Koei = next GameFly in Japan?

Koei, says that they are going to start a game rental service in Japan. Until right now, the Japanese game industry has successfully blocked efforts to introduce game rental services, stating that such services would hurt game sales and reduce revenue for companies.

Koei believes that just the opposite of that statement is true. According to Koei, rather than destroying game sales, its game rental service will bring in high amounts of additional revenue for publishers, resulting in higher total revenue. Koei also mentioned it’s pricing style which is like the usual way we do it. High prices (way higher then ours) on newer games, and lower prices on slightly newer games. But an odd strategy is added in. New games will not be offered until they’ve been on the Japanese market for at least one month. After one month, and until a game is about three months old, the game will be available to rent at about 2,800 yen ($24.40) for a five-day rental. For older games we would see prices more often like the ones you would see in video stores around the nation: titles that are three months to one year old will rent for 800 ($6.95) or 900 yen ($7.85), and titles more than a year old will rent for just 500 yen ($4.35).

But what method will gain more money? Are the prices for rentals to high for japan? Will gamers wait until it becomes available to rent one month later? The game industry will find out soon which side is right. The new service by Koei, called “RentaNet,” will launch in the second half of May.