Netflix Kills Video Game Rental Plan

Published on January 25, 2012, by - Posted in News 1

Qwikster was a bad idea for Netflix from the start, and the last (albeit most intriguing) piece of Qwikster has died today via Netflix’s 4th quarter earnings call. Peter Kafka reports that Game rentals are no longer part of Netflix’s future. This also begs the question, has Netflix followed through on any of their plans since the announcement (and redaction) of Qwikster besides the price increases?

We were looking forward to another competitor to the online game rental business, a business that has been lead by competitor GameFly. The business of renting games has become evermore difficult by the inclusion of “online passes” by companies like THQ, Ubisoft, EA, among others. A service that allows you to rent games, but not have full access to online features is wrong.

Via: The Verge
Source: Peter Kafka (Twitter)

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Author: Trevor Magnani View all posts by
Editor-in-Chief of GenGAME.net, host of the occasional podcast, and frequent guest on many of the GenGAMEnetwork shows. You can stalk me on Twitter @themags, or find me on Google+.
  • Anonymous

    Game rentals have never been a part of Netflix’s future; we just now have confirmation that Netflix won’t force game rentals into their future. I can’t say that I’m surprised because since last year Netflix has been rallying to do away with their disc rental service. Since Netflix has been moving away from a medium that I still enjoy, I’ve moved onto a better service from Blockbuster @Home. I get streaming and DVD, Blu-ray and game rentals from them by mail for just $10 a month. I’m not the only one who realized that Blockbuster @Home is a beneficial trade up from Netflix, many of my co-workers at DISH have also made the trade and are satisfied with the service. Now that I’m paying less for more than I would get from Netflix, I could care less about Netflix’s future because it doesn’t involve me.