Redbox may have been the first company to popularize the movie rental kiosk business platform, but now it is looking to dominate the video game rental industry. Now that Blockbuster is out of business and smaller movie rental stores are all but obsolete, most gamers turn to the Internet when they want to rent a new title. Even companies like Netflix refuse to get into the video game rental industry, and for good reason. The price to replace a new movie that never gets returned can range from anywhere from $10 to $30 dollars, but a new video game can cost as much as $70. In other words, movie rental companies have more to lose by getting into the video game market than they have to gain.
However, the owners of Redbox believe that they have built up a favorable rapport amongst consumers. The company reports that few people fail to return DVDs. Of course, Redbox will have to deal with the headaches associated with stolen credit cards and chargebacks, but gamers are stoked about the new service. Instead of having to wait two or more days to rent a new video game, gamers can simply drive to their nearest Redbox kiosk and browse the available selection. In addition, they will know which titles will be available in the future and they can even reserve the games that they want to play online. It will probably be another few months before Redbox is able to post reliable data about how the new video game rental service is going.
