Blockbuster Expanding Focus on Videogame Business

[RandomFool]

Link

Blockbuster, with its foundation built on the home video market, said today that it will be shifting a bit of its focus from movies to videogame software and hardware sales. All Blockbuster retail stores in the U.S. will now stock videogame titles, accessories and hardware for sale.

The rental giant is also expanding its stock, adding more game titles for rental with more copies than before across all platforms. Games such as Grand Theft Auto IV and Mario Kart Wii will be featured on the new release rentals wall for increased exposure.

This could be interesting. Blockbuster has the store numbers to compete with gamestop. Blockbuster is actually way more convenient for me. Although I'm not sure any of the blockbusters near me have a ton of extra room for videogame stuff.
It'd be cool if they could introduce some sort of rent to own program where you could rent a game and if you like it just keep it and they charge you for the full game after a week or so sort of how redbox does it.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: RandomFool
This could be interesting. Blockbuster has the store numbers to compete with gamestop. Blockbuster is actually way more convenient for me. Although I'm not sure any of the blockbusters near me have a ton of extra room for videogame stuff.
It'd be cool if they could introduce some sort of rent to own program where you could rent a game and if you like it just keep it and they charge you for the full game after a week or so sort of how redbox does it.

I think that is probably the biggest concern. Even at the larger of the Blockbusters near me that has a GameRush inside, they are packed with so much stuff that they've taken to laying DVDs flat on their side and stacking them up on the shelf...as opposed to the typical thing where they have the cover facing out.

A good game section could easily take up at least 1/4 of the store space.

 

[Modeps]

Blockbusters around me have pretty much always stocked new video games for sale. Sounds like they'll just be stocking more now.

 

[mugs]

Is there a need for a competitor to GS/EB for new games? Plenty of stores sell games at the same prices (MSRP), and Costco sells games for even less (with a very small selection). A competitor for used games would be better. 10% below retail for used games isn't terribly appealing, although when you stack it with 10% Edge card + buy 2 get 1 it's a good deal.

I know Blockbuster sells used games - but only their old rental copies.

 

[erwos]

This isn't a bad idea on their part. Are they legally allowed to rent out video games that are bought from retail, or do they need to buy special copies ala video DVDs? If it's the former, they'd be able to do the "rent it, and then buy it if you like it!" thing, which would allow them to offer higher trade-in prices/values.

GameStop's efforts to get into DVDs were a miserable failure, though, so there is some inertia working against this.

I've actually found Blockbuster and Hollywood Video to be BETTER when it comes to finding used games, as they only tend to rent out the popular stuff.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: erwos
This isn't a bad idea on their part. Are they legally allowed to rent out video games that are bought from retail, or do they need to buy special copies ala video DVDs? If it's the former, they'd be able to do the "rent it, and then buy it if you like it!" thing, which would allow them to offer higher trade-in prices/values.

😕 Blockbuster already rents out video games. They buy them from distributors just like any other company that rents games.

They also offer customers to purchase the copies they rent. There isn't a discount to this though as you ultimately end up paying full price.

 

[R Nilla]

When is Blockbuster going to offer some sort of video game rental system through the mail, like GameFly? They have a lot of distribution centers (to GameFly's what, two?) and certainly already have the connections since their stores rent video games. Why not bring this to their mail service? Netflix doesn't have this, and GameFly is certainly not setup as well.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: R Nilla
When is Blockbuster going to offer some sort of video game rental system through the mail, like GameFly? They have a lot of distribution centers (to GameFly's what, two?) and certainly already have the connections since their stores rent video games. Why not bring this to their mail service? Netflix doesn't have this, and GameFly is certainly not setup as well.

I asked this question of one of our forum members in OT who works for Blockbuster before the Console Gaming forum was started. He basically said the cost was too high and BB was struggling enough already with the DVD rental service.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: erwos
This isn't a bad idea on their part. Are they legally allowed to rent out video games that are bought from retail, or do they need to buy special copies ala video DVDs? If it's the former, they'd be able to do the "rent it, and then buy it if you like it!" thing, which would allow them to offer higher trade-in prices/values.

GameStop's efforts to get into DVDs were a miserable failure, though, so there is some inertia working against this.

I've actually found Blockbuster and Hollywood Video to be BETTER when it comes to finding used games, as they only tend to rent out the popular stuff.

They don't have to have any kind of specially licensed version to rent out video games OR DVDs. Read up on the first sale doctrine. With VHS movies they charged high prices (~$75) to rental stores, but movies were available to rent before they were available to purchase.

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: erwos
This isn't a bad idea on their part. Are they legally allowed to rent out video games that are bought from retail, or do they need to buy special copies ala video DVDs? If it's the former, they'd be able to do the "rent it, and then buy it if you like it!" thing, which would allow them to offer higher trade-in prices/values.

😕 Blockbuster already rents out video games. They buy them from distributors just like any other company that rents games.

You missed my point. If Blockbuster can buy used games from consumers, and then rent them out, they would be able to offer higher trade-in prices since they'd be able to derive more return from the used games. This would allow them to compete more effectively with GameStop.

What they're buying from distributors for rental might not be licensed the same way as what you or buy in a retail store, hence my question.

As to the first sale doctrine: that sounds great on paper, but there's clearly something else going on, as the stores still have to buy higher-priced rental-licensed DVDs, from what I understand. In fact, US Code specifically seems to exempt rental from first sale doctrine:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/usc..._00000109----000-.html

There's an exemption for video games right under it, which might be what BB would need to use. /me shrugs.

 

[Fingolfin269]

Originally posted by: erwos
GameStop's efforts to get into DVDs were a miserable failure, though, so there is some inertia working against this.

True, but the difference here is that at least BB already has people coming into their stores to rent games. The next logical step would be to get them to buy from there as well. Like the rental? Buy it from us too! Not to mention the fact that if there are no copies of GTA4 available for rent some people might decide to buy the game. Why would they leave and hop over to Gamestop when the price is probably exactly the same as what Blockbuster will charge?

 

[R Nilla]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: R Nilla
When is Blockbuster going to offer some sort of video game rental system through the mail, like GameFly? They have a lot of distribution centers (to GameFly's what, two?) and certainly already have the connections since their stores rent video games. Why not bring this to their mail service? Netflix doesn't have this, and GameFly is certainly not setup as well.

I asked this question of one of our forum members in OT who works for Blockbuster before the Console Gaming forum was started. He basically said the cost was too high and BB was struggling enough already with the DVD rental service.

Yeah, that's the only reason I could think of, and it makes sense. The DVD rental service is still pretty new, and adding video games to the mix is probably too much too soon. Still, it would be nice to see.

There's a Blockbuster distribution center 2 or 3 hours from where I live, but GameFly's centers are really far away.