Dear Reader:
Rexbox going further with game rentals, focusing on console market, eager to hear about Wii successor
- Game rentals will cost $2 per day
- offering games for Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3
- titles will be available in kiosks the first week of launch, but not always on their street dat
- grab games spontaneously from the kiosks or reserve titles online
- expect 20 unique titles each in mid-June
- looking to expand that to 24 in the coming months
- 80-100 unique titles per year
“Second to movies, renting and playing games is a huge part of the entertainment pie in this country. This is incremental. It’s bringing a new member of the household to us. What’s better is when people are adding games, they’re also adding movies.” - Mitch Lowe, president of Redbox
“At this point in time, we’re focusing on the [home console market] based on the overall installed base of those platforms and [their use of the] physical media that we’re familiar with. The handheld is in transition. … I feel like it’s an upside opportunity down the road. The publishers are looking for new ways to make revenue. Adding games to the Redbox kiosks helps make discovery of their content easier in places they’ve never been before. (As far as upcoming consoles go) To speculate that far out would be fairly difficult. I hope to see more on [the so-called ‘Wii 2′] at E3 and will formulate a plan of action from there. … At the end of the day, footsteps and dollar will determine what we do.”- Joel Resnik, vice president of games for Redbox