Rentable Digital Video-Games

[Active Hoper]

Lately, I've been engaging with my local libraries more often, with one of the ways that I've been doing that being the simple borrowing of video-games from them. A title that I recently borrowed is Tomb Raider I-III Remastered, which impressively allows the player to nearly seamlessly switch between its old and new visual styles - a feature that's been pleasantly advanced from Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap. Yet, it lacks that balance between preservation and modernization in other areas, as seen with its absence of optional settings for auto-savings, creating an unnecessarily forced punishing atmosphere and an uneven experience.

I likely wouldn't have played and subsequently shared my thoughts on that game were it not for the ability to freely experience pieces of art these libraries provide me with. Libraries have their limits, though. They only provide physical titles, excluding a vast amount of digital-only video-games from being experienced with as much ease. That's where places like Steam can step in.

Places like Steam can provide to users an option to rent video-games for up to fourteen days for, say, $4.99, with games at that price or cheaper than it by default remaining unable to be rented. It's a simple idea, but it, or a rough adaptation of rental models from other industries' digital storefronts, can have the great impacts of increasing the number of people who play video-games and the conversations that are had about them.

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Originally posted by Active Hoper:

Originally posted by Brian9824:

That isn't updated, but its fully supported. Many games (mostly MMO's use it), EA game pass has been on steam for a while and uses subscriptions, etc

The fact are most dev's don't WANT to offer subscriptions. They'd rather video game rentals of physical discs die as well but they aren't able to stop it.

I mean why would a dev want to let you rent and beat a game for $5 that they are selling for $60?

Do you have a source that showcases how it is fully developed?

You mean aside from the fact that is currently in use on multiple games?
I mean I dunno how much more 'fully developed' you want it to be
DO they need to have an animation of a bored miinimum wage slave in the checkout screen?

Originally posted by Active Hoper:

I thought that it was not fully developed throughout this thread and would like proof of how it is that way as a result.

And people have been pointing you to the games that use it.

Originally posted by Active Hoper:

That said, EA Play may not get used because, even if it may be able to have games not made by EA, it still gives off the very-clear impression that it is EA-centric, and EA is, well, EA.

Yeah and Bethesda uses if for ESO and FO:76.. Heck many of the free MMIO's around use it for their subscriptions..

The simpl;e truth is not many dev/pubs WANT to do rentals. They do not benefit from them.
They never have really.

You have to be an MMO, or a an EA to leverage the economies of scale that make these things work.

Originally posted by Active Hoper:

To answer your last question, that, assuming the price can be adjusted (which it can), would be because people who cannot afford such titles and would otherwise ignore or pirate them would be able to officially support them in some way.

Nope. There's no 'cannot afford'.
If you could afford to rent, if you have enough cash to save up until the next major sale rolls up.

Put away say $5 a week and you'll be surprised how much cash you have after 3-6 months.

[Active Hoper]

Originally posted by Brian9824:

Originally posted by Active Hoper:

Do you have a source that showcases how it is fully developed? I thought that it was not fully developed throughout this thread and would like proof of how it is that way as a result.

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/726E-E811-168F-0D9E

Steamworks documentation is not always up to date. The fact that EA and others have been using the subscriptions for years is proof that it works.

Again, if developers wanted to offer it for cheaper, they do it during a sale. Developers have been wanting to do away with rentals for years. You are woefully out of touch if you think they want to offer any way for people to beat their games for cheap.

If they are selling a game for $60, $50, or $40, etc they don't want to offer it for less then that or else they'd cannibalize their own sales.

Your claim of "officially supporting it because otherwise they would just pirate it" is ludicrous. Its like saying, oh lets sell ferrari's for $10k because otherwise people are going to ignore our product or steal it....

Suggest you read this - https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/12/mourning-the-end-of-the-video-game-rental-era/

Game Studios have been trying for DECADES to kill rentals, so they aren't going to do what you want.

Subscriptions for digital games used to not be a thing, yet it ended up working, as you say. The same could end up happening for digital video-game rentals.

Why are you focusing only on what corporations want? You severely underestimate the power of expression from users and how it can change things.

Also, car rentals are a thing.

[Mad Scientist]

Originally posted by Active Hoper:

Also, car rentals are a thing.

Cars are limited, costly, require maintenance, insurance etc.

Steam games have unlimited purchase potential. You're really grasping with rental of physical properties especially things that require a driver's license, insurance etc.

This is a game store. Not blockbuster.

[Boblin the Goblin]

Originally posted by Active Hoper:

Originally posted by Brian9824:

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/726E-E811-168F-0D9E

Steamworks documentation is not always up to date. The fact that EA and others have been using the subscriptions for years is proof that it works.

Again, if developers wanted to offer it for cheaper, they do it during a sale. Developers have been wanting to do away with rentals for years. You are woefully out of touch if you think they want to offer any way for people to beat their games for cheap.

If they are selling a game for $60, $50, or $40, etc they don't want to offer it for less then that or else they'd cannibalize their own sales.

Your claim of "officially supporting it because otherwise they would just pirate it" is ludicrous. Its like saying, oh lets sell ferrari's for $10k because otherwise people are going to ignore our product or steal it....

Suggest you read this - https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/12/mourning-the-end-of-the-video-game-rental-era/

Game Studios have been trying for DECADES to kill rentals, so they aren't going to do what you want.

Subscriptions for digital games used to not be a thing, yet it ended up working, as you say. The same could end up happening for digital video-game rentals.

Why are you focusing only on what corporations want? You severely underestimate the power of expression from users and how it can change things.

Also, car rentals are a thing.

Subscriptions ended up working because those who offer them either own the IP or pay a lot to put it on the subscription service. They also found out that it profits them greatly.

If it didn't do that, they wouldn't have kept them.

[Active Hoper]

Originally posted by Boblin the Goblin:

Originally posted by Active Hoper:

Subscriptions for digital games used to not be a thing, yet it ended up working, as you say. The same could end up happening for digital video-game rentals.

Why are you focusing only on what corporations want? You severely underestimate the power of expression from users and how it can change things.

Also, car rentals are a thing.

Subscriptions ended up working because those who offer them either own the IP or pay a lot to put it on the subscription service. They also found out that it profits them greatly.

If it didn't do that, they wouldn't have kept them.

And that success came from users engaging with the service because of its affordability. Rentals offer affordability with more control over what is paid to be experienced for a temporary amount of time. Digital video-game rentals could work with enough creativity and effort, as evidenced both by how different industries offer it and it has remained, despite there being glaring differences between industries.

[Start_Running]

Originally posted by Active Hoper:

Subscriptions for digital games used to not be a thing, yet it ended up working, as you say. The same could end up happening for digital video-game rentals.

Well once the internet became a thing and international online payment processing was a thing you did in deed start seeuing that.

MMO's were the first to do this.
It didn't make sense for standalone games for a while longer because you need some good drm to prevent the very obvious copyi and return thing..which is something that plagued a lot of rental stores for VHS and DVDs.

Originally posted by Active Hoper:

Why are you focusing only on what corporations want? You severely underestimate the power of expression from users and how it can change things.

Because they're the ones being asked to give up the most and expose themselves to the most risk.

Originally posted by Active Hoper:

Originally posted by Boblin the Goblin:

Subscriptions ended up working because those who offer them either own the IP or pay a lot to put it on the subscription service. They also found out that it profits them greatly.

If it didn't do that, they wouldn't have kept them.

And that success came from users engaging with the service because of its affordability.

Not really. In fact if you look back you'l discover like 80% of mmo's died off, most rather quickly. The model was successful for a few who managed to gain critical mass and maintain it with stead content updates while also keeping server costs under control. Basically it was a system that rewards the best Skinner Box maker.

Originally posted by Active Hoper:

Rentals offer affordability with more control over what is paid to be experienced for a temporary amount of time.

They also mean less money for the dev/pubs.
and just as problematyically a highly volatile player count.
Rentals as yiou imagine them never benefited the actual dev/pubs. They benefited the stores.
Which is why dev/pubs have been fighting to gradually destroy that market for decades.
This fight goes as far back as the NES. era.

Or to put it another way. Most dev/pubs would rather either :
sell you a game for $5 than rent you one for a weekend for $5. and they can do that through discounts and sales.

Or

They'd prefer not to sell their product at all rather than devalue their product by lowering the price floor.

Feature already exists. VGery few dev/pubs use it. and there's a reason for that.

Rather than talk to us. why don't to go go try convincuing a dev/pub that rentintg their game is in their best interest.



Digital video-game rentals could work with enough creativity and effort, as evidenced both by how different industries offer it and it has remained, despite there being glaring differences between industries. [/quote]

[Brian9824]

Originally posted by Active Hoper:

Subscriptions for digital games used to not be a thing, yet it ended up working, as you say. The same could end up happening for digital video-game rentals.

Subscriptions used to not work because the means and technology to digitially distribute games was never available. To this day over 99.999% of games are STILL not available by any means for digital subscriptions.

The biggest subscription to date, gamepass (which i use) is also more for competing with Playstation and as they have admitted canibalizes and costs them sales.

Originally posted by Active Hoper:

Why are you focusing only on what corporations want? You severely underestimate the power of expression from users and how it can change things.

Also, car rentals are a thing.

I'm a realist and in touch with reality. Also yes, car rentals are a thing and nowhere near comparable. Your not going to rent a car for a week and "beat it" and no longer ever need to buy a car. Not to mention the rates for car rentals are much higher then if you had leased or bought it yourself.

Originally posted by Active Hoper:

And that success came from users engaging with the service because of its affordability. Rentals offer affordability with more control over what is paid to be experienced for a temporary amount of time. Digital video-game rentals could work with enough creativity and effort, as evidenced both by how different industries offer it and it has remained, despite there being glaring differences between industries.

Games are affordable to, your price point for instance of $4.99 for 14 days is laughable and is cheaper then what blockbuster used to charge 20 years ago. So a bare minimun rental price would be more like $10 for 5 days. So if you could afford that, you could easily afford to buy the game by saving your money. Hence why the excuse that it makes games more affordable is nonsensical.

Again, basic facts is that the developers don't want it, already linked you an article explaining that they don't like rentals as they'd rather sell the game, and there is a reason more then 99.999% of games aren't available for rent via a subscription. Outside of gamepass there really aren't any rentals and gamepass is about competing with playstation and selling consoles and gaining market share

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Not to mention Gamepass isn't exacrtly profitable for microsoft.