I think we do.
Renting video games is very representative of what is ailing traditional brick and mortar business models. It is always such a frustrating experience to rent a video game from a rental store. It is near impossible to find new releases available on the shelf. We are all familiar with the scavenger hunt, you either have to drive from store to store, which is becoming quite difficult as rental stores are dropping like flies, or you have to call around and communicate with some disgruntled employee. When you do finally find a game to rent, the prices are insulting. In my town, video game rentals from Blockbuster currently go for $9 for a five day rental. If you go over 5 days, you get charged a dollar a day up to the tenth day. After that, you get charged full price for the game. There are services like Gamefly, that take a Netflix-esque approach to the rental model. However, I find their prices to be a little steep for what you get in return.
A Redbox-like business model would not only help make finding games easier, but also make the rentals much more affordable. Anybody who has utilized the Redbox website can appreciate the Google Maps integration that will show the nearest location of the title you are looking for. The dollar-a-day pricing structure means that you can keep the game for as long as you want without getting ripped off. I would much rather pay $7 for a week of gaming as opposed to $11 for the same amount of time from Blockbuster. If it takes a month to finish a game, it would only cost roughly $30, half the price of owning the game.
Why we will never see it
A Redbox-like model for video games will never succeed for the very same reasons that Redbox now suffers from. Much like the movie studios, video game distributors will never embrace a rental model that greatly undercuts their new game sales. Just the thought of this rental model ultimately affecting the bottom-line will ensure it never sees the light of day. Limited support would mean higher costs for the rental company, which may never be recouped. Game distributors have a hard enough time accepting used game sales, and are always trying new things to combat it.
Though a dollar-a-day kiosk concept for video game rentals would seem pretty ideal, for it to come to fruition would be highly unlikely. However, the future for brick and mortar rental stores seems pretty bleak as well. One can only hope that when digital distribution becomes the norm and not the exception, a decent rental model will be implemented. I won't be holding my breath.
