What if I told you that you can still live the video game rental life? That even though most of the Blockbusters have vanished from Earth, there is still a way for you to rent games online and have them sent to your house. Would you be interested? Would you even believe such a thing exists?
I’m here today to tell you that, shockingly, such a service is very much alive and kicking. Blockbuster may have bitten the dust, but the rent-by-mail company known as GameFly has barely flinched.
You may be wondering: what’s the point? Why rent games when there’s Xbox Game Pass or PlayStation Now or what have you? If you’re someone who wants to play all the newest titles — or games from a certain company — there’s still a value to be had in a GameFly subscription.
Here’s why.
You can play two new releases a month and save about $100
Most new games cost anywhere between $60 and $70. Two of those a month, then, would be somewhere between $120 and $140. That’s a good amount of scratch for your gaming hobby, and it doesn’t even count all the other gaming-related costs you have (Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Live, PlayStation Plus, etc.).
GameFly has a $22.95 per month plan that allows for two rentals at a time, and a feature called “GameLock” that helps you ensure you get access to new releases right as they launch. So even if you only play those two games you have out, you’ve already saved yourself close to or well over $100. And if you play through games a lot faster? You’ll actually save even more than that.
It’ll help you save on Switch games
Anyone who owns a Nintendo Switch can agree: Nintendo is pretty stingy with discounts. You’ll see a lot of third-party sales happening in the eShop and at retailers. But rarely do you see Nintendo slashing prices on its own products. That’s why, if you want to play the latest Nintendo titles on your switch, you should rent games online through GameFly.
With a GameFly sub, you can pick and choose the games you want out of Nintendo’s lineup without any concern about price. You’ll be paying the same monthly fee you always do. You’ll save versus buying those gosh darn games that never go on sale. And you’ll probably net a far better savings than if you’d purchased games and resold them later.
My own GameFly subscription is primarily used on Switch games, since even on sale they’re often a bit more expensive than the same title on another platform. But the thing I appreciate the most is that I don’t have to always use it on Switch games. If there’s something I want on Xbox Series X, for example, I can use it for that, too.
GameFly is one more way to potentially get a PlayStation 5
GameFly lets you rent games online. We’ve covered that. But did you know the service also gets stock of the PlayStation 5 on occasion? Stock that it sells to its members? If that isn’t reason enough to sign up, I don’t know what is.
Call it bad luck, but I have yet to be around when one of these drops happens. I work, so sadly, I can’t monitor Twitter or keep my eyes peeled for news on PlayStation 5 sales all the time. But I’m heartened to know that someday I will (hopefully, probably) be able to buy a PlayStation 5, and that GameFly will knock back some of the scalpers and bots to give me a better chance at it.
So now what? If it sounds good, sign up.
GameFly starts at $15.95 per month for one rental out at a time. Step that up to two and the price goes to $22.95 per month. If you want better GameLock — that is, you want to be able to “lock” a game in for guaranteed delivery one week out instead of six weeks out — the price increases to $29.95 per month.
In addition, there’s a budget option if you only want to rent games online that are more than 30 days old. That rings up at a mere $8.95 per month and gives you one rental out at a time. If you’re just trying to get through some older stuff, that could be very worth your while.
And I can’t believe I didn’t mention this: these plans also allow you to rent movies! So if you go with the two-per-month plan, you could potentially have one game and one movie rented at the same time. That’s pretty cool.
So how do you sign up? You visit GameFly here.
Now if you’ll excuse me: I have some Destiny 2 to get back to.
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