Following reports that Belgium will call an outright ban on videogame rentals from December 1, the Belgian Entertainment Association has told Edge that it is “simply doing what all other countries do.” 

Olivier Maeterlinck, Managing Director of the Belgian Entertainment Association, explains: “What's happening is that video rental stores are declining in popularity, and because of this those stores began to buy retail copies of games and put them up for rent. I can’t think of any country that would allow this. Rental outlets need publisher permission to rent out games, and need to buy them wholesale, just like with films.” 
 

“The point is that stores can still put out rental copies. They just have to get permission to do so. In most countries a rental point must get permission for renting out. We are no longer any different to this system, but that doesn’t mean we are ‘banning’ game rentals.” 
 

Edge contacted a spokesperson from Belgium’s biggest specialist game retail chain, GameMania, for clarification on the issue: “It will still be legal, yes, but the problem is that it is no longer feasible. We cannot establish rental deals with any of the major publishers, and so we will be terminating our game rental business.” 
 

Maeterlinck says that the BEA has sent a letter to 6000 potential rental points in Belgium and explained that publisher permission will now be necessary before game rental is carried out.  “It’s the same with films,” he adds. “If you want to rent out a film you have to get a rental version from the publisher, not a retail version.” 
 

“The selling of videogames is the only way publishers can have a return on investment in Belgium. Rental could be an additional distribution, but that’s something that the game publisher has to have a say in. There has to be a business model in place.”  
 

A spokesperson from one of the UK’s biggest game retail companies, LoveFilm, has explained that its own rental distribution process in the UK begins by consulting the publisher: “We buy wholesale from the publishers with their permission. We have a good relationship with these publishers and we negotiate rental deals as well as actively promote them.”