'My brothers want to sell some console games we were given as kids; I don't. AITA?'

"AITA? My brothers want to sell some console games we were given as kids; I don't. They want me to pay for the right to keep them."

I have two brothers, and our parents bought us a bunch of Wii & GameCube games when we were kids. Over the years, my brothers lost interest in them and favored other consoles. I was the only one to keep playing with them, so I eventually put the console and games in my room when we moved homes ~16 years ago.

They didn't care, and never asked to play on them. Now all of a sudden my brothers want to sell the games (one brother in particular since he's essentially jobless and wants money anywhere he can get it).

I still enjoy playing the games, and have no intention of selling since it would likely be hard to find & buy them again. My older brother says I have no right to keep them and should pay for them if I want to keep them, since they both want to sell.

They never bought the games in the first place, our parents did. AITAe for not wanting to pay for gifts that were given to us to play and enjoy that they stopped wanting more than a decade ago, simply because it's 2 against 1?

Here's what people had to say to OP:

Hormo_The_Halfling wrote:

NTA. Where are the games now? I assume you don't live with your parents anymore, are you in possession of the games? If so, and if they haven't brought them up after all these years, I'm fairly certain that makes these games and stuff your property, which means they have no say over it at all.

OP responded:

We still live together and I was busy with school until recently, but I'm finally getting my own place in a couple of weeks which is why it's been brought up. But yeah, I had them for years and years and they never said anything about it.

Blyatphemy wrote:

NTA. Your brothers walked away from them 16 years ago and only remembered they exist now because one of them needs beer money.

“Two against one” isn’t how ownership works. If they wanted a cut, they should’ve shown up sometime in the last decade and a half with a controller in hand.

OP responded:

He does love his beer.

eightfingeredtypist wrote:

Good luck settling your parent's estate!

OP responded:

Thankfully (?) my mom has nothing. My dad does, but he's an AH that I cut ties with a long time ago, and my brothers only still talk to him so they won't get written out of the will. I'm probably already not on it and I couldn't care less.

SpaceAceCase wrote:

INFO: which games were given to you VS given to them? I'm assuming not all the games were joint gifts, as you all probably have different tastes in games. If there were any specifically given to them, give those back and keep what was originally gifted to you.

OP responded:

Most of them were joint, with maybe only a couple that were specifically given to one of us. It's hard to remember and keep track of which though, as it's been so long.

SiegeEh wrote:

There are a couple of really popular titles which have retained some value, but mostly the Wii and GameCube games are not worth much at all. FIRST make a list of all the games from the most sentimental/valuable/cherished to the least.

Then go on eBay and see what prices the console and the games titles have sold for. Note that this is not the same as asking price. You don’t want to know the price that it is listed at. You don’t want to know what the ASKING PRICE is. You want to know what the games have SOLD for.

Add them up and divide by three. This is the amount you already own. You can choose to be magnanimous and give each of them a third of the aggregate. My hunch is that you will be out 50-100 bucks at most and you will have them out of your game life forever. You don’t need to add$ for shipping since they are already in your house s as nd you might consider deducting ebay fees.

cppcrusader wrote:

Yeah, that's not how it works. Ignoring that they've shown no interest in them in 16 years, if they want to sell something that is jointly owned by the three of you then they have to be the ones to pay you. They need to buy you out of your third of the ownership at a fair price. NTA.

BunnySlayer64 wrote:

NTA. Beat them at their own game, so to speak. Put together everything your parents bought that is still in use (you mentioned other gaming systems?). Put a value on those systems as well as the ones your brothers want to sell.

Show them the prices and tell them either the three of you sell everything, or you give up any rights to the systems you don't play in exchange for them giving up their rights to the ones you want to keep. If mom and dad paid for all of it, and it's always been for all three of you to use, then they need to keep it fair and put everything on the table.

ClassicOlive8745 wrote:

As gifts to you all, you have an undivided 1/3 interest in this items. Your brothers may sell their interests but not yours. Ergo, if it’s sold you can keep the games with you and they can come over and play.

In other words, you cannot be divested of your interest unless they compensate you. Nor can they force a sale. So unless you receive money compensating you for your interests, you can keep these items. Source: I’m just a lawyer providing unhelpful information.