Video Gaming Licence

[FreddieDogg]

Hi i am new to the forum. I have been struggling to a straight answer on google. Does anybody know the licencing laws on the hiring of video gaming consoles (xbox, playstations) and the relevant games? Grateful for any advice?

 

[paulears]

The biggest issue is simply copyright - and that's an easy one to assess. Simply read the copyright statement printed on the discs. Most seem too have the usual no lending, hiring, copying restrictions. So if you hire them out then they could take action against you. Lots of these also require I understand, registration which is linked to the actual media? Not 100% because I don't play them - but my son does. However, there's nothing stopping you hiring the hardware and not the games. People already do that. One firm locally being one of my old employers. They also rent out the old ones quite cheaply - https://www.hughesrental.co.uk/gaming/consoles/xbox-one-games-console-product/ £3 a week won't make you rich though?

 

[obscure]

I spent over 20 years in video games publishing....
As Paul says, the games you buy in the shops are licensed only for home use (in the same way that DVD/Blue Ray movies are). You can't legally rent them out or use them for other commercial use such as rentals or hosting an outdoor cinema.

Back when video rental stores were a thing they had to buy a much more expensive rental version of a VHS/DVD/Blue Ray. Valve software (creators of Half-Life, Team Fortress and the Steam gaming platform) also used to have a page on their website about licensing game for commercial use in Internet/gaming cafes. I can't find that page any more so maybe they no longer offer rental licensing.

Conclusion
You would need to contact the publishers of the games to see if they offer rental licensing versions of their games. I have been out of the industry for some time but my feeling is that most won't be interested. They are too invested into digital sales and streaming now.

Renting out games without the correct license would be a breach of copyright and you could be sued. What is worse it is not like a speeding ticket.... you don't just get a single, fixed fine for the one instance. They look back at how long you have been doing it, how many games etc and they levy bigger fines for the more serious infringements. They can even ask you to account for all profits made and have that as a penalty instead.