Gamasutra gives us a thoughtful, but flawed, take on the game rental business. They argue that the rental business is hurting the game industry. It seems the writer is saying that the revenue enjoyed by the renters is, in essence, lost dough for the developer. I, for one, use rentals to test out a game. I've bought quite a few titles because the rental impressed me. I doubt I would have bought any of them otherwise. Am I in the minority? Maybe. But until there are solid data to back what the piece is arguing, I believe game rentals are the great incentive to try-then-buy. What's the other option? Unfortunately, for many, the alternative to renting is to just bittorrent the whole game — which translates into no revenue for anyone.
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