Publishers really really hate used games, like they seriously wish they would go away so hard. When people buy used games instead of new copies the publishers don’t get any money from that customer. Publishers are now backing Blockbuster to try and fight against used games. When a customer rents a video game, publishers actually get money, whereas with trade ins, they don’t get shit.
—We have ramped up the rental side of our business and we have got an awful lot of support from publishers,” stated commercial director Gerry Butler. “Publishers like renting as it takes away from trade-ins. The problem with trade-ins is the publisher doesn’t get any money. The advantage of renting is that they get quite a lot of money.”
I don’t see this doing a whole lot since Blockbuster seems to be on its last leg. One question this also brings up is the matter of online passes, with multiple gamers using the same copy of a game, how will they access everything? Will publishers abandon online passes for rentals? Will we see rental copies of games the way we now have rental copies of DVDs? Only time will tell.
