Copy and Paste from my Facebook
I was working on this long form piece detailing the new GameStop Power Pass program and how it's really not as glorious as it sounds. Here's just a few things I wanted to touch on that get glossed over....
This is indeed a last desperate bid at relevancy and to push their Power Up Rewards program. Oh you didn't know you HAVE to be a Power Up Rewards member? Meaning you have to buy in initially at $15 or $30 (ELITE), then pay $60 for the rental program, then you have to pay for the initial game rental, which is the full used price of the game. And for the games that people will want to rent, that's going to be another $50. So about $140 for 6 months access to game rentals. Yeah you get to keep the last game you "rent", but you PAID for it, so therefore its not a rental.
This program may be doomed because for there to be USED games to "rent" then there have to be USED games coming in. As in its a self sacrificial model. They make their money SELLING used games. But if people are renting the used games, they make NOTHING. Also if people are just waiting for the good games to cycle to used, there won't be any available stock. Take for instance a title like Call of Duty WWII, which releases this weekend. The game will sell a bunch of new copies, but it will take awhile before it starts being seen used in any volume to have copies to rent out. So unless GameStop makes a bold move and shifts a percentage of new copies they receive into used on release, what you'll end up with as your selection is a bunch of previous year's titles sitting on shelves.
Next, let's talk condition. We have all had that friend that simply just does not know how to take care of their games. Scratched disks, damaged data, cracked rings. So I ask, what do you think this means for the used games at GameStop? It's bad enough trying to get a decent complete copy of a game when it has had maybe 2 users, it's about to be much worse now when games can theoretically go to unlimited users before you are then asked to still pay full used price, which is a ripoff. And we can't expect GameStop to give a damn about how their games come in any more than they already do, which isn't very much.
Speaking of pricing though, the last thing that gets super glossed over is that the game you rent or exchange for has to be of equal or LESSER value. So don't expect to start your rental tab with a $20 game then expect to exchange it for that new hot $50 game. Nope, they were smart enough to see through that loophole and tied a knot in it. This is an issue though because GameStop has a nasty habit of having their prices fluctuate based on purchasing trends and not a title's age. So using Call of Duty as an example again, with there being so many new copies that will be in circulation, the game will depreciate quickly, meaning its used value will be low, which circles all the way back to what I was saying earlier.
For a company who's lifeblood is selling used games, they sure seem poised to push more people into either buying new or even worse, making digital sound more and more appealing.
I could keep going, but honestly people are going to do what they want and no amount of data or fact hunting will convince someone who is dead set on thinking one way to think otherwise. But my track record for nailing these things cant be glossed over.
