{"id":47229,"date":"2025-04-21T15:24:32","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T06:24:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=47229"},"modified":"2025-04-21T15:24:34","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T06:24:34","slug":"a-month-later-japans-cheap-new-ps5-rental-service-is-still-proving-successful-with-200-locations-renting-out-consoles-at-100-capacity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/a-month-later-japans-cheap-new-ps5-rental-service-is-still-proving-successful-with-200-locations-renting-out-consoles-at-100-capacity\/","title":{"rendered":"A month later, Japan\u2019s cheap new PS5 rental service is still proving successful, with 200 locations renting out consoles at 100% capacity\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

GEO, a Japanese company that specializes in buying, selling, and renting products (notably physical discs and video games), announced that its new PlayStation 5 rental service<\/a> has been doing exceptionally well since it started on February 28. One month following the initial rush<\/a> (which coincided with the launch of Monster Hunter Wilds), half of GEO\u2019s 400 stores with rentable PS5s reported still renting out consoles at 100% operating capacity.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an interview with ITmedia<\/a>, GEO representative Yusuke Sakai explains that the decision to offer PS5 rentals came as a result of the declining rental sales of CDs and DVDs (which is largely attributed to the rise of online subscription services). This decline in physical media rentals also coincided with the steep price increase of the PS5 in Japan<\/a> in September 2024, when the console\u2019s price was hiked up from 66,980 yen (about $470 USD) to 79,980 yen (about $561 USD) This prompted Sakai\u2019s division to look into ways that GEO could capitalize on the company\u2019s know-how with the console.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We started looking into whether we could use our current rental system to rent out PS5 consoles,” says Sakai. “GEO also buys PS5s, so we had the know-how for maintenance and other aspects. As there were no additional labor or training costs needed to start renting PS5s, we were able to offer them at the lowest prices in the industry,” says another GEO rep.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"PS5\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As for the service itself, you can rent a PS5 from specific GEO stores for eight days and seven nights at 980 JPY (around $6.9 USD). If you want to keep the console for longer, you can avail yourself of the fifteen-day and fourteen-night plan that costs 1,780 JPY ($12.50 USD). Any extensions outside of your initial plan come at 500 JPY ($3.5 USD) per day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With regards to save data, you get a factory reset PS5 whenever you use the rental service. This means you can\u2019t re-rent the same unit with your data still on it. Instead, you\u2019re encouraged to either use the longer plans or extend your existing one. Considering the length of some modern titles, this may have been part of GEO\u2019s strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While PS5 sales have never been higher<\/a>, Sakai says that the console rental service is an extension of GEO\u2019s rental philosophy that allows people to enjoy expensive things at a lower price. The service seems to be going well for GEO, as half of its stores across the country are fully booked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GEO’s cheap PS5 rental service was a big hit when it first launched (on the same day as Monster Hunter Wilds), but a month later, it’s still proving popular.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":47231,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-47229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nA month later, Japan\u2019s cheap new PS5 rental service is still proving successful, with 200 locations renting out consoles at 100% capacity\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"GEO's cheap PS5 rental service was a big hit when it first launched (on the same day as Monster Hunter Wilds), but a month later, it's still proving popular.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/a-month-later-japans-cheap-new-ps5-rental-service-is-still-proving-successful-with-200-locations-renting-out-consoles-at-100-capacity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A month later, Japan\u2019s cheap new PS5 rental service is still proving successful, with 200 locations renting out consoles at 100% capacity\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"GEO's cheap PS5 rental service was a big hit when it first launched (on the same day as Monster Hunter Wilds), but a month later, it's still proving popular.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/a-month-later-japans-cheap-new-ps5-rental-service-is-still-proving-successful-with-200-locations-renting-out-consoles-at-100-capacity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-21T06:24:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-21T06:24:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/20250421-47229header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1229\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"687\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Carlos "Zoto" Zotomayor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Carlos "Zoto" Zotomayor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A month later, Japan\u2019s cheap new PS5 rental service is still proving successful, with 200 locations renting out consoles at 100% capacity\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"GEO's cheap PS5 rental service was a big hit when it first launched (on the same day as Monster Hunter Wilds), but a month later, it's still proving popular.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/a-month-later-japans-cheap-new-ps5-rental-service-is-still-proving-successful-with-200-locations-renting-out-consoles-at-100-capacity\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A month later, Japan\u2019s cheap new PS5 rental service is still proving successful, with 200 locations renting out consoles at 100% capacity\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"GEO's cheap PS5 rental service was a big hit when it first launched (on the same day as Monster Hunter Wilds), but a month later, it's still proving popular.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/a-month-later-japans-cheap-new-ps5-rental-service-is-still-proving-successful-with-200-locations-renting-out-consoles-at-100-capacity\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2025-04-21T06:24:32+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-04-21T06:24:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1229,"height":687,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/20250421-47229header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/a-month-later-japans-cheap-new-ps5-rental-service-is-still-proving-successful-with-200-locations-renting-out-consoles-at-100-capacity\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/a-month-later-japans-cheap-new-ps5-rental-service-is-still-proving-successful-with-200-locations-renting-out-consoles-at-100-capacity\/"},"author":{"name":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/2812ca8facd5f161edfbc531cf81eb31"},"headline":"A month later, Japan\u2019s cheap new PS5 rental service is still proving successful, with 200 locations renting out consoles at 100% capacity\u00a0","datePublished":"2025-04-21T06:24:32+00:00","dateModified":"2025-04-21T06:24:34+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/a-month-later-japans-cheap-new-ps5-rental-service-is-still-proving-successful-with-200-locations-renting-out-consoles-at-100-capacity\/"},"wordCount":429,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/a-month-later-japans-cheap-new-ps5-rental-service-is-still-proving-successful-with-200-locations-renting-out-consoles-at-100-capacity\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/20250421-47229header.jpg","keywords":["News (Japan-related)"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/a-month-later-japans-cheap-new-ps5-rental-service-is-still-proving-successful-with-200-locations-renting-out-consoles-at-100-capacity\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/a-month-later-japans-cheap-new-ps5-rental-service-is-still-proving-successful-with-200-locations-renting-out-consoles-at-100-capacity\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/a-month-later-japans-cheap-new-ps5-rental-service-is-still-proving-successful-with-200-locations-renting-out-consoles-at-100-capacity\/","name":"A month later, Japan\u2019s cheap new PS5 rental service is still proving successful, with 200 locations renting out consoles at 100% capacity\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/a-month-later-japans-cheap-new-ps5-rental-service-is-still-proving-successful-with-200-locations-renting-out-consoles-at-100-capacity\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/a-month-later-japans-cheap-new-ps5-rental-service-is-still-proving-successful-with-200-locations-renting-out-consoles-at-100-capacity\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/20250421-47229header.jpg","datePublished":"2025-04-21T06:24:32+00:00","dateModified":"2025-04-21T06:24:34+00:00","description":"GEO's cheap PS5 rental service was a big hit when it first launched (on the same day as Monster Hunter Wilds), but a month later, it's still proving popular.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/a-month-later-japans-cheap-new-ps5-rental-service-is-still-proving-successful-with-200-locations-renting-out-consoles-at-100-capacity\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/a-month-later-japans-cheap-new-ps5-rental-service-is-still-proving-successful-with-200-locations-renting-out-consoles-at-100-capacity\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/a-month-later-japans-cheap-new-ps5-rental-service-is-still-proving-successful-with-200-locations-renting-out-consoles-at-100-capacity\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/20250421-47229header.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/20250421-47229header.jpg","width":1229,"height":687,"caption":"PS5 Rental Japan"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/a-month-later-japans-cheap-new-ps5-rental-service-is-still-proving-successful-with-200-locations-renting-out-consoles-at-100-capacity\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A month later, Japan\u2019s cheap new PS5 rental service is still proving successful, with 200 locations renting out consoles at 100% capacity\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/2812ca8facd5f161edfbc531cf81eb31","name":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/display-pic-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/display-pic-100x100.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/display-pic-100x100.jpg","caption":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor"},"description":"Automaton West writer. Zoto has been playing video games for 30+ years now but has only recently come to grips with PC gaming. When he isn't playing video games, he watches romance anime and gets mad when his best girl never wins.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/carlos-zotomayor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47229"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47237,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47229\/revisions\/47237"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}