GameStop has reportedly begun rolling out, then abruptly stopped, the PowerPass game rental program it had planned to officially launch on November 19th.
Devs may remember that the company has been testing similar forms of game rental programs for some time, but Kotaku reports that the soft launch of PowerPass this week hit enough bumps that employees are being told to pull down signs for the program and store them for later.
“We have elected to temporarily pause the roll out of the new PowerPass subscription service, based on a few program limitations we have identified. We feel this is the right thing to do for now to ensure we are able to provide our guests an exceptional service,” a GameStop representative told Kotaku today.
“For those guests who have already purchased the service, we will allow them to bring the pass, and video game they have checked-out, back to receive a full refund. In addition, we will allow them to pick out any pre-owned game for free.”
The PowerPass program was pitched to the public last month as offering, for a $60 upfront fee, six months of unlimited “rentals” (one at a time) from GameStop’s stock of used games. At the end of the six-month period, a PowerPass customer could choose one game to keep.
Previously, GameStop ran a special summer promotion at select stores in the U.S. that allowed customers to rent and play used games across a 3 month period for a single $50 fee.