Retrogaming: the first class action against WATA arrives

As reported by VGC, the rating firm WATA, along with the auction house Heritage Auctions, have ended up at the center of a class action. The reasons? Having inflated the prices of the retrogaming sector. A story that we already told you last year, in a long article published in the middle of summer 2021, when all the signs of a real scam emerged.

For those new to the retrogaming environment, let’s try to explain everything to you in a few words. WATA (as well as other rating companies) they are basically concerned with assigning a score to the conditions of entire video game collections or single pieces. The more a stock is in excellent condition, the higher the rating will be. The higher the rating, the easier it will be to sell that Super Mario Bros 3 cartridge in excellent condition at a much higher price. So far everything normal: the conditions of an object have always influenced the final sale price. The problem is what comes next.

With the collaboration of Heritage Auctions, all video games “graded” by WATA they were sold in the same auction house for millions and millions of dollars. This inevitably led the entire sector to raise prices (although obviously always very far compared to the various figures achieved in Heritage), but everything happened in an organic way. According to the indictment, Heritage and WATA coordinated media presentations such as TV and newspapers, as well as the release of press releases to manipulate the price and perceived value of these items.

We don’t know if the class action will be successful or not. However, it is certainly likely over the next few months that more and more people can raise doubts about WATA’s modus operandi and its relationship with Heritage Auctions. Keep following Tom’s Hardware for all the news and announcements in the pipeline from the world of video games.