What to do with old PC games.

pieman109 · 26 Oct 2018 at 12:38

As title really. I've got a load of old pc games, going back as far as 2001, the bulk of which I now use on Steam or Origin, which leaves me with a shedload of about 15 game dvds. I'm not sure if I can donate them to the local charity shop or other option due to them being used previously in the past and therefore their activation codes have been used.
So..other than binning the whole lot, can they be used elsewhere?

pestt · 26 Oct 2018 at 12:42

I saw that Game do trade ins the other day so picked a random one from my collection, F.E.A.R.
The valuation came in at 20p.
That's staying on the shelf then!

joey1211 · 26 Oct 2018 at 12:46

Yes they can be used elsewhere. Are you going to make money selling them... no.

MegaPinches · 26 Oct 2018 at 12:56

Keep the for 20 years when hipsters decide old pc games are the thing to have, once the VHS revival starts I am going to be rich

LewisRaz · 26 Oct 2018 at 13:01

There are quite a few including myself that collect them.

I have quite a selection of boxed games that have long shut down and are unplayable but its just nice to have them in the collection.

Maybe post up in the retro section of this forum, somebody may be interested

jasonsony735 · 26 Oct 2018 at 13:07

Hide them or delete them

Origin gives you the option to hide games and Steam lets you delete old games ! If you so happen to want to download them again you can.

AWPC · 26 Oct 2018 at 13:33

15 that's not many

I have well over 200 housed in storage containers nowadays from early 1990s to about 2015 when they stopped releasing most PC games on Disc! A lot of earlier games no longer function on Win 10 due to DRM anyway. Most PC games can be made to work on Win 7 x86 edition between about 1990-2014 when most games went x64 only.

pestt · 26 Oct 2018 at 15:47

I remember someone trying to flog Doom, on floppy, on Ebay for £1500 a while back. :rolleyes:

chroniclard · 26 Oct 2018 at 15:48

Took all mine to the tip.

Kyrne · 27 Oct 2018 at 13:31

I still have my original Starwars Galaxies box... i'll never let that go. It ended to soon

Ninco! · 28 Oct 2018 at 19:50

Don't bin them, donate to a charity shop, appreciate eBay is a lot faff. I have purchased a few collector games on DVD (GTA Vice City).

There are retro gamer's purchasing DVD boxes, even the old budget 'Sold Out' label.

Agree that DVD boxes have not the retro appeal of the old big box games. However, even DVD games (even if the codes have been used) are picking up interest on the retro scene.

sniperone · 28 Oct 2018 at 19:57

I would be interested in them if you ever want to sell them depending on what titles they are.

Mark A · 29 Oct 2018 at 00:36

Ha, I was just going through mine last night and wondering what to do with them as well. It's worth checking the keys in Steam as I remember a few of mine worked, like the original Prey.

shadowbane · 29 Oct 2018 at 08:30

Build some frames, stick em in, stick em on the wall, better than some pics/posters

AHarvey · 29 Oct 2018 at 08:56

15 isn't a shedload, I threw out a massive collection of games including PC Gamer disks, floppy games and DVD's. In my opinion, it' s better to just throw them out or donate them than it is to mess around with trying to sell them, waiting on people to collect etc.

It comes down to how much you value your time.

Other option would be to bang them on members market as a job lot. Might get a couple of quid for them.

Mr Krugga · 29 Oct 2018 at 10:59

Donate them to a charity. You know you'll never touch them again and the likelihood of any of them gaining value over time is next to none.

Unless it's a collector's edition of some classic title in a pristine shape.

pieman109 · 29 Oct 2018 at 14:05

Took 'em all down to the charity shop, and surprisingly they accepted them,.

warren_1979 · 29 Oct 2018 at 15:26

I found Unreal Tournament and Unreal 2004 at a charity shop last week for 50p each and I'd never played UT2004 before. I was well chuffed! They installed OK too on win 10.

I'm sure someone will enjoy your old games.

Fantee · 30 Oct 2018 at 09:42

Sell them, exchange them or like Mr Krugga suggested donate them to a charity

However I find myself returning to some of the old games I have. For instance Tekken 3. I love this game, it reminds me of childhood. So if you have any sentiments to any of your old games just leave them be. I am sure you will get back to them when the time will be right

heartburnron · 30 Oct 2018 at 22:54

I'm not sure how PC DVD-ROMs worked in the pre Steam / DRM era but is there anything more useless now, than a PC game on DVD once you've installed it? I mean, given that you still need a key to activate the game it's not as if you can give it away or sell it on...