If you've ever wondered what it feels like to be obsolete just ask Blockbuster. The one time giant of the movie rental industry is now running a distant second to a little thing called Netflix. Their fix? They may start renting games as part of their media-by-mail programming. This is according to an email a Consumerist reader received that stated customers would "be able to choose from over 3,000 different games, including many popular new releases."
When this was brought up to a Netflix representative the idea was flatly rejected for that service. A rep stated that, "Movies are perennial. A great movie from 1972 is still a great movie but who wants to play Madden '95?"
As aggravatingly inaccurate as that statement is, it's pretty obvious why Netflix has no interest in renting games: they happen to be partnered with a bunch of companies who would rather see those games sold not rented. Slighting Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo might not be the best idea, especially when it is being reported that the three systems will be bringing in two million new subscribers for Netflix over 2010.
Would you ditch Netflix if Blockbuster offered up games?
Blockbuster Considering Adding Games-By-Mail Service [The Consumerist, via Joystiq]
Netflix to gain two million subscribers from consoles in 2010 [Joystiq]
Matthew Razak is Destructoid's Associate editor and co-founder of film site
Flixist. He began as community member "cowzilla" and was since sequestered to write brainy features material. He lives in Los Angeles with his beautiful wife.
Likes
Games! Movies! Hats!
Meet the rest of the team
| BBcode help |
| [b]Bold text[/b] |
Bold text |
| [i]Italic text[/i] |
Italic text |
| [url]http://www.dtoid.com/[/url] |
http://www.dtoid.com |
| [url=http://www.dtoid.com/]Web link[/url] |
Web link |
|
| [img]http://www.example.com/robot.jpg[/img] |
 |
Post a comment! You can also post a photo below:
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
55 comments | showing # 1 to 50
|
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
Comments policy
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!
Contest:
8:00 PM on 04.10.2010
| 
More movie then I could actually keep up with. But slowly they kept chipping away at the perks and the nail in the coffin was all the stores around me closing. Netflixs turn around time is much faster aswell.
I honestly don't feel bad for Blockbuster, considering the egregious rates they charge for renting games. They have become a nice place to find used games for cheap, though (I found several games there, including Soul Calibur IV and GTA4, for $10 each).
Well yeah but when you change Madden '95 into Final Fantasy VII a lot of people will disagree. A lot of movies that were great back then are shit now too. That whole statement doesn't make any sense. Jeez, I don't even know if Madden '95 was any good back in '95.
So Netflix what the fuck are you trying to tell me?
Leave the renting to Gamefly.
Just...sharin'.
Though, I have old stuff rented from Blockbuster and another local rental shop when they closed down...hee hee hee.
Now if BlockBuster can get me games faster than the roughly 5 to 8 day turnaround that Gamefly gets me, then there's be some ditchin' afoot!
I'd rather just buy games. I liked renting back in the day because I was a kid and couldn't buy games myself and it was easier to talk my parents into renting me Snowboard Kids for the 20th time than get them to buy it for me. Nowadays I just wish I had my own copies of the games I rented back then, so I could enjoy Super Mario RPG or Kirby's Super Star whenever I want.
But I'm one of those weirdos who never sales his games or trades them in or whatever either. Even the bad ones.
Plus, I tend to buy and then resell if I don't want to keep the game. Stuff like Goozex is best for that and I'd keep using it over anything like Gamefly or Gamerang.
(putting madden 95 in my gamefly queue now)
BUT...Gamefly was terrible at new releases. I could have a game on my list before it came out for months, yet when the game dropped they never seemed to have enough. I was always stuck playing some game that was like 8 months old and on my list just because I had some slight interest but had it at the bottom.
So if Blockbuster actually had enough in stock so I could rent a new game, that it was availible, I'd ditch Netflix faster than Brad Pitt ditched Jennifer Aniston.
Blockbuster can go to hell. If I'm right, When Netflix was starting up, they offered/pitched the same idea to Blockbuster, and unfortunately, Blockbuster with their bottomless pit of greed, refused the offer. What a huge mistake. Net Flix went out on their own against them, and the rest is history. Long live, competition.
With all those silly late fees etc, its no surprise they are dying. Renting a game, for the same amount of time as a movie (2-3 days), was stupid.
Then I got gamefly and after 2 years, I'm ditching them. Their mailing takes forever, I never get the games I want when I want them (even if they are "high or available now).
So if BB wanted to make a game subscription, I would keep netflix and just tack on BB cause right now I'm playing 25 a month for 2 games at a time and its not worth it.
But they changed it.
I've always wondered why BB didn't do games by mail, though. They still have alot of stores, and they do have alot of games, so they could probably beat Gamefly in turn-around. I would gladly try it, if the price were reasonable. I wouldn't drop Netflix, though.
Also, did you know BB rentals are four days now? WTF? They're just trying to die as fast as possible.
1:Buying a copy of a new game costs a lot more than film.
2:As per the Madden 95 comment, Old films stay as good/relevant as the day they were releasted, and while some retro games would stay relevant for a nostalgia factor(final fantasy, ect..) from the point of view of a company buying thousands of copies of every game released per year, only a handful of which are still going to be rented with any frequency after a year or two.
3: People complain about how Gamefly doesnt meet the demand for a new game. Think of a hypothetical example: Madden 09, Gamefly buys a ton of discs to keep up w/ the initial demand to keep customers happy... Madden 10 releases and suddenly gamefly is sitting on 100,000 copies of Madden 09 only 1,000 of which are out at any time. So instead of buying so many copies, Gamefly only buys a fraction of the total demand because anything else would be financial suicide, and satisfaction (and subscriptions) suffers due to inavalibility of products.
From that point of view Its easy to see why Netflix would stick with movies only for the lower costs per disc, and that movies have far longer longevity in the medium term between New status and being "classic" or "retero". Besides that part of the reason Netflix is so successfull is because of the customer satisfaction which i doubt they would jeopardize by diverting resources in the first place.
I was discussing Gamefly and Netflix with a guy I work with who has subscriptions to both, and he says essentially that Netflix fucking rules, and Gamefly is borderline not worth it because their wait times take about a week.
Sadness, I was kind of rooting for Netflix to expand into games.