Gamefly users: How long are the wait times for new games?

[keptsimple]

The subject line basically sums up my question. I'm trying to reduce my gaming budget, and gamefly seems like a good deal. My question is, are new releases typically available for rental immediately, or do you have to wait a while because they don't have enough copies available to meet demand? I'm also wondering if there are any other hidden problems with gamefly that a prospective customer might not be aware of.

Thanks for the help.

 

[knightguy123]

The subject line basically sums up my question. I'm trying to reduce my gaming budget, and gamefly seems like a good deal. My question is, are new releases typically available for rental immediately, or do you have to wait a while because they don't have enough copies available to meet demand? I'm also wondering if there are any other hidden problems with gamefly that a prospective customer might not be aware of.

Thanks for the help.

two days for me once they send them depends though

 

[keptsimple]

two days for me once they send them depends though

Well, "once they send them" is kinda the issue. I'm not concerned about shipping time. I'm concerned about waiting a long time for a new release to be shipped because they don't have any copies available. Do you find this to be a problem?

 

[Teh_Doomage]

Depends on which shipping center you get, I ended up canceling my service because it would take 3 days each way to get any game.

 

[keptsimple]

Depends on which shipping center you get, I ended up canceling my service because it would take 3 days each way to get any game.

Thanks for your help. But again, I'm not asking about shipping times. I'm asking about waiting for new releases because they don't have enough copies available to meet demand.

For instance, say I put Forza 3 on my queue. Would you anticipate that it would ship on its release date (October 27)? Or would you expect that I would have to wait several days or weeks for it to ship, since so many people want to rent Forza 3 on its release date?

 

[Teh_Doomage]

Depends on how lucky you are...I've had some new releases the moment I put them on the queue but most often it would be at least a month before I saw most newer games.

 

[keyworkkiller]

This really isn't an easy question, as it really depends on the title and the demand for it. I've received less popular new releases from my game queue a couple days after release. Other times I've received a different game from my list because the new release wasn't available and wouldn't get the new release until I sent a game back a week or two later.

As a potential subscriber to GameFly, I'll warn you... The shipping and processing times absolutely SUCK. I live in Cincinnati, Ohio. My nearest shipping center is in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The usually shipping time between these two is usually a day or two. As an example of what I mean, I recently restarted my GameFly membership. I signed up on a Wednesday and paid at that time with a credit card. I didn't receive my first games until the following Tuesday. Not the service I'd expect for a $22.95 a month subscription. I find it's usually best to go with the two games at a time plan and play one while you're waiting for them to send you another one.

Hope this information is helpful to you.

 

[keptsimple]

This really isn't an easy question, as it really depends on the title and the demand for it...

Thanks for your help. Your first post was an effective one.

I'm in central North Carolina. Pittsburgh would be my closest shipping center, too. But I'm probably twice as far away from Pittsburgh as you are.

Furthermore, since my video game time is limited, it typically takes me at least 2 weeks to beat a game. RPGs came take a couple of months. Given that, gamefly may not be that great a deal for me.

 

[Teh_Doomage]

This really isn't an easy question, as it really depends on the title and the demand for it...

Thanks for your help. Your first post was an effective one.

I'm in central North Carolina. Pittsburgh would be my closest shipping center, too. But I'm probably twice as far away from Pittsburgh as you are.

Furthermore, since my video game time is limited, it typically takes me at least 2 weeks to beat a game. RPGs came take a couple of months. Given that, gamefly may not be that great a deal for me.

I'm also in central NC, guess what, you'll be getting your games from the Miami, FL hub. Which makes entirely no sense to me, but hey, that's what Gamefly does...it didn't take me long to cancel my subscription because of the long times between games and the lack of games I actually wanted to play, 3/4 of my list was games that had either come out recently and never were in stock or games that had not even come out yet.

 

[keptsimple]

I'm also in central NC, guess what, you'll be getting your games from the Miami, FL hub. Which makes entirely no sense to me, but hey, that's what Gamefly does...it didn't take me long to cancel my subscription because of the long times between games and the lack of games I actually wanted to play, 3/4 of my list was games that had either come out recently and never were in stock or games that had not even come out yet.

Thanks for the info. It's looking less and less likely that I'll be getting Gamefly at this point.

 

[Bjornfree]

I gotta say, as a long time subscriber I am beyond satisfied with Gamefly. There's a little bit of a learning curve with the queue but once you get the hang of that you shouldn't have any trouble getting new release games. A lot of times people have their queues loaded up with a bunch of things in random order and this yields random results as Gamefly ships based on availability. What's consistently worked for me is to simply keep only those games I'm truly interested in playing in my queue. At any given time there are probably only about 6 or 7 games total in mine and all titles I'm interested in.

What's also important to keep in mind is to get games you want in your queue prerelease and have them in the number 1 position the day they are due to release. As long as there's an open slot on your account for Gamefly to send a game to you you'll get new releases no problem. I have... consistently. Often times they'll ship the day before the official release. All said and done, even on the random chance I've f'd up and not gotten something into my queue in advance I don't ever remember waiting more than a couple weeks before I eventually got it. Just be proactive with your queue and things work fine.

If you ask me it's a hell of a bargain. The way I see it, if Gamefly can save me a minimum of $60/mo. and/or the retail cost of one new game then it's more than paid for itself. Now consider that in reality it probably ends up saving me 2 to 3 times that and the savings become even more evident. Case and point... I can spend $275 for the 2 games at a time plan annually and probably have some odd 30 or 40 games come my way over the course of the year or I can spend $275 on 4 or 5 games off the shelf. The sheer variety and exposure to stuff is well worth it if you enjoy playing but don't enjoy the cost.