Gamefly launching movie retail service
There isn't much competition in the DVD rental business anymore. With Blockbuster and mom and pop shops closing, it seems that Redbox and Netflix are the only ones still standing. Well Gamefly, the video game rental service, wants to throw their hat in the ring. A post on the video game forum NeoGAF, and found by VentureBeat, is reporting that e-mails have been sent out for a test service. Current subscribers would add a DVD or Blu-Ray movie to their Q. Members wouldn't have to create a new account either. No Qwikster here.
Disc-by-mail can be a tricky business, just ask Blockbusters. While renting movies are going up, streaming them would seem to be the future. That market is getting busier everyday with the likes of Netflix, Amazon, Hulu Plus, Google Play, iTunes, YouTube, Redbox (Verizon), Xfinity Streampix (Comcast), and Crackle, just to name a few.
Gamefly would have the infrastructure already in place, so game disc to movie disc is a easy switch. Warehouse location and available copies of highly sought after movies could be a problem, but only time will tell. It's also interesting that a while back Netflix was considering getting into the game rentals, but never did.
