smaller player base to cater to due to being released earlier in the Switch 2’s life cycle than Dread was on the Switch, but there’s still a very real, even incredibly likely chance that by this time next year, Ravenous has taken Dread’s crown as the best-selling Metroid game ever.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.thegamer.com/metroid-dread-physical-value-out-of-print-ravenous/
