Redbox on Thursday announced that it will add video game rentals to an additional 5,000 kiosks beginning August 1st. The company announced last month that game titles for the Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation and Nintendo Wii would be added to 16,000 more redbox kiosks by the end of June, and the total after this coming round of additions will approach 27,000. Redbox owns and operated approximately 33,000 rental kiosks around the country, and the company did not indicate if or when video games might be added to the remaining 6,000 kiosks. ”Whether customers are playing a new game or genre, trying a game before they buy it or simply entertaining friends and family, they’re embracing the availability of games at redbox,” said Joel Resnik, vice president of video games, in a statement. Company president Mitch Lowe continued, “More than 1.5 billion movie rentals and the positive consumer reaction to video games highlight the ongoing demand for physical media.” All game titles carried in redbox kiosks can be rented for $2 per night. Redbox’s full press release follows below.

PLAY MORE!  REDBOX ANNOUNCES VIDEO GAMES WILL ROLL OUT TO APPROXIMATELY 5,000 ADDITIONAL KIOSKS

Milestones:  Redbox Surpasses 4 Millionth Game Rental and 1.5 Billionth Movie Rental

OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill. – July 28, 2011 – Following last month’s launch of video game rentals, redbox announced today it will expand video game rentals to approximately 5,000 additional redbox^® kiosks beginning August 1.  Even more consumers will soon have the opportunity to discover and rent the latest PlayStation^® 3, Nintendo Wii™ and Xbox 360^® games at approximately 27,000 kiosks nationwide.

“Whether customers are playing a new game or genre, trying a game before they buy it or simply entertaining friends and family, they’re embracing the availability of games at redbox,” said Joel Resnik, vice president of video games, redbox.

Redbox recently rented its 4 millionth video game since the company began testing game rentals in 2009. In addition, redbox reached its 1.5 billionth movie rental this June – yet another milestone in its eight-year history.

“More than 1.5 billion movie rentals and the positive consumer reaction to video games highlight the ongoing demand for physical media,” said Mitch Lowe, president, redbox.

With 68 percent of the U.S. population living within a five-minute drive of a redbox^® kiosk*, finding the most convenient location around the corner or on the go is easy at www.redbox.com or via the redbox iPhone^® or Android™ mobile apps. Since its launch in November 2009, the iPhone app has been downloaded nearly 4.5 million times, and the Android app has been downloaded more than 2 million times since it launched in February 2011. Plus, the redbox rent and return anywhere^® policy allows families to rent at one destination and return at another.  Redbox rents new-release movies and video games for as low as a buck a day for DVDs.

Redbox on Friday added game rentals to its arsenal at rental kiosks across the country. Video game rentals had previously been available for some time at approximately 5,000 Redbox kiosks spread throughout the U.S. in a beta phase. Now, Redbox is adding video games to another 16,000 kiosks this month, though it is not clear if or when Redbox plans to add games to the remaining 6,000 kiosks it owns and operates. Popular video game titles for Microsoft’s Xbox 360, Sony’s PlayStation and Nintendo’s Wii consoles will cost $2 per day to rent, and the procedure works just like movie rentals — titles can be rented indefinitely and Redbox will keep charging its daily rate until the title is returned. If a title is kept for 25 days, a one-time fee is charged ($25 for DVDs, $34.50 for Blu-ray Discs and $50 for video games) and the disc no longer needs to be returned.

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We’ve long since given up on Blockbuster and the debacle that is Total Access. As the company continues to struggle with the evolving home entertainment industry, Blockbuster repeatedly reminds us all that it just doesn’t get it. That won’t stop it from trying though. According to the Wall Street Journal, Blockbuster will finally begin piloting the addition of video games to its through-the-mail movie rental service sometime in June — the goal will still be to launch the service nationally in 2H of this year. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard rumblings of video games being added to the pot but apparently it took a bit longer than expected to get the pilot rolling. Still no word on how video game packages will be priced or whether the half-price in-store game rentals will indeed be part of the offer, but to be honest we don’t really care. The Blockbuster ship has already sailed as far as we’re concerned.

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