België Verbiedt de Huren van het Spel

[lost]

That's poorly translated Dutch for Belgium Bans Games Rentals!

It looks like we have the first country to crack down on one of the markets that some publishers feel eats into their profit margins. From GamesIndustry.biz (http://www.gamesindustry.biz)

Rentals of videogame titles have been banned in Belgium following a petition by the Belgian Entertainment Association, the representative body for publishers in the region.

The group argued with local authorities that the rental business was harming the videogames industry by impacting on sales, according to Kotaku. Under the terms of the deal, videogame stores couldn't buy any more new titles in order to rent them out but could continue to offer their rental line until December.

With the deadline fast approaching, Belgian newspaper, De Standaard confirmed that the ban will come into force from December 1.


Full article right here. (http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/belgium-bans-videogame-rentals)

Heavy stuff! Is this small country creating a large precedent?

[Chaos Machine]

That's poorly translated Dutch for Belgium Bans Games Rentals!

It looks like we have the first country to crack down on one of the markets that some publishers feel eats into their profit margins. From GamesIndustry.biz (http://www.gamesindustry.biz)



Full article right here. (http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/belgium-bans-videogame-rentals)

Heavy stuff! Is this small country creating a large precedent?

i hope so, i would like nothing better than to see gamestop go down in a flaming ruin. Part of the reason games are so expensive is because their sales are getting brutalized by used game sales, which in turn forces them to raise the price of the game so their margins are higher.

[Zander]

i hope so, i would like nothing better than to see gamestop go down in a flaming ruin. Part of the reason games are so expensive is because their sales are getting brutalized by used game sales, which in turn forces them to raise the price of the game so their margins are higher.

Huh? Did I miss something where this article was about used-games sales. Gamestop does not rent.

Also, don't think for a second that if used games sales WAS actually banned that game prices would go down at all. No way.

[Gnomesbane]

The problem with the game rental market (as I understand it) is that, unlike rented movies, publishers get no residuals. The only money they ever see is for the initial retail priced purchase. Movies work differently... each copy is either paid for as a license (at a price well above retail) or a percentage of each rental goes back to the publisher (I'm not sure which).

Hopefully someone around here knows the actual details.

[Sensei-X]

No rentals = less sales, not the other way around.

[menage]

There's already a prededent, here in the Netherlands. Bit of a shame though. I might actually rent something like Quantum of Solace or Force Unleashed, buying is a total no go though. Rentals don't prevent me from buying, they only make me play games I would have never bought in the first place because they are crap value in the long term.

[RMan]

i hope so, i would like nothing better than to see gamestop go down in a flaming ruin. Part of the reason games are so expensive is because their sales are getting brutalized by used game sales, which in turn forces them to raise the price of the game so their margins are higher.
So naïve it’s almost cute.
The problem with the game rental market (as I understand it) is that, unlike rented movies, publishers get no residuals. The only money they ever see is for the initial retail priced purchase. Movies work differently... each copy is either paid for as a license (at a price well above retail) or a percentage of each rental goes back to the publisher (I'm not sure which).
I know that movies used to cost considerably more than what the public paid for them, but I don’t think they paid per rental. Not sure there was a legal reason, I only recall hearing about the high inventory prices back when rentals were available before public sales of VHS were available (Disney movies were particularly expensive, but they always had limited release windows too). These days I’m pretty sure they just buy normal inventory.

I like the idea of residuals, though, but we’ll get that with online delivery and I think that’s what most pubs are looking towards these days. Banning rentals is pretty silly in the long run, but maybe they're thinking the same thing, doing long term damage to a market that will be marginal in 10 years isn't a big deal.

[modeps]

I know that movies used to cost considerably more than what the public paid for them, but I don’t think they paid per rental. Not sure there was a legal reason, I only recall hearing about the high inventory prices back when rentals were available before public sales of VHS were available (Disney movies were particularly expensive, but they always had limited release windows too). These days I’m pretty sure they just buy normal inventory.

Correct. VHS tapes used to cost around $80-$100 a piece, specifically because they were being made to be rented, not purchased. On the topic of Disney movies though, many times those were manufactured to be purchased and therefore any tom-dick-harry could go into a store and buy them for $20.

I loved it when people would come into our store with a melted VHS tape and we had to charge them $100 to replace it, or if they really liked a movie and wanted to buy it (and we told them the price). They looked at us like we were out our minds.

<--- was video store guy for a looooong time.

[RMan]

Correct. VHS tapes used to cost around $80-$100 a piece, specifically because they were being made to be rented, not purchased. On the topic of Disney movies though, many times those were manufactured to be purchased and therefore any tom-dick-harry could go into a store and buy them for $20.
Thanks for info. Yea, I recall chatting about the Disney movie, and it was way expensive, but it was at a time when they were not selling that particular movie (was for a slightly older movie, don't recall which one, but not a new release). But am I right in the assumption that it was just a supply thing, or was there a licensing restriction that did not allow rental places to rent 'normal' movies?

[lost]

The Belgians have released a clarification. They have not banned renting games but instead stopped them renting retail copies, requiring them to get publisher approval in order to buy wholesale.