Three first print Pokemon games are selling for an eye-watering $2 million to the owner of the Dubai Collection, one of the most prominent and highly-graded collections of video games and trading cards in the world.
The games in question are three first print copies of the original Pokemon titles for the Game Boy: Pokemon Blue Version, Pokemon Red Version, and Pokemon Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition. These were some of the earliest-manufactured copies for the series, and the original seals on all three were completely intact. Each copy was graded and encapsulated by PSA, one of the most prominent third-party grading agencies in the business, which gave them equally jaw-dropping scores: 9.8 (Blue), 10 (Red), and 10 (Yellow), making them the world’s highest-graded first print collection among first print Pokemon games.
Nathan Howerton, owner and founder of Nostalgix, a private collectibles brokerage service that facilitated the transaction, spoke with IGN about the significance of the sale and what it means for physical games in an industry that’s hurtling toward a digital future.
“In an increasingly digital world, collectors continue to place extraordinary value on physical media,” he told us. “The sale of these three PSA-graded Pokémon games shows that truly exceptional physical copies aren’t just nostalgic artifacts — they’re irreplaceable pieces of gaming history.”
Howerton told us that this deal marks the second-largest graded video game transaction ever completed, only behind a copy of Super Mario Bros. for the NES that sold at auction for $3 million back in June. This copy was given a 9.6 by PSA, a score that would later be eclipsed by 97 pristine, never-before-seen versions of Super Mario Bros. / Duck Hunt that were discovered in a Wisconsin warehouse not long afterward, five of which were given 10s in a historic first for the agency.
As told in a previous interview with IGN, PSA very rarely gives out 10s for video games. The fact that three copies of the original Pokemon games — some of the most impactful titles in video game history — were graded so highly speaks to their pristine condition, meaning that the company could barely find anything, if at all, that was flawed about them.
“We look at so many things, and everything has at least some flaws,” Claire Shelton, Head of PSA Video Games, told us in July. “We’re looking for perfection, or at least as close to it as you can come. Because with injection-molded parts, there’s always going to be pulloff lines right from where something is detached from a mold, or just the intricacies of manufacturing are going to leave things with a little bit of inconsistency.”
Howerton says this landmark $2 million sale signals an evolution in the collectibles marketplace, elevating games to a point where “the rarest physical games are now being viewed alongside the world’s most significant collectibles.”
“A $2 million transaction for three graded Pokémon games would have seemed unimaginable a decade ago. Today, it reflects the growing recognition that historically important, investment-grade games deserve to be mentioned alongside the most valuable comics, trading cards, and sports memorabilia in the world,” he said.
His remarks regarding physical media in a progressively digital landscape aren’t off the mark; given players’ heated response toward Sony’s divisive decision to stop printing physical games as of January 2028, it’s clear that gamers value their tangible titles — enough to spend $2 million on them.
Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s News Editor. With ten years of experience reporting on games and entertainment, she’s got a storied background in the fighting game community, influencer news, and viral online trends. Find her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze.
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