Last night my girlfriend and I went to Blockbuster to rent a movie. While waiting in line, I was looking up at their pricing display, and noticed something odd. Price to rent a PS2, Xbox or GCN game? $8.99. Price to rent a PS3, Xbox 360 or Wii game? $9.99. That is absolutely ridiculous. I remember back in the day I could rent from stores, 3 N64 games for 3 days for $6. Hell, I even remember renting SNES or Genesis games, 3 for 3 days for $3. Why the hell does Blockbuster charge so damned much to rent a game? That is absolutely riCOCKulous. Anyone want to explain this one to me? (Note folks, that this is Canadian pricing, but I imagine that in US dollars, it wouldn't be too much different).
Sure. There's two reasons. 1) Games have a shorter usable shelf life than movies, and they cost the store more than twice as much per copy. It's rare for people to still be regularly playing (or renting in this case) a game that is more than a couple of months old. They have to recoup their costs and ensure they make money, so the prices go up. This was less true during the NES/SNES/N64 years, when games would retain their popularity for more sustained periods of time. 2) Games take longer to complete. A movie is two hours of your time, an average game is around 10-15, sometimes more. Ever since Blockbuster went to the "no late fees" business, people started keeping the games for longer periods of time. You can now keep a game for an entire month and only pay the original rental fee and a $1.50 restocking fee. Blockbuster knows this, and they also know that the longer people keep the games the more it eats into that small window where the game will be rented regularly, so they jacked the price up. $8 or 9 isn't really that bad of a value when you get right down to it. Sure, you used to pay $3 for a 3 day rental, but how much would you have paid in late fees if you'd kept those games for a month like you can now? I'm not a fan of the higher prices either, and because of them it's been literally years since I've rented a game, but I do understand where they're coming from.
Yeah, when Blockbuster basically charged me $10 after taxes to rent a single damn game, I said sod them and never went back. :/
Well, I work there, and while I wouldn't pay that to rent a game (I can get 'em for free and still don't!), it works out in the end for the amount of time you can take them. You can keep a game for a week, then get a week extra grace. Then you have a month after the 2 weeks to bring it back and pay $2. For $12 you get a game for like a month and a 1/2. The way I see it, paying $12 and beating a game is better than paying $50 or $60 to purchase and then beat it, and then get crappy trade-in prices. Only downside I see is you'll get those apparently "harrassing" (or so say the little old ladies who feel the need to phone at work) phone messages almost daily. Besides, they're giving 2 for $12 right now, so that ought to lessen the blow. Not trying to give free advertising (that's the last thing I want to do for that company), but overall it seems pretty fair to me. You asked someone to explain, so I did. Whether or not you agree is your opinion. Now in the event of a short, crappy game that lasts 4 hours, I guess you're out of luck. And if you don't like those prices, don't look furthur down the sign where the 360 is; $9.99!
I normally just stick with renting games from Rogers video or a little videogame rental place around here called Willow Video (where you get 2for1,or 3for1 with coupons) as their prices are better and they're just more convenient for me. Its only natural for game rental prices to go up as the cost of games have gone up. Considering most 360 and PS3 games will be costing around $60-70CDN (up to $80 for special editions) then its a no brainer that rental places have to adjust their prices accordingly. Most of the time now I just skip renting and just buy a game that I know I will get my moneys worth out of.
Well, I quit going to Blockbuster ever since they started this extended renting or whatever you call it. I go in and they only have 2-3 copies of the most wanted games and 15 to 20 of the least desired games.
you can just buy a game used or wait till it becomes players choice for just double that rental price, and keep it forever *L*
Blockbuster knows me by name, i bought both my 360 and PSP by simply trading in games and DVD's.... Now i rent a game at this horrid 9.99 price and goddamn those bastards for letting me keep it for a month so i can actually beat the thing....or the fact that they will sell me the game if i choose to keep it longer - the 11.00 i paid to rent the damn thing... those fuckers, someone shoot them for making me jizz in my jeans.
Isn't there a game version of Netflix? I haven't set foot in a Blockbuster since January 8th, 2003, when I discovered Netflix. They are the greatest video rental service ever, and I believe they will eventually pick Blockbuster up over their head and break its' back on their knee.
With certain exceptions, I rent before I buy, just so I don't get stuck with a game that I hate, especially since the reselling market seems to be a losing proposition most of the time compared to the rental fee. However, that's not to say I really like it, just that I've made it less of a bad deal for me, but I don't rent a whole lot of games. (Or buy a whole for that matter)
Gamefly sucks, takes like a week to get a game, so you end up getting like 6 games for the month, even if you send them back the day after you receive them.
The grocery store in town here, used to rent out PS2 games for $4.99. Only got to keep it for one night. They changed it about a year ago to $3.99 for 5 nights.
Here in MA there are signs on the front doors stating that they do not participate in the no late fees promotion. I only rent a movie once every two months or so. It's alot better than paying to go to the movies. But we have a few friends who work at EBgames that can hook us up with games.
