A big topic of discussion across the gaming space recently is about the cost of video game consoles and their games. Part of this discussion is due to the Nintendo Switch 2 and the threats that it faced recently due to inflation and tariffs, along with Nintendo using a “variable price system” for its upcoming games featuring Mario and Donkey Kong. However, that’s not the only controversy going on with pricing in the game space because just last year, the PlayStation 5 Pro was announced, and it was, and still is, a massively expensive console that you’ll need to buy plenty of accessories for just to play games.
When you add that to the overall cost of the base form PS5, you can understand why its sales have been up and down ever since its pipeline stabilized post-pandemic. That and the fact that its gaming releases haven’t been as numerous as many want them to be, but that’s another topic entirely. The twist in this tale is that in Japan, a special renting service for the PlayStation 5 has been going on for years now, and in recent weeks, the systems have been “sold out” via rentals.
The retailer in question is GEO, and it noted to IT Media News that their service allows people to rent out a PS5 for just $6 for eight days of usage, and that it was thanks to Monster Hunter Wilds that people have been rushing in to rent it.
When you think about it, that makes sense. A classic struggle of gamers is wanting to play a certain title but not having other games to play on the system, so they won’t buy the console. With rentals, though, you can bypass the “full price” of things and just enjoy both until the game is done.
Video game rental services used to be a big part of the gaming industry before various factors led to them being phased out. Even then, they rarely did console rentals like this, depending on the chain. Given that Japan has been dealing with an economic situation for a while, now we’re sure that many are thankful to GEO for giving them an option on how to enjoy PS5 games without having to shell out hundreds of dollars they don’t have to get the system to play them on.
Perhaps we might see this kind of thing coming back in the future. It certainly couldn’t hurt to see happen.
