Why I canceled my GameFly membership
It’s happened to the best of us. Even the most cautious consumer has acted in a moment of passion and purchased a game that wasn’t a sure-fire hit. Oh sure, it boasts of a lengthy single-player campaign and robust online features, but who can say for sure? Emboldened by an opportunity to discover a potential diamond in the rough, you purchase the game and head home without a shadow of a doubt that you’re in for anything but a great time.
But just ten minutes after tearing off the shrinkwrap and unceremoniously tossing the manual aside (“seriously, who reads things?”), it dawns on you: This single-player campaign certainly is lengthy, but only in the why-won’t-this-horrible-game-just-be-over sense of the word. Those robust online features amount to a half-dozen variations on deathmatch that, between the crippling lag issues and a total dearth of players with whom to compete, add up to zero enjoyment.
Sixty hard-earned American dollars, gone in the blink of an eye. Poof. And all you’ve got to show for it is your shiny new copy of Bionic Commando and a room stacked to the ceiling with your metaphysical shame.
But what else could you do? While it’s dying a slow death at the blood-red hands of Netflix, Blockbuster is only stocking a few of the biggest new releases — meaning sleeper hits and lesser-known titles are impossible to try before buying. Hollywood Video is closing its doors in rapid succession. The last option is GameFly, a Netflix-like subscription service for renting games.
I spent six months with GameFly across a variety of plans, and I ultimately ended up canceling the service with no intention of ever restarting my account. While it may be a fantastic concept on paper, its execution leaves plenty to be desired.
1. It’s slow. GameFly currently has four distribution centers across the United States, with only one on the west coast. Comparatively, Netflix ships from more than fifty locations throughout the country. What this means is that the two-day turnaround you’ve come to expect from a service like Netflix is conspicuously absent; expect a week between games with GameFly. And with limited availability, many games often have to ship from a distant location, resulting in even more downtime. In my experience, a game sent back on a Monday probably won’t be received until Thursday, unless the US Postal Service scans a barcode on the shipping label and notifies GameFly through its “Fast Return” service. Of the dozens of games I shipped, this only happened three or four times. And once it’s received, the next game usually won’t ship until the next day — Friday, in this example — meaning it won’t arrive until the following Monday.
2. It’s expensive. This means a single-disc subscription is almost worthless. Assuming you keep a game for a week at a time, that’s 50% of your $15.95 per month going to time spent without a game. I stuck with this plan for the first two months before opting to upgrade to two games at a time for $22.95 — steep, but still less than half the price of a new game at retail. This allowed me to alternate with a game at home each week, which would have worked out pretty well, except…
3. It’s unreliable. Like Netflix, GameFly ships games to you based on what you have in your queue; simply make an ordered list of games you’d like to play and GameFly attempts to ship them to you in your desired order, based on availability. This sounds fair, except GameFly’s limited resources simply can’t compete with what people expect in terms of selection from a service like Netflix. In practice, it’s exceedingly unlikely you’ll receive a new or popular game within the first couple months of its release. Instead, GameFly will dip into the depths of your list and pull out something shameful that you never expected you’d end up playing — Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard comes to mind.
4. It’s a waste of time. Because it’s such a scattershot method for playing games you’re genuinely interested in, GameFly tempts you to add a wide variety of games to your queue to ensure games are shipped out regularly. This means you’ll probably end up with a whole lot of games you’d never consider buying but may have considered playing on the cheap — in other words, games that probably aren’t worth your time. And although subscribers are rewarded with increasing discounts on purchasing used games (5/10/15% over three/six/twelve months), the discounts are rarely as steep as the occasional sale at Fry’s or Best Buy. When you consider the high annual cost required to qualify for these discounts, it doesn’t stand out as quite as generous an offer as it might initially appear to be.
My recommendation: Be a clever and conscious consumer. Bargain shop with the help of sites like the unfortunately named Cheap Ass Gamer and check major retailers like Amazon for regular sales. Clearly GameFly’s massive selection of games (more than 7,000, according to the site) can be alluring to any avid gamer — it certainly drew me in — but consider just how many of them are really worth your time. We all have lives, right? We do more than play games. Don’t feel like you need to go overboard.
Bonus point: Its advertising is ludicrously bad/offensive/sexist
I don't think I need to elaborate.
December 12, 2009 - 8:06 pm
This is what piracy is for. Burn everything, try it out, and then buy what you like.
December 13, 2009 - 10:51 am
You’ve got a point, and there was a time where I might have agreed with you, but my view is that it’s still unethical because it ultimately harms game developers.
The only problem with that is piracy — even for the purpose of trying a game before buying — hurts developers financially. From a business standpoint, if they see hundreds or thousands of people torrenting a new game, they have to waste resources fighting against piracy, often by resorting to DRM that punishes the consumer. Developers and publishers have to prove that they’re defending their investment, whether it’s to reassure stockholders, management, or the developers themselves.
Mark Methenitis wrote a great column about how developers and publishers can fight against destructive piracy here, and one of his main suggestions is providing a fairly constructed demo that offers an adequate cross-section of gameplay. If demos are done well, the need to pirate for sampling purposes doesn’t exist any longer, right?
Unfortunately, they’re often not well-made and in many cases don’t even exist. Borderlands would have benefited greatly from a demo, but it never had one — resulting in a great deal of pirating. Of course, it would have benefited from an ending that wasn’t terrible, but that’s another story.
Thanks for the comment!
December 12, 2009 - 8:08 pm
Chauvinistic GameFly ads in late-era EGMs were the best thing.
It sounds as if expanding distribution centers and the amounts of new-run games would solve the problems. Netflix has already pioneered what they need to do, but, well, this requires cash; lord knows what GameFly’s reserves look like.
December 13, 2009 - 11:00 am
I agree that GameFly’s best bet is to simply increase availability by adding more distribution centers and building up stocks of new games. The problem is that it costs a lot of money to do those things. Considering the company is still rolled up in a legal battle with the US Postal Service over unfair treatment of its shipping envelopes, it’s probably safe to say they’re being cautious about how money is spent right now.
I’d like nothing more than a game rental service that’s as efficient and affordable as Netflix, but I worry it might never happen.
December 15, 2009 - 9:41 am
Gamefly and Netflix are two entirely different animals, dealing in two completely unique mediums. Much more time is needed for videogames than movies. Most movies clock in at about 1.5 hours and you’re done. With most video games you’re looking at an average of 40-70 hours or more to fully experience it. The price tag on games is considerably higher than it is on movies and the sheer volume of titles available far exceeds that of games. The turnaround on each medium is wildly different as is the dollar invested for the experience.
There’s a reason Netflix has stated time and time again that they will not get into the game rental business. And considering the difficulties involved, Gamefly is doing an exceptional job of it. Not only have they managed to stay afloat in a challenging economy but they have continued to grow and expand. A shoddy business just can’t accomplish that.
As for cost, for what you get it’s reasonable. I’ve used them for years now and have been on the 2 games at a time plan from the start. On average I’d say I manage to cycle through 2 or 3 games a month which ends up amounting to roughly 24 – 30 games a year. If I purchased that many games, either new or used I’d be looking at at least $1k out of pocket.
To play that many titles renting from GF my annual investment amounts to $275. In some cases it’s been less as I’ve received GF gift certificates for birthdays, holidays, etc… The way I see it, if GF can save me $60/mo. and/or the cost of 1 new game retail then it’s served its purpose. I play a good variety for an annual cost that ends up equaling what I’d otherwise spend buying 4/5 games off the shelf.
December 15, 2009 - 11:49 am
Thanks for the detailed and well-written reply, Austin.
I’m glad to hear you feel like you’re getting your money’s worth from GameFly. It’s good to hear that not everybody’s experience has been like mine.
While I’m aware that Netflix has no intention of getting into game rentals, I’ll still have to disagree when you say that GameFly is doing an exceptional job. While it’s admirable that the company has remained afloat during the recession, I’m not sure what you mean when you say it’s continuing to grow. For the last year, GameFly has had the same four distribution centers, with one in Seattle that has supposedly been under construction for the last couple years. It’s strange that nothing has come of that; my guess is it was either put on hold or cancelled.
Whether it’s a typical scenario or not, my service was so unreliable and so slow that I saw no reason to continue paying for it. I know the blog’s other editor, Aaron, has had a similarly frustrating experience that led him to cancel his membership as well.
I tend to only buy games that I know I’ll play again or pass around to a few friends, so GameFly seemed like a great way to play a lot of games I’d otherwise not have a chance to try. It was only after a couple months with the service that I realized the games I’d end up buying anyway are the only ones that are really worth the time — for me, I mean. The games I play typically don’t require 40-70 hours to finish. I’m assuming you play a lot of RPGs or sports games or simulations if a game is going to last you that long — whereas there have only been maybe two or three games in those genres that I’ve wanted to play in the last few years. If I were a fan of those sorts of longer games, I think GameFly would be a much more appealing service to me, despite its flaws.
But for better or worse, I’m finding myself with far less time to play games as an adult than I had as a teenager, and so I like to know that when I have the time to sit down with a game, I’m guaranteed a copy of that game and the freedom to play it whenever I want for however long I want to keep it. It ends up costing a bit more than the $275 you’re paying annually, but it’s worth it to me to always have a small library of games I love available to me.
Again, thanks for your comment! I appreciated hearing about your experiences. It always makes for better discussion when there are multiple viewpoints weighing in.
December 16, 2009 - 12:33 pm
My pleasure… happy to add to a lively discussion.
I should have clarified myself a little better where my growth comment was concerned. It’s true there haven’t been any new distribution centers opened this year – no doubt due to the rapid succession of them in the year prior. My thinking was more about how they’ve expanded in new ways, i.e., acquiring Shacknews, developing of mobile apps, etc…
I’m sure there’s a new distribution center on the horizon. Stands to reason anyway. They’re still what I’d consider a growing business and in some regard, still ironing out the kinks.
Anyway, pleasure discussing it. It will be interesting to follow them over the coming year and see how and in what ways the business expands.
January 6, 2010 - 9:00 am
Great article! I’ve gone back and forth in my mind about whether or not Gamefly is worth it but always held back because the price seems very pricey and unfair. Now I’m glad I never went for it.
Also, RE: Pirating games to try them first – I agree with this concept. While I don’t think it’s a good idea to pirate games in general, I think the concept of pirating a game just to try it as a demo and then later buying it legally if you like it or deleting the pirate file if you don’t is interesting and not entirely unfair to developers. Too many developers underestimate the power of a fantastic demo.
For me the best recent example of this was Left 4 Dead. Valve offered a FULL level/area of the game for preview and people went crazy about it and had to own the rest.
Is there really any reason to NOT put out a fantastic demo for a game? The lack of decent demos or previews in the gaming world has always baffled me.