Pressing Buttons 10.10.06: Just Say 'No' To Gamefly

Posted by Joshua Richey on 10.10.2006

Gamefly claims to be the 'easier' way to get your favorite video games... but is it really?



We're all quite familiar with Gamefly, aren't we? Gamefly is an online video game rental service, which is somewhat the equivalent to Netflix. Their selling point is that rather than having to run out to a video store to rent your games, you can now rent any game that you want, and they'll send it to you. In theory, everything sounds good. But the Gamefly service is filled with misleading assurances, and even worse business.

In this week's edition of Pressing Buttons – we're going to take a look at a few of the reasons as to why you should stay away from Gamefly.

The Prelude

Not long ago, 411Mania decided to broaden its horizons of the mass-media spectrum, and adopted ‘Gaming' into its coverage. Many, including myself, were among the first writers brought in by Ashish to cover the gaming industry. Starting a section from scratch is no easy task. You've got to form your own individual identity, your own style, but at the same time lay a foundation for what the site is to one day become. If we were going to start up a games section, we were going to need content. Lots of it. The most crucial content in terms of a gaming site –is your reviews.

We turned to Gamefly as a means to gain access to a more immense library of games, so that we could begin writing a plethora of reviews.

Prior to signing up for Gamefly, it seemed like a great deal. For $20 a month, you can rent as many games as you want – and return them whenever you'd like. Sounds nice, doesn't it? I thought so too. This is why I didn't research the company any more, or second guess my decision. It took me about 5 minutes to register my Gamefly account. All that I needed to provide was my name, home address, and credit card number. After that, all I had to do was await confirmation.

It wasn't too long after I had initially signed up for the service – that I immediately regretted it.

Problem #1: ‘What do you mean it's unavailable?'

What's the single biggest bummer about going to a Blockbuster on a Friday night to get a game? Blockbuster not having the game in stock, right? Yeah, that always sucks, and it forces you to settle for something else. Games should not be like women in that respect, but with Gamefly that was supposed to be corrected. Not the case, though.

Once you have signed up for Gamefly's service, you are then allowed to browse through out their library of games and begin to arrange your ‘GameQ'. The GameQ is a list of games, arranged by you, which includes the games that you would like rent, and in what order you would like to rent them. Gamefly automatically sends you the game that is currently on the top of your GameQ and once it's been returned – they send out the next one on that list.

It wasn't until I started forming my own GameQ that I came across my first ‘beef' with Gamefly and their service. A lot of the games, especially the newer ones, are not readily available to be shipped out. Why? Well just like your local Blockbuster on a Friday night, Gamefly only has a limited amount of copies of each game. This is the first knock against Gamefly, as if I'm going to be giving them my business – shouldn't I at least be able to get the game that I want? And with Gamefly's ‘return policy being the way that it is, it's hard telling when the game will actually be available. Gamefly has a ‘return it whenever you feel like it' policy, that makes it difficult to get newer games.

Problem #2: ‘Where's my Game at?' PART 1

Gamefly only has one distribution center, which is located near Los Angeles. So, in the event that the game that you'd like to rent is readily available – you're still going to have to wait a few business days for it to get to your mailbox. This is increasingly frustrating for people (like me) that live on the East Coast. If you ‘rent' a game on Sunday, there is a very good chance that you won't actually get to stick it into your console until Thursday or Friday at least.

While this isn't Gamefly's fault as much as it's the US Postal Service's fault – you have to ask yourself it all of this is ‘worth it'. A trip to the closest movie rental store is what, 20 minutes? There were times (back when I was using the Gamefly service) that I would actually forget all about the game that I rented until it finally was delivered.

Some may be perfectly okay with this process, but I didn't have the patience for it. When I rent a game, it's because I want to play that game NOW. Not because I feel as though that I would like to play that game in a week or so.

Problem #3: ‘Where's my Game at?' PART 2

When you receive your game from Gamefly, along with it you'll find a self-stamped envelope so that you won't have to hassle with postage. This is a nice gesture by Gamefly, but it doesn't sweeten the aggravating experience that is returning a game. As if it weren't bad enough that it takes ‘forever' for your game to finally get to you – it takes even longer for the game to get back to them. This is a pain in the ass for many reasons. 1.) You'd be responsible for the game in the event that something bad happened to it on the way back to Gamefly's Distribution Center. What if Mr. Mailman comes across your envelope, see's that it is addressed to Gamefly, and figures that he'll ‘drop it' into his pocket. Then you're worried to death, Gamefly is pissed, and the mailman is reclining back playing some Grand Theft Auto. 2.) Gamefly won't send you out another game from your GameQ until they've received the one that you've just sent off.

True story. This one time, I was trying to return my copy of NCAA Football 2007 that I had rented from Gamefly and it took 12 days for Gamefly to finally confirm that they had received it. 12 DAYS!

Problem #4: ‘I really get to keep it for as long as I want?'

Under Gamefly's rule and regulations, you're allowed to keep the game for however long that you'd choose. You won't be able to rent another game until they receive the one that you currently have out; so if you have the game for a month than you've spent over $20 just renting the game. Yeah, that doesn't sound as intriguing anymore does it?

A Gamefly Timeline

Let's say that for some strange reason you decide to disregard what I am telling you and sign up for a Gamefly account. This is what the typical month will be like for you…

October 1st, 2006: You sign up for Gamefly, create you GameQ, and finally find a good game that is available. You confirm your rental, you're $20 is gone, and the wait is on…

October 5th, 2006: Game still hasn't arrived. You begin to ponder if there was an error in your address information.

October 7th, 2006: Still no game! That's it, this Gamefly stuff is retarded. You're going to cancel it. Oh wait, there's no refund and they've already charged your credit card. You my as well suck it up for a month.

October 8th, 2006: There's your game!

October 10th, 2006: You're tired of the game that you've rented at this point, and would like to play something else. I know, why don't you hurry up and send the game back to Gamefly so that you can get another game!

October 11th, 2006: You place the game in the self stamped envelope and send it on it's way.

October 23rd, 2006: Gamefly sends you an e-mail that confirms that they have received your game, and that they are sending out another.

October 31st, 2006: You receive your second game.

So basically, in the span of one month, you have spent $20 for a game that only kept your attention for 2 days. How exactly is this any better than going out to your local Blockbuster?

The only way that I could possibly encourage someone to use Gamefly is if they live out in the middle of nowhere. Perhaps if you live in some small town in Iowa, where there isn't another means of rental… THEN you could possibly find yourself liking Gamefly. Although, I cannot even imagine the further delay that would go along with someone living in a small town with a P.O box number.

In summing all of this up: don't use Gamefly. I know, I know, the commercials are sort of witty. The idea in principle is appealing. But the overall execution of it could not be worse.

That'll do it for this week's edition of Pressing Buttons. If you've got a comment or want to refute anything that I said, please drop me a line.

In The Next Edition of Pressing Buttons:

G4 was supposed to be Television for Gamers. But what happened? Where did G4 miss in getting gamers to watch their network? What led to it's failure and it's rebirth as a Spike TV wannabe? Find out all of those answers and more next week in Pressing Buttons.