GameStop recently unveiled plans for a video game rental service to no-doubt compete with online downloads. Is revitalizing a dying rental industry a bad move?
Short answer- Probably not. We're a household of gamers, kids and adults alike. I myself spend hours a week playing video games, and we own a few different systems. Gaming is expensive, but heck, how many other things can you spend relatively little on for so many infinite hours of entertainment? Regardless, with video rental stores pulling away from renting video games, the only other option is a service like GameFly, which works like Netflix, allowing members to rent to have one or two games (depending on the price package) at a time before mailing them back to exchange. Price wise, GameStop has them beat. GameStop's plan costs $60 for 6 months of used game rentals, and at the end of it, you get to keep the last title you checked out. There doesn't appear to be a limit of the number of games a user can exchange a month. The one apparent hitch is that you must be a Power-Up Rewards member, but the free-version of that membership works. By comparison, GameFly's one-game-at-a-time option will run you $76.35 for six months or $79.75 if you utilize the free month first, an easy near-$20 savings. Of course, for folks like us, a trip to GameStop means 15 minute drive. So depending on how many times you go back and forth, the savings could be negligible. The clear trade off is not waiting on mailing time. Online reactions to Power Pass are mixed. I can see the advantage, but I doubt we'll take part, because frankly, more errands don't sound appealing. What do you think?
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