Blockbuster Fizzles Into Bankruptcy
- Thread starter vansau
- Start date
There's really no reason for BB to even exist at this point. Who wants to waste the time going to the store and picking up the movie and then bringing it back the next day. Thanks to netflix you have it delivered or you can just order the movie from ON Demand or something. BB was cocky, they didn't think Netflix could beat them but oh boy were they wrong.
Netflix + Red Box = Doom of Blockbuster
It took a while and Hollywood Video only beat them out the door by seven months, but it happened. I wonder which retailer will fall next.
It took a while and Hollywood Video only beat them out the door by seven months, but it happened. I wonder which retailer will fall next.
hell i think back in the early 90s it was 7 bucks and like 2 dollars a day over to keep the things an extra day, you took 4 5 days to beat a game you could have half or 3/4 payed for what games cost back then. i always thought they were stupidly overpriced, especially when local mom and pop and small rental stores generally had much cheaper rentals, granted a blockbuster had a more diverse selection.will1182 said:
maybe if they had dropped their prices a few years ago they could have staved off the collapse and lest been cheaper than the alternatives, especially as ppv and on demand got broader and then the advent of streaming video etc.
adapt or die seems to be the moral of this tale.
Well, that sucks. Blockbuster was a pretty crucial part of my gaming hobby way back in my childhood, and I'm kinda sad to see that go. Then again, I moved on to GameFly years ago, and I'm not a movie-watching person, so it's not too big of a loss for me.
Didn't Netflix just recently begin offering their service in Canada? I know it's already available for Wii and PS3.XT inc said:
My boss has been gloating about Blockbusters woes for the past summer. Yes, I work at a videostore. >_>
You've pretty much summed up how I feel about Blockbuster going out like this. By the way, do you live in Memphis cause the Circuit City by us is now one of those weirdly named Hhgregg places. Guess I can try and find one and see if there's anything good on sale there.Mr.Mattress said:
I remember back when Blockbuster moved into my area. There were a lot of people complaining that they were taking over the whole rental industry, that soon they'd have some sort of tyrannical monopoly as they destroyed all their local competition.
And now...this. They go down the drain and the mom 'n pops close in to pick over the bones.
And now...this. They go down the drain and the mom 'n pops close in to pick over the bones.
I've been an online blockbuster member for 4-5 years or so (pretty much since they started having the service). It's way better then netflix in just about every way for me at least because I get movies sent to my house (just like netflix) but can also trade them in at the store and get another movie instantly.
You can't stream movies like you can with netflix but I like to watch them on HD big screen TV (along with my wife etc) so that was not something I missed.
For $20 a month I've had unlimited movies and 1 free video game per month....and I've been very happy with it. I had netflix before that (Since they were the only ones that did the mail thing at first) but so many of their DVDs were scratched or didn't play (I got 3 in a row once right before I stopped using them).
The new change to allow video game rentals though is a total joke. I've had 5-6 games at the top of my Q for the last month since it became available and not 1 game has been shipped yet. I mean one of them was Dragon Age for instance (I have the pc version but wanted to try the PS3 version) so it's not like they are new games or anything.
I am going to miss blockbuster and I really feel sorry for all the very friendly people working at my local store. They have suggested movies to me for years and I know all of them by name. I hope my store doesn't close even if it does mean no close out sale.
You can't stream movies like you can with netflix but I like to watch them on HD big screen TV (along with my wife etc) so that was not something I missed.
For $20 a month I've had unlimited movies and 1 free video game per month....and I've been very happy with it. I had netflix before that (Since they were the only ones that did the mail thing at first) but so many of their DVDs were scratched or didn't play (I got 3 in a row once right before I stopped using them).
The new change to allow video game rentals though is a total joke. I've had 5-6 games at the top of my Q for the last month since it became available and not 1 game has been shipped yet. I mean one of them was Dragon Age for instance (I have the pc version but wanted to try the PS3 version) so it's not like they are new games or anything.
I am going to miss blockbuster and I really feel sorry for all the very friendly people working at my local store. They have suggested movies to me for years and I know all of them by name. I hope my store doesn't close even if it does mean no close out sale.
Blockbuster is an outdated, overpriced beast that refused to acknowledge the saturation of monthly subscription services and competitively priced PPV. No one even has to leave their house anymore to rent a video, so why rush to the video store by 10AM the next day? Rogers Video isn't much better because the one by my place is shutting its doors too. I mean, if it costs half the price to rent anything from Blockbuster for a significant amount of time, why bother?
