The new service will launch in a few weeks, amid other changes the media giant has planned.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/27903
Netflix will soon be offering video game rentals as part of its plan to branch its DVD-by-mail and streaming businesses into separate companies. The company will be spinning off its DVD-by-mail service under a new name, Qwikster, and adding new services such as video game rentals.
The announcement came at the same time as a public apology and explanation from CEO Reed Hastings regarding a significant price increase which was announced in July. The price increase was the result of Netflix un-bundling their two core services, forcing customers to choose to pay for both, or one or the other, rather than getting the streaming service as a free bonus with their DVD-by-mail service plan, as had been the case previously.
Few details have been revealed for the new game rental service, however the announcement did state that Qwikster will be renting games for Wii, Xbox 360, and Playstation 3.
A similar service has existed for years in the form of Gamefly, but Netflix has the infrastructure to potentially deliver much more quickly to more customers. A common complaint with Gamefly has been delivery times in locations farther away from a distribution center. Netflix has many more distribution centers nationwide, making it much easier for games to arrive quickly.
DreamWorks does not make up for Starz though. For one, not all of DW library will be available right away (the deal kicks-in in 2013). Starz has about 1000 titles on Neflix streaming (about 3% of the total streaming library). I am happy they will get DreamWorks, it just stings that most of my favorite Instant Streaming titles are from Starz. My next bill date is October 3, though I don't expect Netflix to announce details on game rentals before then. Wondering if I should pay for another month to see.
But Netflix is about to lose a HUGE chunk of their streaming library when their contract with Starz ends.
Perm, Netflix has no intention of ever getting out of movies. Their whole intention was to move out of the mail business once it becomes plausible. The video game deal was hastily thrown together once tons of people started canceling their memberships due to the recent price hike (even they admitted that more people canceled then they expected) and the stock dropping 52% as a result. They were actually doing very well before this whole debacle, and their is no point in renting digital movies until they start including all of the bonus features that physical movies have. If there was a digital version of Netflix (where you pay a monthly fee and can as many movies and TV shows you want, with the same selection as Netflix and all of the features physical discs have, I might consider it). Their Instant Streaming service is extremely tiny (like 10% of their total library), titles lack any bonus features, and from a personal stand-point their are many titles and genres I like that are not included. If Netflix could get 100% of their titles streaming, they would make a lot more money since I think more people would pick that option (which saves them money from shipping) and probably get more people to subscribe. I have been thinking about canceling my membership since I haven't even used it for a month, I might change my mind if their video game selection is as good as Gamefly's and the option is like $3 extra.
