Late charges, long drives, lines, high prices and poor selection.
These are just a few of the reasons our generation has seen a dramatic decline in the popularity of traditional movie rental stores.
Over the past couple years the most influential element in the demise of the local Blockbuster and Movie Time has been technology. Netflix introduced the world to the online movie rental service. Since its creation it has blown up in popularity and continued to provide its users with an easy, cheap, and efficient method of renting movies. As great as Netflix has proven to be, its focus on motion picture delivery has ignored the needs of a very important demographic who also remember their weekly trips to the rental store to check out not the latest DVD or VHS tape, but console game.
A few companies have recognized this gap in the online video game rental market and attempted to capitalize on the idea and success.
Using the same basic idea as Netflix, users on these sites can sign up for an account which is charged a monthly subscription fee as opposed to paying per game. For about 20 bucks a month, a gamer can order one game at a time. This means the subscriber can keep this game for as long as they want, and return it whenever, no late fees, no worries. When they do return the game, the next title on their account queue will be sent to them. For a few more dollars a month, the user can order two games at a time.
Right now, gamers in the know have probably heard of Gamefly, the premiere online rental service exclusively focused on games. However, a new company is on the scene, threatening to take hold of this huge market with new ideas and a fast delivery system. Enter, Gottaplay.com. In an exclusive interview with the CEO of Gottaplay, John Gorst tells Blast Magazine what separates them from the competition, and what their plans for the future entail.
Cody: The gaming community has recently witnessed the relaunch of Gottaplay.com, what separates Gottaplay from its competition?
Gorst: We just opened our eleventh distribution center in Miami. These strategically placed centers help the users get their games quickly.
Cody: I heard their are some social networking tools in development at Gottaplay, whats going on with that?
Gorst: Soon our users will be able to interact with each other and utilize networking tools with other gamers.
Cody: A unique feature Gottaplay has in its arsenal is its trading option, how does it work?
Gorst: Games will be ranked on a point system and users can trade amongst themselves, we work as the middle man in making sure the games get where they are supposed to be in working order.
Cody: With the popularity of Gamefly.com, do you think there is room for Gottaplay in this market, or is it already saturated?
Gorst: There is definitely still room, almost half of every household in America has at least one gaming console in it. I’m not very worried about other subscription services.
Cody: Are you worried that the growing online marketplaces in consoles like the Xbox and Wii that allow users to download games directly to their consoles will eventually render your business obsolete?
Gorst: I think we are still a long way off from all console games being download-able from the net, and when that happens we will have to adapt to the market and change the way we do things.
Cody: Has Gottaplay considered expanding its market to Bluray and HDDVD disks, who’s players are featured on some next-gen consoles?
Gorst: Definitely.
Cody: And finally, what is your favorite video game?
Gorst: This is going to sound geeky, but I love Wii Golf.
And there you have it.
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