GameStop is launching an unlimited rental service for physical used games. The $60 PowerPass gets you six months access to whatever games you can find in stores.
The program launches on November 19 and works in a simple enough fashion. You take home any used game from a GameStop store: this covers the entire “for sale” used game stock rather than being a special section. When you’re done playing, you return it and swap it for another. At the end of the six months, assuming you don’t renew, you can keep whichever game you currently have out.
You have to be signed up to GameStop’s PowerUp Rewards program to buy PowerPass, but it is available to people on the free tier. That requirement appears to be a way to build the admin of tracking who has which game without needing to create a new system just for PowerPass.
If gamers consider the deal worthwhile, it looks like a winner for GameStop as well. Because it involves used discs, the store will still be able to sell the game after it’s returned, without any loss in value. Each player only having one game out at a time shouldn’t mean a dramatic drop in stock levels.
Perhaps most importantly, it’s a good way to attract gamers into stores where they might buy other used games or even new ones.