Redbox kiosks will no longer offer game rentals, even if there was no official announcement regarding this decision. Redbox has over 41,500 iconic red kiosks located over all the U.S., and they’re so popular that the company has rented over 6 billion discs.
In 2017, Redbox launched an on-demand video streaming service, where people can rent and buy any movie they want right from their laptop screen. To achieve this goal, Redbox partnered with several renowned studios like Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox. However, the users were rather surprised because Disney titles weren’t included. This was probably due to the fact that Disney was already working to its own video streaming service, Disney+.
In the last few days, several users of the r/Redbox subreddit noticed that the iconic red kiosks were no longer offering video game rentals. While there was no official announcement from the company about that, users from all around the U.S. noticed that video games were no longer available for rent at their local Redbox kiosks. After thorough discussion on Reddit, it became clear what was happening nationwide. On December 8, Redbox’s official Twitter account confirmed that game rentals are no longer available at the entertainment kiosks, in a reply to a worried fan.
The support staff said that the company is adjusting its game offering, and plans to focus on sales rather than rentals going onwards. Also, they stated that video games will “continue to be available for purchase at the Box until early next year”, suggesting that the company is planning to stop game sales as well. However, many users of the r/Redbox subreddit have another explanation for that. They’re convinced that the company suffered a substantial economic loss because of video game thefts, and that’s why it decided to discontinue video game rentals.
The players, however, aren’t left with much options for renting video games. Some people who used to visit Redbox locations will probably resort to GameFly, an online service that allows to rent thousands of games from all the leading consoles. For many gamers, however, this solution lacks the fun and excitement that came with visiting the physical red boxes. Others will simply be discouraged by the long waiting time before receiving their rental in the mail. Additionally, only time will tell if video game streaming services like Google Stadia will permanently replace physical discs and, therefore, the need to rent them.
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Source: Red Box/Twitter
