Oliver Jia, an American researcher working in Japan, lamented that i Western tourists they are literally emptying the local stores of games from the past, making it unnecessary to go and make physical purchases. In particular he refers to the Kyoto area, where he works.
Scalpers in action
Jia posted an image of Surugaya, a store that sells new games and games for classic systems, showing almost empty shelves.
“Surugaya in Kyoto is a skeleton. A year ago there were plenty of games for the Famicom Disk System, but this is all that remains. The section PS1 it's half empty. The tourists took everything. I will no longer go shopping for old games in big Japanese cities.”
Jia added that the store in question previously had two entire floors full of video games, now reduced to just one. He also said he saw someone buy an entire shelf of games: “I saw someone take everything that was on an already poor shelf of games for Nintendo DS. There are many people like him and little can be done, because of course it's all legal. So I don't worry about it anymore.”
The researcher then wanted to specify that he has nothing against tourists who buy games to play them. His controversy specifically concerns i toutsthat is, those who hoard games to resell them online at increased prices, ruining everyone's hobby.
Some in the comments pointed out to him that the shops in more peripheral areas still have plenty of availability, but according to him they will soon be attacked by touts. Part of the problem, according to Jia, would derive from the post-pandemic, which has increased the number of tourists enormously, in a period in which the demand for games of the past is enormous.
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