Game grading company Wata Games is the target of a new US class action lawsuit accusing it of unfair business practices and of manipulating the retro gaming market for its own gain.
As reported by VGC, the lawsuit was filed on 10th May in the Central District of California, representing class members (estimated to be as many as 10,000 individuals) who all paid for game grading and other services by Wata. It accuses Wata of “engaging in affirmative acts to manipulate the retro video game market” and of “engaging in unfair business practices”, specifically pointing the figure at Wata president and CEO Deniz Kahn.
Kahn is accused of working with auction house Heritage Auctions co-founder Jim Halperin – a previous Wata investor and advisory board member – to manipulate the retro games market through promotional efforts and media interviews, in which the pair are said to have claimed that retro games prices would continue to rise.
Notably, Wata and Heritage Auctions have been connected to a string of eye-watering vintage game sales over the last few years. A pristine sealed copy of Super Mario 64 rated by Wata and auctioned by Heritage sold for $1.56m USD last July, and, just several weeks later, a copy of Super Mario Bros. handled by the two companies sold for a record-breaking $2 million.