GameStop has just cancelled the launch of PowerPass, a service that lets customers rent an unlimited number of games over a period of six months.
The service was announced just last month and was expected to be available to GameStop outlets on Nov. 19. However, a report from Kotaku stated that the rollout of the service has been postponed mere days before its launch date. Apparently, the video game store had told employees to take all the promotional materials and "store it in their back rooms." These include signage and posters that pertain to the PowerPass promo.
GameStop did not issue a definite reason for the cancellation as of yet, but the same report alludes to employees discussing likely reasons. For one, the game store predicted that their outdated computers cannot handle the overwhelming number of customers that will avail of the service.
This led employees to believe that the problem lies within game store's current point-of-sales system and its inability to handle the sheer volume of upcoming game rentals. Furthermore, a GameStop spokesperson told the publication that they have "temporarily paused" the PowerPass launch because of "program limitations."
The PowerPass service asks customers to pay $60 for a six-month subscription. This will let them rent a used video game title and they can play the game for as long as the subscription period is over. They can also swap the game for another used title if they wished, and they can do this as many times as they like during the six-month period.
The service had actually been on a soft-launch this week already, and it seems that testing the waters made GameStop deem that they are not ready for a full-fledged launch. Those who have already availed of the PowerPass service will get a full refund and a free game for their trouble.
Meanwhile, the store has not stated whether the service will actually be made available again.
