There was a time when movies didn’t appear instantly and almost magically on your television. You could buy them on discs, like now, or on video tapes, but if you were a big movie buff and your budget forced you to be selective, there was a business model called video stores based on rentals and – we are not going to deny it – the experience itself. same as finding something to see. When the popularity of video games exploded, these temples of entertainment accommodated themselves and soon realized that this type of audience was different. The solution of Blockbusterthe largest chain of video stores: el Game Pass.
Originally called BlockBuster Games Freedom Passalthough later shortened to something easier to remember as Games Pass with the company logo clearly visible, this service was launched June 17, 2003 as a double response to two emerging needs: to build loyalty among all those customers for whom it was more profitable to buy the games than to rent them every weekend and, in the process, to challenge the strategy of a Netflix whose service brought you the movies home by mail. Which brings us to the really fun part: What it consisted of and how much it cost.
Under the subsequent motto of More game. Greater savings (More Gaming. More Savings) The basis of the idea around BlockBuster’s Game Pass was very similar to what Xbox would later put on the table and with the same name: having access to the video games you want in exchange for a monthly fee. Today we have become accustomed to that model and perhaps it does not seem so amazing and special, but after the turn of the millennium that was throwing the house out of the window considering that these were not digital video games, but disc or cartridge ones. However, and to be fair, Playing without limits had its fine print.
How Blockbuster Game Pass worked
To put ourselves in perspective, when the initiative started as Game Freedom Pass The price was brutally competitive: $19.99 (taxes not included) you have the right to rent games unlimitedly for 30 days. Maybe it doesn’t sound so crazy today, but back then his rival Netflix
The other issue to take into account is the length of the video games of that time. As we mentioned, renting titles like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic on Xbox for days or on weekends, for example, was more expensive than buying it and on top of that you didn’t have the pressure of having to finish it to avoid paying the fine to hand it in. after the agreed period. Things of the time.
For this reason, the television advertisement of the BlockBuster Games Freedom Pass It stated in large and white letters on a black background something that sounded impossible: no more fines (or Extended Fees for correct marketing reasons) in video games through that unlimited video game plan. However, the first thing we see when reviewing the fine print is that the “unlimited” thing was more about the rental process itself than about the number of copies we could take. And it had its reason.
Before Blockbuster’s Game Pass, the process of renting video games was more or less the same as that of movies, but the video store chain soon ran into the same problems in front of an audience with much less patience: not all games They were long, since many could be seen in an afternoon or over a weekend, but the premieres, those that were most popular and those that required the most hours were rarely available because someone had gone ahead.
Needless to say again, at all times we are talking about games on disc or cartridge, so there were a limited number of copies of each game for rental. Consequently, there were also quite reasonable restrictions so that no Game Pass card customer could take every GameCube video game off the shelf and have it at home for a month. And despite being a franchise, this subscription was not available in all Blockbusters either.
Was it worth it to Blockbuster to order many more copies of the hits of the moment? That was too risky a move, and not only because you didn’t know which was going to be a success and which a failure, but because you weren’t sure if it was going to be a good investment after the first months. As a member and consumer there were plans that allowed you to buy a game, but a time without DLCs or expansions, both annual deliveries and Madden de EA Sports or the aftermath, as with the Star Wars Battlefront classic, sometimes they made the original titles obsolete. And then, of course, there was the competition.
This was the “Netflix of video games” in 2003
Blockbuster was synonymous with a video store for decades, but that empire of videocassettes and DVDs born in a simple store in Dallas, Texas, with 8,000 VHS tapes and 2,000 Betas (the format of Sony’s video players) faced its own crisis with unstoppable the rise of streaming platforms
Blockbuster knew it had to offer video games from the beginning. In 1989, four years after the original video store opened, it fought with Nintendo itself to be able to offer game rentals and won. all lawsuits and appeals filed. After the turn of the millennium, already in 2002 and a year before launching its Game Pass, it acquired the Gamestation video game chain. However, like Cassette tapes, video stores were gradually losing their consumers.
In 2011, in a last attempt to adapt to the times, he launched his Blockbuster Movie Pass in which it directly embraced the Netflix formula and also enabled the shipping of video games. But none of that prevented him from going bankrupt.
It would be unfair to say that Blockbuster made these moves solely with Netflix in mind: in 2002, Netflix was born. GameFly, which was basically the first “Netflix of video games”, but when Netflix was synonymous with having movie discs sent to your home by mail. And the restrictions and advantages when renting video games were not only more interesting than those of Blockbuster, but you avoided the trip to see if they have the game you want or not.
Blockbuster’s Game Pass shortened its name and redoubled its intentions, adapting to the circumstances as much as it could. Offering discounts on the first month for new subscribers and trying to keep up with the pace of a constantly evolving video game industry in some very busy and transitional years.
In fact, it is worth remembering what was played in 2003 and 2004, because they were extraordinary: from great games like Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3 to the first Call of Duty or a Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas that will demolish the traditional concept of the world. open. The premise of playing without limits was transgressive and attractive, but the way of consuming video games had changed. And the players’ priorities too.
From Blockbuster’s Game Pass to Xbox’s
Without any type of relationship with Blockbuster, June 1, 2017 Microsoft will launch its own Game Pass on Xbox One. The months of June are synonymous with joy for video game lovers. The advantages of operating completely digitally had been applied to the concept of offering an unlimited catalog of titles for a monthly fee, so that you could download all the included games (if you had space) without any type of restriction. And what’s better: the house’s big games will be available at launch.
In fairness, Microsoft’s revolutionary Game Pass was much more inspired by the EA Access (currently EA Play) but what makes the difference is the way it evolves and expands. First on PCs, then directly from the cloud, adding functionalities such as the mouse and keyboard and, little by little, becoming the benchmark for video game services. That authentic “Netflix of video games” that even Netflix itself follows in its footsteps.
Seen in perspective, Blockbuster’s Game Pass was a play that served as an attraction to fill its hallways with people who, at least, took a package of popcorn when they left; but also to give a boost to its positioning in the increasingly profitable video game industry. For its part, Microsoft’s Game Pass today is Xbox’s biggest battering ram as a brand, but originally it was also that necessary claim for an Xbox One that started badly. Very badly.
There were risks in Blockbusters’ strategy, but they were more or less controlled. And the idea was supported by great games: the video store Game Pass appeared at a stage that, seen in perspective, left us instant hits and timeless classics. All right? There were definitely two big obstacles: the limitations of the physical format and, we are not going to deny it, the habits of those video store customers who did not care what was written in the small and not so small print when they got their card.
It is curious that 20 years ago we gamers dreamed of playing all the video games on the shelves of our video store and today we do not play even half of what we have on our consoles and PCs. Even from mobile phones. Entire libraries both owned and obtained through services with so many classics that would be the envy of any Blockbuster from 20 or 30 years ago. You don’t even have to go out to get popcorn anymore.
Perhaps for this reason, and despite having too much of everything when it comes to video games, those of us of a certain age escape a sigh, or a genuine smile of nostalgia, every time we hear or write the blessed word videoclub.
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