GameFly expanding to Austin, Texas
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Jul 25th 2007 at 4:25PM }
A very observant reader noticed while searching job listing website Monster.com that GameFly, the online game rental service, is looking for a manager in the Austin, Texas area. The job description clearly states: "We are the leading subscription based video game rental company headquartered in Los Angeles, CA. We will be opening a satellite Distribution Center in Austin and we have an outstanding opportunity for an OPERATIONS MANAGER." The listing looks completely legit and we're happy to see GameFly continuing to open distribution centers -- anything to cut down turnaround time is a good thing. We've contacted GameFly for confirmation. This would mean the rental service will have two distribution centers beyond their original California location. They just recently opened and expanded service at their East Coast branch located in Pittsburgh. For many on the East Coast, they've seen their turnaround time go from two weeks to around one week. Sadly, GameFly's growth has caused Xbox 360 and Wii game availability to appear in short supply and there was a recent $1 increase (although Netflix recently did a $1 decrease, so for subscribers of both it balanced out). We're guessing the tech-friendly city of Austin's distribution center will service the middle of the country. Don't expect the distribution center to open for a couple months though, they're obviously still staffing the place.
[Thanks Raymond]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Shre @ Jul 25th 2007 4:29PM
YES!!!!! Now I will get my games SUPER FAST since I live only an hour from Austin :D
kinshadow @ Jul 25th 2007 4:31PM
W00T!!!111!!! Now I won't have 5 day turn-arounds (I live in Austin)!
Tony @ Jul 25th 2007 4:34PM
Thank god. I live in Chicago and back when they used to have just one office is was unbearable sometimes. Sometimes it would take almost a week to receive a game that had shipped... One month someone stole the game and between that and the shipping problem I didn't have a thing that entire month. They wouldn't even credit me anything, but I guess that's understandable lol.
This would bring them up to 3 stations right? That'll help, I'll probably sign up again soon.
Jack the Ripper @ Jul 25th 2007 4:42PM
Gamefly just keeps getting better and better. I, I'm not gay or nothing, but I'd let them have their way with me. You know, if they wanted to.
Matt @ Jul 25th 2007 4:43PM
I live in Georgia and my games all come from California, still. I think Pittsburgh and Austin are both closer than City of Industry....
wizard poop @ Jul 25th 2007 4:44PM
I might re-sign up for Gamefly after hearing this news. I live in Austin and was tired of having to wait a week for games.
Buckshot @ Jul 25th 2007 4:47PM
Woot! Live music and gaming capital of the world!
Zertoss @ Jul 25th 2007 4:50PM
I might try subscribing to Gamefly again too. The last time I tried, none of my games ever made it back to the California base, causing them to cancel my subscription. Maybe this time I'll have better luck.
I live in the Houston area, btw. Usually takes about a day for crap to get to me from Austin.
WiNG @ Jul 25th 2007 5:02PM
How come you guys didn't mention the PS3 game shortage caused by the new dist center?
Oh right I forgot PS3 doesn't have any games.
haha now let's see the PS3 get some more ZAZZ
MikeG @ Jul 25th 2007 7:12PM
They need all the help they can get. I was a Gamefly member for a grand total of 15 minutes. They won't let you check the availability of any of their games until you officially become a paying subscriber. So after I entered all my info, I began browsing through their games. It became evident very quickly that ALL of the new releases were out and wouldn't be in for some time. I refuse to pay a monthly subscription to play a bunch of old games I've already played or have no desire to play. So I immediately canceled my membership.
I use Netflix and realize that new releases are usually all rented out. I'm not stupid. But unlike movies, video games are kept at people's houses for weeks at a time. That means you're not likely to get a new release anytime soon. So they need to seriously increase their inventory if they want to increase their number of subscribers.
So the addition of the Austin store is welcome news.
Ben @ Jul 26th 2007 12:12AM
Once again, and for the last freaking time, the comments above are just another reason why Gameznflix is so much better. Cheaper prices, faster turnaround, and movies combined with games. Simple. Easy. Fast. Fun.
Mikey @ Jul 26th 2007 12:14AM
Gameznflix has many more distribution centers. The Pittsburgh facility must be fairly recent. I lived near Pittsburgh when I had Gamefly a year or so ago and it always took 2-3 weeks for the process of sending a game in and getting a new one to happen. For how much they charge it's ridiculous. I still have Gameznflix and I like it a lot better than Gamefly. I would be willing to try Gamefly again, I guess, though, since they are here in Pittsburgh now.
Shockgamer @ Jul 26th 2007 1:03AM
Gameznflix my ass. I'd rather wait 1 or 2 weeks for a marquee title to become available on GameFly and get games No. 2 and 3 on my queue than wait months for the game to even show up on Gameznflix's website. All the while getting games 12 and 13 on my queue.
Almack64 @ Jul 26th 2007 9:49AM
Being that I had just moved from Pittsburgh to Wichita Falls (TX) that last annoucement was actually kind of annoying. However this one makes me feel a little better.
al proco @ Jul 30th 2007 9:47AM
it's economics....
netflix for movies, 1 out at a time 9 bucks +
gamefly for games, 2 out at a time 23 bucks =
$ 32.00 dollars a month
gameznflix for movies and games 3 out at a time= 16.99 a month
50% in savings a month..... YES, OF COURSE netflix and gamefly are the big companies that have been around for years with more money and probably more inventory...
but gameznlix is young and improving... anyone who complained about their website in the past... u should check out their website today... much improved... & u can't beat the price
al
bender @ Jul 30th 2007 2:03PM
sweet. i live in texas so this is welcome news.
MNB @ Aug 8th 2007 10:04AM
Regardless of number of distribution centers, Gamefly's service is not good. They continually choose games from my queue that are older and further down on my "priority" list to ship before the more popular games on the top of my list (even though the availability reads "NOW"). I don't trust them and will not be continuing my service with them.