GameFly is dipping its toes into the giant lake that is subscription video content.
Detailed in a report from VentureBeat today, GameFly will begin rolling out a mail-order DVD and Blu-ray service. Users will be able to go to the company’s website and add popular movies to their queue, once that content is available GameFly will mail it off in the same way it does games for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and more today.
If all of that sounds familiar to you, it’s probably because that’s exactly how Netflix got its start. Though the company is now synonymous with television and video streaming, its giant library of mail order discs was once the crown jewel of its empire. Today, Netflix still offers that services but its been decoupled from its instant streaming plans that almost everyone has at this point.
While most of the comments after the announcement have centered on GameFly being late to the mail-order video party, it’s worth noting that it makes sense that the company would finally embrace other forms of media. After all, should Netflix actually decide to begin offering video game rentals its likely that Gamefly could see usage of its services dip. We’d also imagine that both consoles heavily embracing digital game sales won’t help its subscriber numbers either.
Gamefly says it’s just testing the business model for now.