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Following a huge surge in Collectible Video Game popularity within the past few years, many people have decided that they want to preserve & grade their cherished collectibles. When it comes to Video Game authentication and grading, only two companies have become readily accepted by the market; and these two are Video Game Authority and WATA Games. On the grand scheme of things, the way in which both these companies go about performing this service varies greatly. Nevertheless, upon analysis there are ultimately three main overall differences between these two companies.
First, both companies are known for providing their own unique slabs/design and aesthetics of their cases. To begin with WATA, these cases are pre-designed meaning only games in which WATA has already designed a case for may be submitted. Additionally, these cases are overall bulkier than VGA’s but they come with tamper proof clips. Further, WATA will provide more information such as a seal and a game case grade, and WATA also accepts Complete in Box Games for grading. VGA on the other hand has custom made cases meaning any product can be sent in and have an acrylic case made for it. However, these are smaller cases and VGA provides less information such as only one overall grade. Additionally, VGA does not grade CIB items, only factory sealed or brand new in box.
In terms of their method of grading, VGA uses a scale out of 100 with 5 point increments and only assigns one grade for the items overall condition. WATA on the other hand uses a scale out of 10 with 0.2 increments and will assign both a seal as well as a game grade. Further crossing over from a VGA graded game to a WATA graded game will usually wield a higher result.
Lastly, when it comes to market demand WATA Games has become the preferred authenticator. This is largely because WATA has access to Heritage Auctions for consignment. If one grades their game with WATA, they then have the option to consign that item with Heritage Auctions. From there, Heritage will sell the item on their behalf; and a lot of the auction prices that are achieved by Heritage Auctions you simply aren’t able to achieve if one was to say sell their item on eBay.
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