Support NeoGAF

[Orbital2060]

Makes sense when hw sales are dropping.

Genious move, or sign of the end times?

 

[Dr.D00p]

What's the point of this?
Who is it for?
You might as well get a loan, and buy the machine outright

..lol. the people going in for this are unlikely to be eligible for a loan.

 

[MudoSkills]

This is a solution looking for a problem. A few people have mentioned tariffs, irrelevant as UK PS5s don't come from the US.

 

[gerth666]

..lol. the people going in for this are unlikely to be eligible for a loan.

Fair point

 

[Ronin_7]

Same reason why Klarna, Afterpay, Affirm, etc exist. Same reason people rent instead of own a home. About a third of Canadians, Americans, and Europeans live paycheck to paycheck. Most of those don't have any savings.

Sony is taking advantage of the shitty economic situation we're all living through and putting a nice PR spin on it.

Yeah, most people don't have savings. If you're on this forum, you're probably well above the average lad who just watches TV and has a low to median IQ. You wouldn't be in an enthusiastic forum like this with those stats. If you're here, it's because you're curious and likely well above average.

 

[Spiral1407]

Would have saved me a ton of money. I could get a PS5, become disappointed and return it for £10.99?

 

[Mibu no ookami]

The disc edition doesn't make much sense to me.

What i would do if Sony had a game i couldn't wait for the pc port: Rent it for one month, buy the game used and resell it after. What's the benfit for Sony?

If you were smarter, you'd just rent the game for a month.

A lot of people as evidenced from this thread think only of the extremes. The ability to convert renters into owners, especially if they end up buying software is a pretty valid reason to do this.

Not everyone is going to rent for long periods of time and what is MORE likely is that someone will rent to try and see if it is something they actually want to buy.

 

[Physiognomonics]

Sounds like sony is having excess inventory, ps5 sales are slowing?

Locking in to a 3 year rent aint bad, you are safe from tariffs. And I guess if it breaks down, sony will have to replace it quickly, so you get 3 years nbd warranty too!

You think you are safe of a price hike? I wouldn't bet on it. Someone should read the disclaimers nobody is reading.

 

[consoul]

Buying a PS5 = For the Players
Renting a PS5 = For the Monogamists

 

[Cakeboxer]

If you were smarter, you'd just rent the game for a month.

A lot of people as evidenced from this thread think only of the extremes. The ability to convert renters into owners, especially if they end up buying software is a pretty valid reason to do this.

Not everyone is going to rent for long periods of time and what is MORE likely is that someone will rent to try and see if it is something they actually want to buy.

I can't rent games where i live anymore. I know why they do it, but i don't think offering a PS5 with a disk drive is the smartest move. They should offer DE only to better hook the people.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

I can't rent games where i live anymore. I know why they do it, but i don't think offering a PS5 with a disk drive is the smartest move. They should offer DE only to better hook the people.

Are you in a region that is doing this leasing/renting program? If not, maybe it just doesn't apply to you? Seems like you're trying to combine your circumstances with other factors that don't apply here.

 

[Cakeboxer]

Are you in a region that is doing this leasing/renting program? If not, maybe it just doesn't apply to you? Seems like you're trying to combine your circumstances with other factors that don't apply here.

This isn't a me thing anyways, just talking in theory. In my opinion is offering a PS5 with a disc drive not the smartest move. That's all..

 

[jumpship]

If you were smarter, you'd just rent the game for a month.

A lot of people as evidenced from this thread think only of the extremes. The ability to convert renters into owners, especially if they end up buying software is a pretty valid reason to do this.

Not everyone is going to rent for long periods of time and what is MORE likely is that someone will rent to try and see if it is something they actually want to buy.

I think this is really smart of Sony. Some people complain about the high price to access "PlayStation games" well here's a good solution. It's a cost effective way to try out PlayStation games without fully committing hundreds of your money up front.

PSVR2 should really benefit from this, someone can use the rental as a trial period to tryout VR and download a few games. It's a signicantly smaller price to see if you like the device.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

I think this is really smart of Sony. Some people complain about the high price to access "PlayStation games" well here's a good solution. It's a cost effective way to try out PlayStation games without fully committing hundreds of your money up front.

PSVR2 should really benefit from this, someone can use the rental as a trial period to tryout VR and download a few games. It's a signicantly smaller price to see if you like the device.

Leasing PSVR2 (brand new) sure, renting? Not so much. I'd never put a rented PSVR2 on my face.

Worst case scenario, Sony moves this stuff to refurbished and ends the program. It's definitely a smart play.

 

[I'm nobody]

Didn't MS have something like that?

Yes it's on the very same website

Playstation direct is advertising it
This site has been running for years and you can get phones and switch and even apple pc laptops
You also need a credit check

 

[jumpship]

Leasing PSVR2 (brand new) sure, renting? Not so much. I'd never put a rented PSVR2 on my face.

Worst case scenario, Sony moves this stuff to refurbished and ends the program. It's definitely a smart play.

I'd hope the PSVR2 unit Sony sends out would be in a good clean working condition "as new" as possible. That's the minimum i'd expect.

It's just that VR doesn't sell well in videos, It's something you need to experience this is a low cost, low risk way to try out the device for yourself.

 

[kruis]

This operation will run smoothly in a country like Japan where the majority of consumers will take care of the consoles they rent. Over here, those consoles are going back to Sony with urine stains, and those are the ones that manage to make it back to them. The other consoles that don't make it back will be fraud cases.

I think a good number of these PS5s for rent will never be returned after one month. It will probably be too easy to game the system for a lot of UK lowlives.

 

[Roman Empire]

Cheap VR Porn alternative. That's a goldmine in the making.

 

[mdkirby]

Kinda tempting, you’d be able to just keep getting shiny new PlayStations regularly. I use mine to death and have two cats so they get full of fluff, I’ve already had one fail on me, Sony graciously replaced it for £300

 

[Mr.Phoenix]

I don't know what anyone's issue is with this.

This is great and something I have always wished console makers would do if there are people who would rather rent than own a console, more power to them. There is nothing wrong with Sony giving that option.

Now anyone weird enough to do it being that you don't own the console at the end of the lease, well... that's on them.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

Rental Service Includes PlayStation 5 Pro, PlayStation Portal & PlayStation VR 2

• PS5 DE: £10.99 Per Month

• PS5 Disc: £11.99 Per Month

• PS5 Pro: £18.95 Per Month

• PlayStation VR 2: £18.49 Per Month

• PlayStation Portal: £6.49 Per Month

Why the hell would I want to rent a piece of junk like PS portal?

 

[yurinka]

The disc edition doesn't make much sense to me.

What i would do if Sony had a game i couldn't wait for the pc port: Rent it for one month, buy the game used and resell it after. What's the benfit for Sony?

The minimum console rental is 12 months, but you can cancel and return it anytime (I assume paying a cancelation penalty).

In that case the benefit for Sony would be the console sold to the renting company and the game unit sold.

Since the people rent them for 12, 24 or 36 months I assume on average they will buy way more than just a single game. And also assume that some percent of the people who rent the console or PSVR2 will end buying the device later.

 

[Lokaum D+]

one more reasson for not having consoles anymore

 

[Saber]

I could see this being a thing in countries like mine. With the absurd price of PS5, I guess people could be ok with renting.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

Blockbuster Mexico also had a Nintendo 64 console rental service, but it was not successful... and even the controllers or consoles were stolen. It was a failure in less than a year.

 

[Cakeboxer]

The minimum console rental is 12 months, but you can cancel and return it anytime (I assume paying a cancelation penalty).

In that case the benefit for Sony would be the console sold to the renting company and the game unit sold.

Since the people rent them for 12, 24 or 36 months I assume on average they will buy way more than just a single game. And also assume that some percent of the people who rent the console or PSVR2 will end buying the device later.

I thought Sony rents it themselves and i haven't seen anything about 12 months. But if you really have to rent it for 12 months that's another story, in that case it doesn't matter if it has a disc drive, because people who are only interested in one game wouldn't rent it that long anyways,

 

[mckmas8808]

Why the hell would I want to rent a piece of junk like PS portal?

Because it's awesome!

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

Because it's awesome!

 

[yurinka]

I thought Sony rents it themselves and i haven't seen anything about 12 months. But if you really have to rent it for 12 months that's another story, in that case it doesn't matter if it has a disc drive, because people who are only interested in one game wouldn't rent it that long anyways,

As mentioned by somebody else in the thread, the company who rents it is Raylo, where you can also lease other tech stuff like Xbox, Switch, PCs, phones, tablets, smartwatches...

https://www.raylo.com/

 

[Audiophile]

Monthly rolling PS5 Pro for £36/mth and cancel anytime kinda makes sense for my specific needs.

I sold my PS5 in 2023 as it was basically a paperweight by then and I'm waiting for Death Stranding 2 & GTAVI before jumping back in, there's really nothing else much on the horizon that interests me beyond those two. Perhaps Ghost Of Yotei, but I could time it for that too.

Could grab the PS5 Pro when they're both out, get both games on disc and grab the disc drive (seems they're not offering it w/ the Pro !?). Rent the PS5 Pro for 3mths, play both over that period and mop up a few of the smaller games I wanna try out, then send it back. After which I can flog the games and the drive on eBay and make a good chunk of it back.

All in all the end cost would be in the £200 ballpark Vs outlaying close to a grand up front and then likely being left with a paperweight again.. I'd likely lose more than £108 reselling plus it'd lock up an extra £592 that way, not to mention the fart-arsing around with selling a large items, just having DPD come pick it up when I'm done sounds good.

No real need to do it that way and was prepared to pick up a new console when one or the other is out, but don't really see any point if there's a significantly cheaper, low fuss option on the table. After that I'd probably just wait til PS6 unless they really start dropping absolute killers near the end of the gen; and even then, I'll probably fare better just waiting til EOY '27/28 for PS6 and enjoying them with the dials turned up alongside new gen titles.

This gen has largely been a bust for me, so doing it like this would be pretty great.

Haven't fully gone over it yet, so this may be the case, but what would be nice is if they let you pay the RRP minus what you've already paid to keep the current unit if you change your mind and wanna buy outright.

Could throw PSVR2 in for a month or two as well just to try it out.

All in all, ~£250 to play my two most anticipated AAA games over the course of 3mths on the highest spec console, mop up my backlog of smaller titles, try out PSVR2 for a couple months and then send it back easily is pretty decent.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

But is there really much market for short term console rentals? I don’t know. Seems doubtful.

Anyway I can’t say it won’t turn out as a program that makes lessor and lessees happy. But looking at this through my own prism makes it seem like a stupid deal for the customer unless they’re completely unable to get a low interest credit card, in which case they might be better off prioritizing something else besides gaming. Not trying to be judgmental though. People can over pay for whatever they want.

All that said, if this comes with accidental damage protection and full warranty for console and controller sticks / batteries it could make the cost benefit analysis a little better, Not great but better,

The way I see it, SIE wouldn't be doing this if they didn't conclude there was demand for such a service to begin with. They also know there are economic realities to consider, and like I was saying before, there's a good chance the tariffs will screw a lot of things up. That's going to put all but the largest of companies (Big Tech, for example) at a disadvantage because they don't have the market capital and size to absorb the potential losses if they get into a price war to offset the tariffs, be it with price cuts or price increases.

So, various companies are going to find ways to deal with it that fit them; the PS5 itself has a great library of games and for the people who want to play just a couple of them every now and then, I think a service like this is for them. You also need to consider that not everyone who'd be renting the system is doing so because they "can't" afford it outright or can't get a low-interest credit card, or because their finances are screwed up.

Like, some of them could be teenagers with part-time jobs saving up for college but still want to play a few PS5 games every now and then. Some may just be so busy with travel or work that they don't have the free time to justify buying a system outright, but may have a weekend off every now and then to rent one for a play. I'm sure there are other examples as well, not to mention some people may just not want to bother with surprise surcharges or whatever on their cards, or don't want to take out another card just to buy a games console.

I don't really see it as any different from when places like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video used to let people rent game systems for a week or whatever. SEGA did that with the Dreamcast early on and it seemed quite successful. Different era, but just pointing out the concept isn't new.

Not likely they iterate specs quickly. They still need fixed, reference hardware for devs and for cloud gaming.

It depends on what you consider "specs". I'm of the impression they're going to flesh out a baseline specification that'll act as a blueprint, in terms of the actual silicon and performance metrics. There'll be some degree of over/under-clocking and/or core enable/disable OEMs can implement to hit more specific performance targets, and with things like I/O & connectivity, they can generally do whatever they want so long as the chipset supports it at the baseline level.

2-3 years for new iterations that could be in the type of form factor changes, though, would definitely be on the table. Also, I don't think iterations with notably improved performance baselines are impossible each 2-3 years, since everything's going to be scalable anyhow. The older baseline doesn't suddenly get delisted and support dropped; it'll just have to run newer games at softer native resolutions (internally), and maybe lower frame rates. But likely, still generally the same experience.

You could literally just buy a PS5 with Klarna but you’d own it at the end of the term

This is retarded and it will be cancelled in the UK in the next 12 months.

What if someone only wants to rent it for a month or two? Services like Klarna, I'm assuming (guessing it works like All-Access?) lock you in to a fixed contract in order to eventually purchase the system. If you break the contract you can't buy the system, so it turns into a regular rental service at that point anyhow.

Or buy it on interest free credit for 24 months from EE

What if you're a teenager and can't get an interest-free credit card?

 

[acm2000]

What if you're a teenager and can't get an interest-free credit card?

who said credit card? EE have a deal with PayPal Credit, interest free up to 24 months. you have to be 18, the same as this rental service.

 

[RagnarokIV]

great option for smackheads, chav mommies and worthless deadbeats

can already imagine the smell from one of these consoles after sitting in a shithole weed smoker's flat.

dirty bastard

 

[FoxMcChief]

This seems like a way to take advantage of poor folk, especially with the payments not leading to ownership.