Gamestop, the king preowned reseller of video games and video game related content, has just announced a new rental service called Power Pass. Power Pass, available to PowerUp Rewards subscribers only, is a $60 service that allows users to essentially "rent" any preowned game they have in stock for a 6 month period. You can only rent 1 title at a time, but there's no limit on how many games you can rent total, and after the 6 months ends you're allowed to keep the last game you rent out. The only rule is that the game has to be preowned, and it has to be rented in-store. PowerPass will begin it's service on November 19th. There's no word on whether this will be a continued program after the 6 month period ends, but I imagine Gamestop is checking general interest with this 6 month period and will decide based on how popular it is.

This is an interesting move on Gamestop's part, and appears to try and undercut services like Gamefly with it's relatively low price. Gamefly's cheapest package is $15.95 a month with the same 1 game at a time limit, meaning Gamestop's Power Pass would end up being ~$35 cheaper for the same time frame with similar restrictions, with the added bonus of being able to keep a game you rent.


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[Deleted member 408979]

They're getting desperate.

I still remember when they announced that they had to close several shops due to budget. They deserve to bankrupt imo.

 

[Eastonator12]

They're getting desperate.

I still remember when they announced that they had to close several shops due to budget. They deserve to bankrupt imo.

"so i've got a xbox 360, 1tb hard drive, and 20 games" i'll give you 20 bucks for that

this has happened to me too many times, but, its easier than selling it on ebay and hoping someone buys it

 

[WARlord1903]

Wait, people actually use GameFly? I've never heard anyone say they've used it.

Anyway, considering the quality of some of the preowned games at GameStop, I'm willing to bet that this is not going to work very well.

 

[JFizDaWiz]

I’ll stick my local library where games are free and they get new titles. They had RE7 the week it came out

 

[Dimensional]

"so i've got a xbox 360, 1tb hard drive, and 20 games" i'll give you 20 bucks for that

this has happened to me too many times, but, its easier than selling it on ebay and hoping someone buys it

Had that happen to me last week. "Oh, you bought this brand new for $60 and you're returning it in less than 7 days? $20."

 

[Deleted-401606]

This could maybe workout. Hardcore gamers could play and beat atleast 6 games if not more in that time frame.

 

[H1B1Esquire]

This also means somebody is going to dump many, many titles.

 

[FAST6191]

Saw early mention of it on IRC the other day but the prices were unknown at the time. I thought it might be a more traditional service but this is interesting too. I shall await news of how it all plays out.

This could maybe workout. Hardcore gamers could play and beat atleast 6 games if not more in that time frame.

6 modern games in 6 months? With 8 hour campaigns being the norm I could knock that out in a long weekend.

They're getting desperate.

I still remember when they announced that they had to close several shops due to budget. They deserve to bankrupt imo.

Was it due to budget or because by the time they bought out a bunch of other chains they often had shops a couple of blocks from each other, or multiple in the same small malls? No doubt they are feeling a bit of a pinch though. Not sure I would go so far as to wish them bankrupt -- they provide a useful enough service so I am happy enough for them to plod along.

This also means somebody is going to dump many, many titles.

I imagine most games by the point they hit those markets will be dumped already, and why use a service like this when the groups already have people working in the shops, distribution warehouses and more besides?

 

[H1B1Esquire]

I imagine most games by the point they hit those markets will be dumped already, and why use a service like this when the groups already have people working in the shops, distribution warehouses and more besides?

I didn't read the specifics, but if this really is as simple as it looks, that means any pre-owned game is up for grab, including things people play, hate, can't return, and just want their money back, i.e. that Mario Party 10 sadfest.

Plus, there are still games that haven't been dumped; this can also be great for people with slower internet speeds who just want to dump the game and archive it for themselves.

I also guess it's like 1999 Blockbuster--you can go around to any store and find things you thought you couldn't. Guess the returning of games isn't as kind.

 

[DJPlace]

good now people can rent and dump old games if they want...

 

[magico29]

gamestop is full of cake!! you already know that baby

 

[FAST6191]

Plus, there are still games that haven't been dumped; this can also be great for people with slower internet speeds who just want to dump the game and archive it for themselves.

There are undumped North American games beyond v1.1 versions of shovelware? Also have game sizes outpaced internet connections that much? I got thrown back to 700K/second from about 100 times that a few months back and it is all still pretty workable.

On the other hand I really should not underestimate the bandwidth of a boot/trunk full of CDs.

 

[H1B1Esquire]

There are undumped North American games beyond v1.1 versions of shovelware? Also have game sizes outpaced internet connections that much? I got thrown back to 700K/second from about 100 times that a few months back and it is all still pretty workable.

On the other hand I really should not underestimate the bandwidth of a boot/trunk full of CDs.

I was too lazy to specify, but lets say you have a really shitty ISP that sends you letters and VPN isn't an option--dump a game.
Limited internet per month or face extra charges--dump a game.
Wi-fi cuts out and ruins your downloads--dump a game.
Have family members who run data like water at a fountain--dump a game.
Don't have space on your computer, but the drive for X gaming system does have space--dump a game.
Don't feel like buying Pokemon games, but you want the Pokemon legit--dump a game.
Can't lof into a site because you've been banned--dump a game.
Want to start your own MEGA/Gdrive/Dropbox/etc, links without stealing other people uploads--dump several games.

I could probably go on, but if you can't see the point I'm trying to make....

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

There are undumped North American games beyond v1.1 versions of shovelware? Also have game sizes outpaced internet connections that much? I got thrown back to 700K/second from about 100 times that a few months back and it is all still pretty workable.

On the other hand I really should not underestimate the bandwidth of a boot/trunk full of CDs.

I think this is more a US thing than anywhere else, since we still have places that only get like super slow 100kb/s DSL, or shit satellite internet. Plus most ISPs have some sort of datacap now unless you pay for unlimited.

 

[FAST6191]

Hmm, missed the rise of data caps over there (probably laughing at Australia too much).

Pretty much just mobile, certain types of business and the cheapest and nastiest packages which have caps here.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Hmm, missed the rise of data caps over there (probably laughing at Australia too much).

Pretty much just mobile, certain types of business and the cheapest and nastiest packages which have caps here.

They're usually pretty "high" for the bigger ISPs, for example ATT and Comcast both have 1TB a month bandwidth caps. it's usually only shit satellite/mobile internet plans that have small datacaps like 50GB a month or something, which is hardly much these days.

Though if you're a "prolific downloader" you can easily hit that 1TB cap no problem. I nearly hit that every month, usually a full week or so before it resets

 

[H1B1Esquire]

Hmm, missed the rise of data caps over there (probably laughing at Australia too much).

Pretty much just mobile, certain types of business and the cheapest and nastiest packages which have caps here.

It's the fine print that kills most consumers in the U.S., but you can't really blame carriers/providers--they need to get their unfair share. There are also bundles (TV, Phone, Internet) that give you veryfast speeds, but low limits before throttling after you go over a certain amount of data or companies that will charge you crazy rates, i.e. $5.00 per GB, which can get pretty bad if you and your sibling/s are DL'ing and other people in your house watch Netflix every night.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

This is an awesome service for consoles that already have been out for a while, so they have lots of preowned games for them. You can beat a lot of games in a 6 month period. My local GameStop always has lots of second hand 3DS and Wii U games but barely any Switch games. They didn't even have 1-2-Switch which is a game I figure that most people who buy will get rid of soon after, there are some fun minigames in there but there's not much replay value due to how basic they are and I already got bored with it after playing it once with my brother.

I didn't expect this from GameStop to be honest, considering how extortionate their second hand pricing is and how heavily they push preowned game sales. This is going to result in them not getting rid of nearly as many preowned games, which I guess is a good thing for the service as they'll have more games to choose from, but they'll make far less money on preowned game sales. On the other hand, if this service becomes popular that could make them more money than their preowned game sales ever did. I guess that remains to be seen. If it doesn't make them more money, they'll probably just end the service.
I think they are worried that digital sales are killing their business and they introduced this in order to stay relevant.

I hope the service comes here, it's certainly not a given. I tend to buy games I'm interested in on launch day or shortly after, but it would be great for discovering new games that I might not have tried out otherwise.
I'd like to see them offer several tiers. For example, $80 for renting two games at a time (still only get to keep one of them at the end)
I'm not one who usually sticks to just one game until I've beaten it, unless I get really hooked like I tend to with Zelda games, but that's rare. Also being able to rent two games at a time would help minimize my trips to GameStop in case I make a bad choice and the game I picked turns out to not be my thing at all, as I'd still have the other game to play until I could be arsed to go back to exchange the game.

 

[Subtle Demise]

Though if you're a "prolific downloader" you can easily hit that 1TB cap no problem. I nearly hit that every month, usually a full week or so before it resets

A month of Netflix at 1080p/4K and a modest Steam library would put anyone pretty close to that. Add in torrenting of some kind, and it just makes ANY data cap seem unreasonable. Where I'm living now, the ISP we have has no cap, but it's some kind of fixed wireless thing were they beam the signal to these small square satellite dish looking things, so it's slow as fuck. We're on the second-highest tier, and it's only 3 megabits down and like 0.5 up.

Anyway, as for the main topic, I don't think this service is worth it. Not unless you can get more than one game at a time, or include new games as well.