To Rent or Buy?

When I was younger renting a video game was a consistent go-to form of entertainment. However, that was back in the days when games cost $5 to rent but $80 to purchase. Therefore, renting video games made excellent economic sense. But does it still make sense today?

In examining video game rentals we will use two industry giants here in Canada, Rogers Video and BlockBuster Video. Both offer video game rentals and sales for today’s gamer.

Rogers has its rental fees split into 2 categories: new releases and favourites. New releases are newish games (there are a lot of games that have been out for more than a year though) and cost $6 for a 3 day rental. Favourites cost about $10 for a week long rental.

Blockbuster also has 2 categories split by rental fees. You can rent any game for 1 week for $9 or you can purchase a monthly pass for $30. With this monthly pass you can rent 1 game at a time for as long as you want. So if I rent a game and don’t like it, I can bring it back after 2 days and then get something else.

But are these a good deal? Rentals are a good deal for movies; it costs $5 to rent or $25 to buy, and in most cases we only watch the movie once. However, video games take up a lot more time than 2 hours.

Let’s use Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction as an example. Total completion of the game (with bonuses etc.) would take about 20 hours. For argument’s sake, we are assuming that you have 20 spare hours in a single week.

Now if you rented it from Rogers it cost you $10 for a week. You don’t have a choice to rent it for a shorter time. So it cost you about $0.50 per hour for your fun.

If you rented the game from Blockbuster it cost you $9 for a week. Again, you don’t have the option of renting it for a shorter time. So it cost you $0.45 per hour for fun. This is obviously very economical entertainment.

However, currently you can purchase this same game used for $20. This game also has a trade in/resale value of approximately $8. So this game cost you $12 for 20 hours of fun at the more expensive rate $0.60 per hour, but you don’t have a time limit on when you need to return the game. Maybe you like to do something else besides playing games? Maybe you want to take a month to finish this game? For only $0.15 more per hour you can have that convenience.

Another example: Tekken 6. This game is a new release that would take about 30 hours for 100% completion. If you rented it from Rogers you would most likely not finish it in 3 days, but, again for argument’s sake, let’s say that you are very dedicated uber-nerd. The Rogers rental cost you $6 for 30 hours of entertainment or $0.20 per hour. A Blockbuster rental costs $9 (but you get it for a week) or $0.30 per hour.

Buying it would cost $65, but it has a trade in/resale value of $35 so we are looking at $30 for 30 hours of entertainment or $1 per hour. Again, this is more expensive than renting but you don’t have to return it after a week. You could use Blockbuster's monthly pass but that would still be $30 for 30 hours and you don't get to keep the game.

So what is the final verdict? Rentals are still useful if you are on the fence of whether or not you will like a game. If you hate the game $9 is a much better investment than $20, but if you like the game (or know that you will like the game) you are much better off purchasing it. For example, I would never rent any Resident Evil, Street Fighter, Metal Gear Solid, God War, or Final Fantasy (main series) game. I know that I will like them enough to keep for longer than 1 week.

So rent if you like, but do it wisely. Read reviews online, talk to friends, and see if you are making a good investment.