Netflix's foray into game rentals still unclear

During the summer, when Netflix decided to split its streaming and by-mail services, the company also announced it would begin renting video games.

Earlier this month, however, Netflix cancelled its decision and left the gaming rental addition up in the air.

CEO Reed Hastings says the company is still undecided:

We have yet to decide whether or not to offer video game discs. The decision will have little financial impact either way.

Originally, the CEO had said: "Members have been asking for video games for many years, and now that DVD by mail has its own team, we are finally getting it done."

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 26 Oct 2011 21:21

KillerBug

Netflix has no interest in making customers happy...that is why their stock is now under 1/3 of the price from just a couple months ago...that is why their "you might like" page is full of things they think you won't like while they hide the things they think you will like...that is why the "watch now" pages got changed to only be useful on tablets, and even then not very useful.

27.10.2011 04:16 #1

xaznboitx

damage has been done unless Netflix charges less than BB.

27.10.2011 04:37 #2

KillerBug

They do charge less...and BB doesn't offer streaming unless you have Dish TV...NetFlix still has a real chance, assuming they stop shooting themselves.

27.10.2011 04:40 #3

xaznboitx

Originally posted by KillerBug: They do charge less...and BB doesn't offer streaming unless you have Dish TV...NetFlix still has a real chance, assuming they stop shooting themselves. You don't need dish.... you use any device then activate it on BB.com but you can stream videos from their site.

Kinda, stream but it's not unlimited... like you said dish needed for unlimited streaming 10.00 a month.

without dish you can stream through any device but you can stream rent movies starting at 6.99 and up for each video you want to rent just like on PS3 etc...

27.10.2011 05:09 #4

KillerBug

Originally posted by xaznboitx: Originally posted by KillerBug: They do charge less...and BB doesn't offer streaming unless you have Dish TV...NetFlix still has a real chance, assuming they stop shooting themselves. You don't need dish.... you use any device then activate it on BB.com but you can stream videos from their site.

Kinda, stream but it's not unlimited... like you said dish needed for unlimited streaming 10.00 a month.

without dish you can stream through any device but you can stream rent movies starting at 6.99 and up for each video you want to rent just like on PS3 etc... Pay-Par-View is a completely different thing from what NetFlix offers.

27.10.2011 06:01 #5

buxtahuda

Originally posted by KillerBug: They do charge less...and BB doesn't offer streaming unless you have Dish TV...NetFlix still has a real chance, assuming they stop shooting themselves. Yes and no depending on what you're doing. If you don't stream anyway, then BB is way cheaper since BluRays and games are already included in the plan. But if you stream, Netflix is certainly the way to go; I don't understand BB's thoughts on the matter, but why would I need streaming if I already have satellite/DVR and by-mail-rentals?

Right now I'm doing both to get the most bang for the buck, but BB is so far unimpressive as even though I've got nearly 20 games at the top of the list, I keep receiving the BluRays at the bottom... I'll be dropping them soon, if I want to play a game I'll buy the damned thing; with no brick-and-mortar stores nearby anyway that's about the only choice for new releases or anything that's remotely popular.

27.10.2011 08:31 #6

jookycola

After doing Blockbuster for a few months I will say this now.
It's best alternative to Netflix...but there is a reason Netflix kicked their a$$. Netflix is a far tighter, and well organized distribution unit.

I could send a disc back to Netflix on Monday and get it Wednesday.

I send a disc back to Blockbuster Monday I might get it Thursday or more likely Friday. The up side is you can return the mailed movie at any BB location and get a free rental. So if you time it right wit ha 2-at-a-time plan it works out nicely.

Now onto GAMES, since this is the subject.
Blockbuster SUCKS for renting games. Period. All new titles are on 3 month holdback (like the studios making renters wait 30 days for rental release) When they are available they are ALWAYS on very long delays...i.e. you're not going to get it for a very long, long time.

And you can not return mailed movie OR game rentals for games in store....even though games are a part of your plan. That means if you rent a game, it gets mailed to your house, you play it, you go to return it and rent another game.....you can't. You can ONLY rent games from Blockbuster online. Then you are subjected to those "very long wait" in your que.

The Blockbuster plan is great for blu-ray renters like me. and much better than a Gamefly account...only because for the same price as a GF account you get movies from BB. But I will tell you right now. That said, knowing Netflix's efficiency in mailing out your discs if they were to include games I would be back at Netflix tomorrow. It's honestly the only thing keeping me from going back.

27.10.2011 18:32 #7

fandr78

Originally posted by jookycola: After doing Blockbuster for a few months I will say this now.
It's best alternative to Netflix...but there is a reason Netflix kicked their a$$. Netflix is a far tighter, and well organized distribution unit.

I could send a disc back to Netflix on Monday and get it Wednesday.

I send a disc back to Blockbuster Monday I might get it Thursday or more likely Friday. The up side is you can return the mailed movie at any BB location and get a free rental. So if you time it right wit ha 2-at-a-time plan it works out nicely.

Now onto GAMES, since this is the subject.
Blockbuster SUCKS for renting games. Period. All new titles are on 3 month holdback (like the studios making renters wait 30 days for rental release) When they are available they are ALWAYS on very long delays...i.e. you're not going to get it for a very long, long time.

And you can not return mailed movie OR game rentals for games in store....even though games are a part of your plan. That means if you rent a game, it gets mailed to your house, you play it, you go to return it and rent another game.....you can't. You can ONLY rent games from Blockbuster online. Then you are subjected to those "very long wait" in your que.

The Blockbuster plan is great for blu-ray renters like me. and much better than a Gamefly account...only because for the same price as a GF account you get movies from BB. But I will tell you right now. That said, knowing Netflix's efficiency in mailing out your discs if they were to include games I would be back at Netflix tomorrow. It's honestly the only thing keeping me from going back. That's also called throttling rentals.. I went through that with both company's. They would get it back in a day or two but wait to actually scan it back in the system. This slows you down on the amount of rentals in a month.

Franco

27.10.2011 20:57 #8

Mr-Movies

That isn't how it worked for me they would scan my movies when they got them but sometimes would wait for the next movie in my queue to come in, instead of just sending the next movie after that which was in house and ready to send.

I can't totally fault them for that but did call them and ask them not to do that with my queued movies. And they did send me a extra movie when it happened and I complained.

29.10.2011 08:58 #9

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