GameFly is a video game and movie rentals service that gives you access to thousands of titles for a monthly cost, raging from PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Wii U, PS Vita, Nintendo 3DS along with games from PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, GameCube and Gameboy Advance. It also allows you to rent movies on DVD and Blu-Ray.
It may sound neat, but is it worth it? We’re going to explore the service’s pros and cons and whether or not it’s right for you.
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How Does It Work?
After you sign up, you get to add the console you own and games you want to play on your account. The games will be listed in a queue where they’ll recommend you to add at least ten games so they can choose which one to be shipped to you.
One of the issues the platform suffers from is low availability, which is something you may come across, especially on the newer titles. Since they have a limited number of games to meet demand, they can only rent so many at any given time. In which case, it’s better for you to upgrade to two games per month, so if one of the games arrives in poor condition, is not available, or takes a little too long to ship, you have another one to play in the meantime.
How Much Does It Cost?
GameFly offers a 30-Day Free Trial, after which you pay $15.95 per month. You can choose between two other plans: The base that costs $9.50 per month for the first three months and then $15.25 per month after, allowing you to rent one game or movie at a time. And the second one, the one I recommend, lets you rent two games or movies at a time. It starts at $13.50 per month for the first three months and then $22.95 per month after.
So, let’s go to the logic behind it all. While it is more costly than other services like PS Now, or Hulu, it can be worth your money if, like me, you’re the kind of gamer to play whatever games you want and then let them to gather dust, never to touch them again. So, instead of paying $60 for the newest titles, you could put them in your queue, play, and return them.
A Couple Of Tips
Try to memorize the games you want to play and not put many on your waiting list. If you have only a few games on your list, GameFly will try to prioritize you over other people in case the game has a lot of demand since you don’t have that many to play. This, however, doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be put in the front of the line, but I have noticed that it does help.
The reason I recommend to have two games out at a time is because shipping times can take a few days, depending on where you live and how close you are to the shipping center, so instead of spending a good chunk of your time without a game to play, what you should do is rent two games that you really want, finish one, and send it back. Then, start the other while GameFly receives and ships the next one in your queue.
Another advantage of the service is that there are no hidden late fees, and you can cancel at any time. You could try the 30 Day Free Trial to check a game you’ve been really wanting to play without having to pay full price, or check games you’re not sure you’re going to like but maybe worth trying out. Believe me; it may save you more money, in the long run, to try games instead of buying them on the release date, find out they suck, and then having to resell them back for less than half the price you paid for.
There are downsides, of course, and while it’s not perfect, it’s one of the few feasible ways to rent video games nowadays, and the one I recommend to avid gamers such as myself who want to play a bunch of different games without going broke.
If you’re into longer games like RPGs or are the kind of gamer to revisit old games every once in a while, then I would advise you to use another service like the PS Now or Xbox Game Pass, or use GameFly for the kind of games you want to play and forget.