Gamestop PowerPass Game Rental Program - Preliminary Guide to its Best Use
I feel like I've been here before. Talking about game rentals. If anything, with services like Xbox Game Pass, it seems like temporary ownership of games is becoming more common. It was recently revealed that Gamestop will be debuting a game rental program called PowerPass, on November 19. Will it be worth it? How can we best take advantage of it?
Update: Unfortunately, as of 11/14/17, Gamestop has put the PowerPass program on hold. It's been said by several sources that lots of stores believe their systems could not handle the data for the rental system. Or maybe they saw articles like this one...They wanted to stop my Holiday gaming binge! Either way, stay tuned for further updates on PowerPass.
The program will launch on November 19. It will have a cost of $60, and will allow you to "rent" a single pre-owned game at a time, as many times as you want, during a six month period. You will then keep the very last game that you rent. It seems intriguing. You could pony up the $60 up front, and as long as you don't mind waiting a little bit, you could be playing newer releases consistently. It sounds like an attempt to create a lot of free cash flow for GameStop, using inventory it currently owns. Will it work? More on that later. Here is my proposed guide to maximizing the program to your advantage:
Keep an eye on the Cheapassgamer Twitter. Ebay sometimes has GameStop gift cards for 15% off. You could get a $50 gift card for $42.50, lowering your cost further. You can buy a gift card from a site like Raise and save some cash on the membership.
Look at a calendar and think of what games you want to play. Begin your membership when there is something available that you really want to play. I'm giving a two week lead. That should create inventory.
The start date for the service is November 19. I am planning on signing up, and renting Shadow of War, if not that, Forza 7. This way I can play games I don't support the business practices of, and not give them a penny. Who knows, if they change my mind, I may buy the game on discount later.
Once you are a few weeks before your membership ends, take a look at recent games with high trade-in values. There are always games that hold high values. For instance, Breath of the Wild for Nintendo Switch still holds a trade-in value of $30. If you ended your membership with that game, you could trade it in, get $30, and pay $30 for another six months.This could make every following membership $30 or so. Sometimes there are bonus trade-in promotions for certain games so...you see where this is going.
In theory, if everyone did this, would the service work? No. This is the best way of using the service, and taking advantage of it. Like I've said before, I want to save you money, not Gamestop. They've done enough shady crap in the past, I don't feel bad for listing this. I will now give a positive view. It could work. If enough people sign up for the service, while at the same time, the amount of trade-ins that Gamestop receives doesn't drop, it may work. If Gamestop convinces new customers to trade in games, and use that credit towards this membership, it's a win for them. It will only be clear how it's going once the first six months are up, as there will be a large amount of inventory leaving the shelves.
The important part: should you try this? I say yes. Don't forget, for every person that follows my advice above, there will be someone who rents out three games during the six months, and will end their membership with a copy of an original Xbox game. I will note my experience as soon as I begin the membership. I need to try out all them Xbox One X enhanced games, you know?
Get boning!
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