If you’ve got some spare millions lying around and you’re looking to add a rare gaming console to your collection, the good news is that you can now bid on a royal piece of Nintendo history. As the story goes, defunct publisher THQ commissioned a gold-plated Nintendo Wii to be delivered to Buckingham Palace and presented to the Queen of England as part of a marketing stunt to promote Big Family Games.
Unfortunately, the Queen was unable to accept the gift and use it to school Prince Charles in a game of Wii Sports, as strict security measures at the palace resulted in the console being sent back to THQ.
After THQ went bankrupt, the Queen’s Wii eventually found its way into the hands of a collector specializing in developer hardware, who had obtained it from a contact that he had at THQ. The console was then sold, and has now wound up on the auction block once again. If you’re interested in its history, YouTube channel People Make Games has a great video on it.
So how much is a Wii console and controller plated in 24-Karat gold worth? The previous auction started the bidding at $300,000, although this new auction’s highest bid at the time of writing is currently $2,000 on the Goldin website. Not too bad for a one-of-a-kind Wii that only has some minor wear and tear on it. If you do decide to bid, just note that this is a PAL console given its UK origins.
