Direct2Drive offers game rentals, $5 for five hours

[Matthew DeCarlo]

With many new releases priced upwards of $50, gamers often hesitate to take the plunge. That fear is exacerbated by the increasing rarity of demos, so players don't really know what they're buying until it's too late. This leaves folks with a few options: they can pirate the full game in a matter of hours, seek a second-hand copy (this is less of an option for PC titles), or wait months/years for some type of price reduction.

None of those situations are ideal for obvious reasons and Direct2Drive may have a solid solution. The game dealer has launched a rental service that lets gamers buy five hours of play for $5. That's enough time to gauge your interest in a game and cheap enough to negate buyer's remorse. What's more, if you decide to purchase the title after five hours, the initial $5 rental charge is applied toward the game's total price.

The current rental catalog is pretty limited with only Silent Hill: Homecoming, Grid, and Divinity II available, but Direct2Drive plans to expand that selection in the near future. There's no word on what titles will be added, but the company probably wants to test the waters before jumping in with both feet. How successful do you think the service will be? Would you pay $5 to test a game before eating the full retail price?

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https://www.techspot.com/news/42108-direct2drive-offers-game-rentals-5-for-five-hours.html

 

[SNGX1275]

Since the $5 goes towards the purchase of the game if I decide to buy, then yes, I might give it a shot. But not for those games.

I'd be surprised if they can get all of the major developers onboard with their plan.

 

[mccartercar]

Rent full version PC games? Yes, Please.
Seems a few are picking up on Onlive's mild success and competition cant hurt anyone.
Shall we see a steam counterpart soon?

 

[veedubguy]

$5 seems a little steep considering you can get unlimited rentals online for a low price online for console games. I would be happier with at least 24hrs worth of game time. But then I guess they figure most people will have beaten the game by then, unless it has multiplayer/achievement capabilities.

 

[Guest]

super idea. I'd rather waste $5 on a bad game than $50

 

[gwailo247]

I might pay 5 bucks to try a NEW game.

IIRC Gird has been sold for $7.50? on some Steam sales, and I certainly would never pay 40 bucks for it in 2011. I think you can pick it up as part of a bundle for cheaper than that.

But I don't expect them to let people rent the buggy crap that gets released these days. They would much rather prefer to sucker people into paying full price for a pre-order.

 

[KG363]

Excellent idea. The problem is that you can beat many FPS games in 5 hours. It should be $5 for 3 hours

 

[mccartercar]

kg363 said:
Excellent idea. The problem is that you can beat many FPS games in 5 hours. It should be $5 for 3 hours

Whose problem is this anyway. Certainly not mine because I, and likely you, are consumers. This may very well present a problem to the producer of said IP, but I am fairly sure they would rather have part of that 5$ instead of 0$ that piracy brings in.
This may even in turn correct some content issues or lack thereof in games. I'd say if you truly are able to see and do everything in a game and decide you want no more within a 5 hour time limit; either you are playing way too much or you have ADD. No, I'm just kidding; besides if you think 5 hours is worth more than 5$ then look at Onlive, they rent games for days at those prices instead of hours.
These are shifts we want in this industry. Cash companies looking to new ideas and implementing them instead of threatening to sue everyone that loves their product so much they steal it. I still say Onlive is the way to go with its small caveats (3 year max ownership of unpopular games) and 0 download/install/update times and rates for even poorest of the poor to play triple A titles without a triple A system. If Onlive can triple its library this year they could be as large as steam in another couple years.
GO MEAT...err TEAM!
Mike

 

[matrix86]

I like how they advertise "save $5 if you decide to buy" even though you're not really saving $5. You rent it for $5, then buy it for $45 if you like it.

Game rental = $5
Game = $45

If 5+45=50
Then advertisement=trickery (sorry, just started learning if/then statements in vb.net, lol)

But anyway, this is a pretty god deal. Better to waste $5 than $50 on a sucky game.

 

[TomSEA]

I like it. Obviously they need to expand their library, but I can see me doing this in the future.

 

[ruben1992]

If Steam did this it would be great.

 

[mrtraver]

Not for me. I'll try a free demo, or obtain the full game by other means and after trying it out either buy it or delete it. But with services such as Gamefly, Gametap, and OnLive out there, a dollar an hour seems kinda steep.

 

[tengeta]

I hope a dollar an hour doesn't become a new model, it sounds pretty damn lucrative if your the executives behind these "tiny gone large" corporations that control modern gaming, media, and phone markets.

The worst part? I think the public would gladly accept it.

 

[Sarcasm]

Honestly, for $5 you can beat a SP campaign of COD

 

[Guest]

Heres a crazy idea..why not sell the game at a reasonable price....

aww..that would never work

 

[ET3D]

I think it's a good idea. Not for me, because $5 is the price I'm willing to pay for a full game these days, but for people who regularly pay $50 for a game it could work. It's possibly the best idea in a while: encourages publishers to provide demos, lets consumers test a game at a modest cost, and reduces the usefulness of the "piracy as demo" excuse.

@tangeta, most games cost (at release) more than a dollar an hour, when you consider price vs. play time.

 

[fpsgamerJR62]

For those who don't want to pay $50 for a full game and still think that $5 for 5 hours of game play is too expensive, my suggestion is to wait for a year or two and, depending on the popularity of the game, you'll probably be able to buy it from Steam for $5.

 

[Richy2k9]

hello ...

i like the idea / concept but yet doesn't suite me, for it may take 10 hours to download for me, does the 5 hours start @ 1st run or just after you click on rent ? well will then depend.

anyway 5 hours isn't bad to test a game & sometimes finish some, let see the outcome, too many things been talked down before release & yet proven successful later on (3D / Motion controller anyone !!!?)

cheers!