I used to be a GameFly member back home and always enjoyed it. I’ve finally gotten settled into my first duty station and decided to subscribe to GameFly again. When I did I discovered something new and exciting about GameFly. They now offer free to play PC games to their GameFly members. All you have to do is download the GameFly client (which is in a sense like Steam, however you can also manage your GameFly queue from within the client) and you can start downloading the free to play games. The games available aren’t crappy games either, notable titles include Bioschock, Civilization IV, Saints Row 2 and Assassin’s Creed. You can download the titles and begin playing through the GameFly client.

I’m downloading Saints Row 2 at the moment, so I haven’t had a chance to try it out yet. Still, when I resubscribed to GameFly all I really expected for my $15.95 a month was access to Xbox 360 games like before and the free to play PC game library is an awesome surprise and is a great value for members.

I’d expect as more titles start rolling into the library and as more users take advantage of the service GameFly may decide to go the route of Netflix and charge a little extra for access to the digital library (think of it as Netflix’s streaming add-on for physical disc subscribers). This is just speculation, but it’s my guess. If quality titles keep appearing in the library it may well be worth an additional $5-10 a month (what I’d pay at least).

Also I would guess that maybe with the next generation of consoles GameFly could come up with a “streaming” rental service for consoles (in a sense). No physical discs, no mail, you just rent directly to your console. Though if Microsoft and Sony would make this happen they’d most likely set up a rental service themselves so they get the money directly.