After just announcing a partnership with Comcast called DVDsByMail, which gives Comcast customers a discount on renting Blockbuster’s 95,000 movie titles and TV shows through Blockbuster’s Netflix-like “by-mail” service, Blockbuster has just launched a game rental service that Gamefly should be worried about.
The landscape of the consumer entertainment industry seems to be constantly changing. Netflix and Gamefly are the established go-to-guys for movies and games by mail. Not only that, but Netflix’s instant watch feature gives you unlimited access to titles you can watch immediately online for as little as $10/month. Redbox is doing its thing with their little red kiosks all over the US, letting people rent movies for dollars a day while contemplating a move onto the web. With the new competition, Blockbuster initially floundered and closed down stores, but it seems they may have finally found their footing.
Blockbuster’s service is a hybrid of Netflix and Gamefly, making no distinctions between games or movies when you’re adding things to your queue. They boast a catalog of 3,000 games at no extra charge above and beyond their standard by-mail rental plans with no due dates or late fees. The monthly fee for their one disc at a time plan is $8.95. For about the same amount, you can get a similar account with Netflix, but minus the games. Gamefly will let you pay $8.95/month for a similar plan, but it jumps to about $16/month after the first month.
This new feature from Blockbuster goes directly at Gamefly, undercutting their pricing by half while offering the added ability to get movies as well as games. Netflix should be paying attention as well since their 2-disc plan is the same price as Blockbuster’s, except that Blockbuster allows one or both of those discs to be a game. Many Netflix and Gamefly customers may be straddling both services and Blockbuster is offering a cheaper way out.
Blockbuster also has a 28-day head-start on Netflix after a deal it made months ago with the movie studios. This gets you new releases on Blockbuster four weeks before you can get them on Netflix. If Blockbuster can make sure games are available when requested, it could spell big trouble for GameFly. Netflix may still be in the clear given that instant streaming alone is worth the $9/month and their recent deal with Epix.