Wii: Blockbuster(UK) not allowed to rent Wii games

**strumstrum** · February 9th, 2007, 15:09

according to the manager of one of our local stores, she said Nintendo have flat out refused to let Blockbuster stores rent out Wii titles and they can only be sold in the stores..

that is what I was told when I enquired, anybody know if this is correct?

cheers

***Darksaviour69*** · February 9th, 2007, 15:26

yes, they did the same with xbox 360 games at first, its what they do until the user base is big enough

**Kramer** · February 9th, 2007, 15:31

In Australia they said they couldnt afford to rent out Wii games lol, and there only just got 360 games haha.

**bmemike** · February 12th, 2007, 13:12

Both games and movies that are bought for the purpose of renting cost more than just a copy for personal use. The reason is that they are licensed from the vendor for distribution - and it's that license that costs more than the normal retail sticker price.

Right now, it's not worth Blockbuster's money to buy a ton of Wii games that won't get rented. And it's not worth Nintendo's time to go through the licensing scheme with Blockbuster since people are still buying games like mad.

Once the user base gets to a certain point, it can be assumed that people will be typically borrowing games before they buy them to try them out. Until that point is reached, it's absolutely in Nintendo's best interest to not offer games for rental to increase sales.

It's also in all of our best interest since higher game sales means more third party developers will dev for the Wii and we get more and better games.

**bah** · February 12th, 2007, 13:41

My local Civic Video has both wii and 360 games, has done since each console was released.

*shrug*

**jozh12** · April 9th, 2007, 11:08

Originally Posted by strumstrum

according to the manager of one of our local stores, she said Nintendo have flat out refused to let Blockbuster stores rent out Wii titles and they can only be sold in the stores..

that is what I was told when I enquired, anybody know if this is correct?

cheers

You are allowed to rent wii and xbox 360 games from blockbuster. That guy is wrong or they have changed.

**VampDude** · April 13th, 2007, 01:46

I saw Wii games in Blockbuster the otherday, well ex-rental and new games anyway...

...did'nt look to rent any

**Markb03** · November 3rd, 2007, 18:45

Originally Posted by jozh12

You are allowed to rent wii and xbox 360 games from blockbuster. That guy is wrong or they have changed.

Sorry you are wrong. I work for Blockbusters and have been there for over a year.

Sorry for dragging this thread back up but I will explain why Blockbusters does not rent out Wii games.

It all started when the PSP and DS was released. Both companies came to Blockbusters about renting out there games. Blockbusters have a strong relationship with Sony so they picked the PSP over the DS. This uspet Nintendo who then refused to allow Blockbusters to rent DS and Will games when released.

**Elven6** · November 3rd, 2007, 20:47

Mabye it depends on what region you live in, like if your town only has one Wii console, would your local blockbuster really spend hundreds of dollars just for one person who might not even rent all the games?