GameStop has launched an in-store rental service called PowerPass. Remember Blockbuster Video?Watch Private Video Magazine 7 It's like that, except instead of VHS tapes, you're renting used video games.
The only difference here is, you pay up front. A six-month subscription costs $60, and allows you to swap games anytime you want, at no additional cost. However, you can only have one game checked out at a time.
SEE ALSO: Indie game dares to talk about death in a way few others haveThe program will launch during the looming holiday season, with only the six-month plan available. There's a reason for that: At the end of a subscription, you'll be able to choose one game to keep, for free.
There's one more condition. Only GameStop's Power-Up Rewards members can participate, though both the free membership and the paid memberships ($14.99 or $29.99 per year, depending on your tier preferences) allow you to sign up. All you really need to do is create an account on the retailer's website.
Sign-ups for PowerPass begin on Nov. 19, according to an email from the retailer.
This is an unexpected play by GameStop, but a seemingly sensible one. As the video game space continues to shift toward online sales, there's likely a shrinking secondhand market to go along with it.
PowerPass may be a good thing for the company, but that's the message between the lines: GameStop is looking for new ways to monetize its assuredly massive overstock of secondhand games. A program like this — which, at this point, has the feel of a public beta test — could help to shrink that stock while creating a new subscription-based source of income.
It might be tempting to compare this service to GameFly, but really, the Blockbuster comparison is more apt.
GameFly's service resembles the early days of Netflix, when you would rent a DVD by mail and keep it until you mailed it back. PowerPass, on the other hand, has more of an old-school video store vibe: You go to a brick-and-mortar GameStop to pick up and return rented games.
UPDATEDOct. 29 9:30 p.m. ET An earlier version of this story erroneously stated that signing up for a PowerPass subscription also required a paid Power-Up Rewards subscription. As GameStop clarified in an email, all you need is a Power-Up Rewards account -- which is free to create.
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