Blockbuster expands game offerings

Video-rental chain now selling new hardware, software, and accessories at every corporate-owned US location; PSP and PC snubbed.

Retail game sales are experiencing explosive growth, and Blockbuster is intent on getting a piece of the gaming pie one way or the other. After making a billion-dollar bid for electronics retailer Circuit City earlier this month, today the video-rental chain announced that it would be stepping up its game offerings in the company's corporate-owned US locations.

Customers will now be able to purchase software, hardware, and accessories for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, and Nintendo DS at roughly 4,100 domestic Blockbuster locations. The company also said that it would be expanding the variety of games available for rental, and upping the number of rental copies as well.

Blockbuster's announcement made no mention of PlayStation Portable or PC offerings, and company representatives had not returned GameSpot's request for confirmation on those platforms as of press time.

As with other retailers, Blockbuster will also be offering exclusive promotions to get gamers in the door. For example, the company announced a $499 PS3 bundle that will include a 40GB system, an HDMI cable, Spider-Man 3 on Blu-ray, Activision's Transformers game, a Blu-ray DVD remote, and one free Blu-ray or PS3 game rental per week for 12 weeks.

This is not the first time that Blockbuster has sought a foothold in the gaming retail space. Some of its locations have operated for years with Game Rush store-within-a-store sections selling new and used games. Blockbuster also owned Rhino Games, a 72-store chain in the Southeastern US, but it sold that operation to GameStop in January of 2007.

[UPDATE]: A Blockbuster representative confirmed for GameSpot that the company's new push into gaming does not include Sony's handheld. All Blockbuster stores will rent PSP games, but only existing Game Rush locations will carry new retail PSP games. As for PC games, Blockbuster will not carry them in any of its locations.

84 Comments

  • callumohare

    Posted Apr 30, 2008 3:23 pm PT

    THE TRANSFORMERS GAME!? WHAT THE HELL MAN!?

  • rush2323

    Posted Apr 30, 2008 12:47 pm PT

    the blockbuster near where i live, had ten grand theft autos to rent lol

  • dulun19

    Posted Apr 30, 2008 11:22 am PT

    finally, they implement my advice ... a little late.. but.. hey.. better than none..

  • MatthewNintendo

    Posted Apr 29, 2008 1:36 pm PT

    I just want to know when blockbuster are going to start renting wii games in the uk. Blockbuster is rubbish in the uk. It only rents 360 games and a very small amount of ps3 games. My local one was close to closure a few months ago.

  • muffinduck01

    Posted Apr 29, 2008 11:55 am PT

    cool hope not as much shovleware in the wii section and that they actually start stocking good games *coughnomoreheroscough*

  • gabrielrobert

    Posted Apr 29, 2008 8:46 am PT

    Of course ppl rent video games...it's perfect for games like Condemned 2 where you just want to beat the single player game and return it. You only spend $10 instead of the $60 purchase price and you can even have it as long as you need at Blockbuster!

  • klugenbeel

    Posted Apr 29, 2008 8:09 am PT

    People still rent video games?

  • pourya_ahmadian

    Posted Apr 29, 2008 12:33 am PT

    OK;THAT IS SO COOL;I AM GOING TO L.A COMING MONTH AND I WILL CHECK IT OUT;

  • secher_nbiw

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 11:49 pm PT

    very nice that they will have more games for rent, but every time i rent something from them, the disc is scratched, dirty, just gross sometimes.

  • living_wmd_888

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 11:36 pm PT

    I haven't rented games since the N64/PlayStation era.

  • BloodMist

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 11:05 pm PT

    I will never rent at Blockbuster again out of principle, since their lack of widescreen support for DVD movie rentals was frankly, disgusting, for a long time.Netflix is more convenient as is Gamefly anyhow so i'm not too impressed.I never found their game rental selection to be too bad, never too horrible but far from great or anything.Movies on the other hand, always dissapointing, hard to find a lot of the catalog titles or the proper special editions for them, but i usually buy those anyway.

  • solidusdeus1

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 9:35 pm PT

    Why do people say that netflix is killing them? It is actually the other way around, ever since they started that whole trade at the store option and netflix got caught profiling renters (delaying shipping if you were a "heavy renter") the subscriptions for blockbusters online rentals went up.

  • lordmt

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 9:10 pm PT

    i do get most of my games from bb but sometimes i can't pre-order stuff at bb but i can at gamestop which can be a drag at times.

  • nate1222

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 8:29 pm PT

    While the PS3 bundle is bunk, the fact that Gamestop has some competition is a welcome change. I still wish there were more 'Mom&Pop' type gaming stores/rentals around. I'm really burnt out on the 'machine'. Corporations usually offer the same thing at every location. These chains also have a bad tendency to push crappy titles and games with huge marketing budgets. Meanwhile a cool niche game can rarely be found. I like some big name games - but some niche stuff would be nice, too.

  • Anti-Nerd_Gamer

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 8:06 pm PT

    good their finally gunna have sum more games up 4 rent

  • Mercanis

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 7:42 pm PT

    Hopefully Blockbuster will provide the much needed competition with the GameStop monopoly.

  • Mercanis

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 7:42 pm PT

    Hopefully Blockbuster will provide the much needed competition with the GameStop monopoly.

  • majestikk

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 7:04 pm PT

    It's always nice to have a decent selection of games to rent. Hopefully if Blockbuster spices up their game selection, the thought of renting games does sound appealing.

  • Darthjango555

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 7:00 pm PT

    Hah. The Blockbuster in my area is officially out of competition. The only thing near that does video games is the awesome LAN Center right next door, and that place isn't going anytime soon. This week the Hollywood right next to Blockbuster and the LAN place closed down. Got awesome deals. 12 boxes of candy for $2, and like five movies for $5, decent movies at that. I personally don't go to Blockbuster anymore. The one in my area stocks crap games mostly, none of the good stuff. That, and I don't have any next-gen stuff, and Blockbuster's smartly retracting their old gen items. I went to Gamefly, which still has a very nice selection of PS2 and Xbox games. Been happy ever since.

  • mafiathug69

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 6:39 pm PT

    my blockbuster rents games for $8.47 after tax, new system games are 5 days, older and handhelds are a week (ds games rent for $5.29), and you get a 7 day grace period before we charge you anything else. keep the game 7-10 days past the due date, and it charges to your account for the full new price (new system games have to be secured with a credit card, so if you keep a ps3/360/wii game, it charges straight to your card). but THEN, you have 30 days from the day it sells to bring it back before it's permanently yours, bring it back in those 30 days and you only pay $1.25. so you could keep a game a day shy of a month and a half and only pay $1.25 on it. so whoever's whining about blockbuster late fees needs to get reacquainted with the "no late fees" policy...

  • LockdownLA

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 6:36 pm PT

    Blockbuster needs to die already. They have been limping along for years now.

  • Aragorn33

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 6:33 pm PT

    Good. The more choices there are, the better.

  • ChiefFreeman

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 6:18 pm PT

    great for Blockbuster. Gaming can help save them as a company.

  • desert_e_909

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 6:06 pm PT

    Blockbuster is finally getting back on track.

  • Thatsmypunk

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 6:03 pm PT

    I miss mom and pop video stores.

  • GatCloudX

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 6:01 pm PT

    that ps3 bundle is wack!!!!! no psp coverage man thats wack too

  • Proman84

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 5:59 pm PT

    No PC or PSP. That's an honest mistake in, in my opinion. I think that these two gamers have more than enough fans to justify those sections.

  • CageFury

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 5:59 pm PT

    I'm with you about gamefly, however, I don't know if it's like this where you are, but the blockbusters here no longer have late fees. and it's about 8 bucks for 5 days rental.

  • IamDuhman

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 5:54 pm PT

    chill, gamefly still is better though. blockbusters late fesws are mad expensive, and it costs like 10 bucks for a weeks rental

  • wdave92

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 5:45 pm PT

    Damn Blockbuster!!! Why oh Why do you do this now you could have done this before i got gamefly

  • dr3b

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 5:40 pm PT

    A good deal, but a deal on the 40GB model? If they want to sell they should make the deal with a 80GB PS3.

  • _Sam_

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 5:29 pm PT

    When Netflix gets into the gaming industry, blockbuster will have to shut down.

  • Simulator_Shock

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 5:28 pm PT

    omg blockbuster is actually doing something good for once...

    they havent been the same in like 10 years. ..

  • ocdog45

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 5:23 pm PT

    they saw the grip that gamestop has and they are trying to takeover. its a good thing. if they got better deals ill go.

  • mafiathug69

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 5:14 pm PT

    i work for blockbuster, we just got our display up for all this stuff last week. we had a PS3 60GB bundle when HDDVD first died, and it was a way better deal (motorstorm, surf's up blu ray, 20 week rental card, and the other stuff). we had 3 wiis and we've already sold all of them, it's great. they're starting to turn it around, we got around 30 sale copies of GTA4 for 360, around 20 for PS3, then about 30 rental and 10 rental respectively. and now we're doing preorders too, on a crapload of games. it's funny, we have a sheet saying we're going to be taking preorders soon for GH4 and rock band 2, even if they haven't been announced. maybe blockbuster is starting to get a little more insider info!

    oh, and it's true, we do overstock junk games. we had like 20 copies of viking, we always get like 40 copies of the crappier sports titles, whereas halo 3 we got about 10 sale copies and about 8 rental copies. oh, and we still have about 20 rental copies of GH3, and 30+ of frontlines. but hey, we don't place the orders, blockbuster decides what they're gonna give us.

  • hunter8man

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 4:58 pm PT

    I go to Blockbuster now that they give more back in trade-ins and their prices are usually lower. I normally don't like them, but I hope this finally offers some competition to Gamestop.

  • R3V3N4N7

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 4:58 pm PT

    This is great news.

  • Ibacai

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 4:45 pm PT

    Yeah, the store I work in is probably the best stocked in the area. We always have the new games for sale and we're dedicating a lot of floor space for games. You should see the GTAIV section on the wall .

    Now we just need the word out as we do some pretty snazzy deals on game pre-orders now.

    And I know some people will complain about the prices but Blockbuster sells games at the market price, no mark-up.

  • TheVinster

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 4:42 pm PT

    Game Rush... sounds like a rip-off of Hollywood Video's Game Crazy. Game Crazy is the bomb, or was until it was torn down (the one by me anyway).

  • Kuruption84

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 4:33 pm PT

    I can't even find a Blockbuster where I live.

  • SHARPSHOOTER25

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 4:03 pm PT

    Blockbuster's are always understored with games. They never have enough, and the ones around me have enitire shelves dedicated to piece of **** games that no one would want to rent.

  • adultgamer77

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 3:57 pm PT

    blockbuster had its advantage awhile back when they rented consoles, games, etc., bu they lost there ground when focus was placed on movie rentals. (not so smart move)...There selection in rentals was very very limited...but things will change (hopefully). cheaper rentals will def be a plus.

    now their bid for Circuit City makes a lot of sense...if this happens, I'm all for it...competition is always a good thing. Besides expanding, there selection of video games will expand and if trade-ins are offered, it will give GameStop an incentive to offer more for used games (lets face it...their trade-in value of a game is a rip off...buy it from us anywhere from $8-$15, then selling it $5 less a new one...wat a joke!)

  • Destman

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 3:47 pm PT

    Blockbuster has always been extremely overpriced on video games & rentals. While at Best Buy they are usually $5 less then everyone else. It's funny how sometimes the tag says $50 at best buy on a game that just came out and when at the register it rings up for $45.

    For example, I only payed $24.99 for C&C Kane's Wrath which was a $29.99 expansion.

  • VenomRitual

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 3:26 pm PT

    why can't we choose from a variety of movies and a variety of games for this bundle? i think they are charging more for what this bundle is actually worth. u techincally only save when it comes to the rentals. and i'd prefer the 80GB bundle so i can play my ps2 games. it just sounds like they're trying to become a retail store and not a video rental place. which is why netflix is crushing them.

  • jbot666

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 3:20 pm PT

    "I got my game system at Blockbuster!"

    See that just dosn't sound right.

  • initiald411

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 3:17 pm PT

    The 4 or 5 blockbusters near my house are great except for the fact that they never have enough copies of ps3 games, yet I know thats not the employees fault. They have gone out of there way to help me get a game more then once.

  • nate1222

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 3:16 pm PT

    The PS3 deal is a jipp. They charge people $500 for a 40GB system and tack on games and movies that very few actually want. Even 'if' I planned on getting a PS3, I'd pass on Blockbuster's offer.

  • iceveiled

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 3:12 pm PT

    I don't know why people hate on blockbuster. The two locations I go to regularly by my house are both staffed by helpful, nice people and they always have things going on like guitar hero contests, etc. Not to mention, their online service is great. I have friends who use netflix who ask me to rent movies for them that are available through blockbuster, but not netflix. Then there's the whole turning in your online movies directly to the store for a free rental, without having to wait 3 days for the mail turnaround. I personally don't rent video games or buy movies or video games from blockbuster so I don't know how they rate that way. They do seem to have a decent selection of rentable games, but again, I don't rent. If there's a game I want to play I'll either borrow it from one of my friends or wait a few months and pick it up used.

  • dlaury

    Posted Apr 28, 2008 3:10 pm PT

    You sure don't get much for the extra hundred bucks. They couldn't include an extra controller in the bundle? Do they at least come with a dual shock standard? It's really a pretty shoddy deal.

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