Let me start by saying that this was written by a gamer and as a gamer, I consider a lot when comparing one online game rental service to another. Ironically, the same items are reviewed when comparing online vs. in-store game rental services. There are some words that gamers like me hold in higher regard than any other when it comes to catching video games, whether you get them online or in-store. Those words are; “selection”, “availability”, “accessibility” and “price” or SAAP. Let me break it down a bit more.
Selection:
While all aspects of SAAP are crucial to a successful online game rental service, selection carries a bit more weight than availability, accessibility, or price. Companies need to be able to offer not only what is new, but also the games that are not so new anymore and that we still enjoy playing. You can pre-purchase video games, but why not pre-rent them? With online game rental services you can. Reserve a copy in advance and make sure you get the game the day it comes out without ever leaving your house.
Availability:
Availability is pretty much useless without selection, what good is it if they have 100 copies of polar bear bowling? Wherever you get your video games, you need them to have a good selection, but what’s the point of having the best games if you only have 1 copy? 1000 copies of a game for an online game rental service can be just as worthless. Some of the more obscure online game rental services only have 1 distribution center and if you only have 1000 copies of a highly anticipated new release like Killzone 2 or GTA4 then 1000 copies doesn’t go very far when spread across an entire country. of players. .
Accessibility:
This is probably the number one concern on players’ minds when considering an online game rental service. We want our games when we want our games, right? But the problem with that “today not tomorrow” philosophy is that you rely on in-store game rental companies to supply you with the game you WANT when you want it and we all know from experience that 9 times out of 10 they can’t. deliver. . So you end up waiting a lot longer to play the game you were craving than 24 hours. The selection and availability are great, hands down. If in-store game rental companies like Blockbuster offered superior selection and availability, then there wouldn’t be room in a gamer’s market for a single online game rental service. However, they don’t, haven’t, and most likely never will get it right.
Price:
The price is the price guys. Let’s face it, no video game rental service is going to cost or save you thousands of dollars every month, and while it’s important to save what you can, why pay $3 less to be frustrated? Now that does not mean that you have to pay more. Many of the best online game rental services can afford to offer you the best deals and therefore the best SAAP available.
