Thousands of rental kiosks will soon have $2 games.
Redbox doesn’t have a serious presence Canada, but the cheap video rental service probably contributed to the bankruptcy of Blockbuster in the U.S. with DVD vending machines in places like supermarkets and fast food chains. At $1 per day for a DVD rental (or $1.50 for a Blu-Ray), it’s tough to beat the price, and now the company is expanding their service to include video games.
Starting in June, 21,000 Redbox locations will start carrying Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3 games for $2 a day. Redbox has been carrying video games at around 5,000 locations since 2009, and President Mitch Lowe says that they’ve sold successfully.
“Redbox has rented more than 1 million video games in less than two years at these locations, underscoring the popularity of video game play in America,” said Lowe.
The problem, as I see it, is that while daily fees work well for movies, they may not be as convenient for video games. I tend to watch a movie the same night I rent it and $1 is a good price to pay when you can return it the next day. Video games, however, take a bit more time, depending on the game and how much else I have to do. At $2 a day, it might just be easier to buy it.
Source: CNET