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Taking a bite out of Blockbuster: redbox pilots video game kiosks

As Blockbuster moves aggressively into DVD-rental kiosks, redbox starts its move into the video game-rental market with $2 rentals.

January 19, 2010 by

You want to roll out DVD kiosks? Okay, we'll rent video games.

DVD-rental kiosk frontrunner redbox is readying another gauntlet to throw down in its brewing fight with fading brick-and-mortar DVD-rental goliath Blockbuster, piloting video game-rental kiosks in two test markets.

While Blockbuster has partnered with NCR Corp. to move into the DVD-rental kiosk market, it still lags far behind redbox in market penetration.And its brick-and-mortar operations are, at best, in flux as the company moves toward online, subscription and kiosk services as it tries to phase in a more multi-platform approach to combat the challenges posed by competitors like redbox and Netflix. (But to give Blockbuster its due, the company is moving aggressively to make up lost ground with heavy DVD rental-kiosk deployments in New York City and the Texarkana region.)

The Coinstar-owned redbox is test marketing video game-rental kiosks inReno,Nev., andWilmington,N.C. —and while the tests are still ongoing, the Internet buzz around the initial rollout late last year was hot and heavy.

And since the tests are still ongoing, the company isn't releasing any data on them, according to a redbox spokesman.

But he did confirm that the tests are market-wide in bothRenoandWilmington, meaning almost all redbox kiosks in those markets should be carrying both movies and video games. And with movies at $1 per night, and video games at $2 per night, redbox is continuing to stick it to its competitors.