Redbox was once a convenient source for video game rentals, with tens of thousands of kiosks found throughout the United States. Now the company is no longer offering video game rentals, with seemingly no explanation as to why. If you visit a Redbox kiosk near you, you’ll notice that games are now only available to purchase, with the option to rent no longer available. The company has not made an official statement about the matter, but a discussion on Twitter confirms the company is out of the game rental business, at least for now.
A user on Twitter asked the company about the lack of a rental option, to which Redbox replied, “Games will continue to be available for purchase at the Box until early next year, but we’re no longer making them available to rent. We are assessing our games offering, and have decided to focus on sales at this time.”
You can check out the tweets below:
We are assessing our games offering, and have decided to focus on sales at this time. Take advantage of some great deals here: https://t.co/8qYGfBI0ZX
— Redbox Care (@redboxcare) December 8, 2019
A report in 2014 noted that nearly half of Redbox game rentals would result in a purchase, but given the five-year gap and how rapidly the industry has changed in regards to digital libraries, those stats could have changed in recent years. For now, you’ll have to utilize GameFly as a means to rent games, since it’s one of the only major companies that still offers game rentals. There have been reports of customers scamming Redbox by using a pre-paid credit card to avoid paying rental fees, which would obviously result in a loss of profits, but Redbox hasn’t directly cited these issues as a reason behind the removal of video game rentals from its service. You can still purchase your games from the kiosks around the country, but rentals are now a thing of the past.
[Source: Twitter; via: GameRevolution]
