‘FIFA will never die’: an outing to one of the last videoclubs in Athens

However, there is a forgotten video club in Omonia that still holds most of it to this day. Therefore, we decided to visit to see the unique collection up close, which, of course, is for sale.

At the entrance to the House of DVD we’re greeted by Mr. Giorgos, who has run the shop since 2011. He may have grown up with Pacman and such, but he still has a console in his house that he opens every now and then to play a bunch of games. Our eyes fall directly on the shelves full of old games for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.

In a prominent position is FIFA 2003the FIFA 2005the FIFA 07the FIFA 10. Time may have removed the wraps and gelatin, however, the personalities of the soccer players staring at you are distinctly obvious. And we are not talking about any football players, but real legends of the sport. Del PieroHenry, Roberto Carlos, Ronaldinho, Geeks, Rooney. And the list is endless.

As the store owner explains, most of the video games in question hit the shelves post-lockdown around the video clubs that thrived in the 1990s and early 2000s. In fact, some of them still bear signs with the names of the shops they once belonged to.

“After the crisis and the advancement of the Internet, many video clubs that rented video games closed down. So, they were selling them cheap. We never did that, we just sold. These games were very expensive in the beginning and they couldn’t afford to buy them. So they chose this solution.”

Except, according to him, this tactic was disastrous. “It was a huge mistake, because so many people rented it and never returned it. There was no way to find them or force them to turn them over. So they would walk in without even realizing it.”