Even without the trade war going on, prices of gaming consoles are higher than they’ve ever been. This is especially true for the two most recent ones, the PS5 Pro and the Nintendo Switch 2. One way that Japanese gamers are dealing with this is by renting consoles rather than buying them. At least for the base model PS5, it’s been popular enough that retail chain Geo claims that nearly all of its available consoles have been fully booked for six weeks in advance.
ITmedia reports that Geo has about 400 outlets across Japan, with each outlet renting out about five PS5 consoles each. The company started renting out the consoles back in late February, and a month later, “about half of the stores are operating at nearly 100% capacity” and “overall, it is about 80%”, per machine translation.
Prices aren’t too bad either, depending on the duration of your rent. The report mentions a loan duration of a week, or more specifically eight days and seven nights, costing JPY980 (~RM29). Cited was Geo’s Yusuke Sakai, the manager in charge of rentals, who said “rentals are originally meant to allow people to enjoy expensive items at a low price at home. PS5 rentals are an extension of that philosophy”.
Besides the booming rental business, a side benefit of renting out consoles is that games are being bought at the same time. Sakai notes that “when renting a PS5, you can also buy software at the same time, so I think this has definitely led to increased sales”.
(Source: ITmedia)
