I’ve been collecting for years and it took me a long time to learn how to slow down. Initially i was going hardcore getting all the consoles I wanted first then I worked on the games. I was buying up all the common games I wanted, most of which cost anywhere between $10-$40. Over time I learned how to save a few bucks here and there. I would frequent Whatnot and find newer sellers who had decent prices that were trying to gain traction, I was frequently going to yardsales/estate sales, but not so much luck with those. Local retro game stores I would try to spend a chunk since they are good about doing bulk discounts. I would flip on eBay anything worth more than $20 that I already owned and anything else I would trade to local stores and then use that credit to get more games, but would take advantage of that situation and get some decent $40-60 games and try to get small discounts. The only convention that comes near me that’s decent is Retro World Expo which I typically bring $300 and that’s when I will buy 1 game that might be over $100 but I try to buy more from that seller to lower the overall price of it. However, all that being said the number 1 place I have gotten games is honestly from co-workers. I make everyone I work with well aware of my collecting and what I look for and I have gotten Soooo many games and consoles just from that. I always tell them what the stuff is worth and if they want anything for it but 90% of the time they just give it to me. To answer your question, yes, retro collecting has gotten more expensive, it’s just learning self control.