James Lee 13:46 (BST)
14/01/2009

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UK videogames retailer GAME has announced plans to start an online subscription rental service, similar to that offered by Love Film.

For a subscription fee gamers will be able to rent out any two games at once and when a title is posted back the company will send another on the customer's list.

"The new GAME Rental service further strengthens our customer offering, with a strong high value proposition. Customers can now buy, download and rent games from game.co.uk," said Alex Croft, managing director for GAME Group's Online Business.

"The launch of GAME Rentals comes at a great time with so many compelling titles being released, providing our customers with the opportunity to try games before they buy and also to explore new types of games they wouldn't otherwise have played. This is another new service from game.co.uk that will help customers enjoy even more games."

GAME group recently reported a sales boost of 16.6 per cent over the Christmas period, in part due to "exceptional demand" for single format titles.

The move towards a rental service could be somewhat of a bitter sweet experience for many publishers and developers who have been calling for an industry-supported rental option as an alternative to the second hand games market. However, it is unlikely that developers will see any extra revenue from GAME's new rental project.