Gamefly Still Offering (Some) PS2 And Xbox Games In 2022

A few days ago I saw some people posting online about the latest GameFly used game sale and decided to check it out while having lunch. Now, I haven’t thought much about GameFly in a long time, so my curiosity about what GameFly is at present got the better of me and I decided to explore GameFly’s website. I soon came across an old section of the site, out of the way, where, in the year of grace 2022, you can still rent PS2, Xbox and GameCube titles like it’s 2004. But even weirder than that are the titles that make up GameFly’s small hidden library of old games.

Oh, and people still praise them too!

I used to be a GameFly customer. As a young teenager, GameFly was awesome. I had very little money and a lot of time to play games. With the service, which lets you rent games by mail for a monthly fee, I was able to play dozens of games in a year without having to spend hundreds of dollars to do so. But as I grew older, started making money, and moved into digital game purchases, Gamefly became useless, so I ended my subscription.

But just because I let GameFly die doesn’t mean it did. And today, in 2022, nearly 20 years after its debut, GameFly lives on. And so, as I browsed through the site’s offerings, I was curious if there were any older PS2, Xbox, or GameCube games still available. And he did, but the selection was surprising.

For example, here are all… two Xbox games you can currently rent on GameFly starting May 17, 2022.

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I can’t even begin to imagine who, in 2022, is wanting to play either of these games via an old Xbox, but they are here, waiting patiently for someone, anyone, to rent them. I mean, Marvel Imperfects is a wild game which comes from another era of superhero shenanigans. Maybe someone wants to relive the edgy and violent days of 2005 on a vintage Xbox. Who am I to judge? However, I will judge anyone who rents Full Spectrum Warrior on Xbox when the game is playable on PC and even has some mods for it.

On the PS2 section, things are only marginally better, as GameFly has a wider and even weirder selection of games for Sony’s once-popular home console.

Kotaku’s Luke Plunkett asked me to point out that Rugby 2004 is apparently very good. So maybe someone else at GameFly agrees and keeps a copy, just in case. As with the other games, it’s a surprising mix of real firecrackers and puzzles. For example, Max Payne 2 is (probably) the best game in the trilogy and plays great on console. Good choice! On the other hand, NHL 2001 and 2002 probably aren’t as iconic. They definitely don’t have as many slow motion headshots, that’s for sure. And sorry for anyone who wants to play the Jak and Daxter trilogy, because GameFly currently only has the third game in the series, Jak 3.

I say currently because, and it was a surprise to find out, it looks like people are actually renting these older games from GameFly in 2022. Seriously.

I discovered this by accident while looking at what GameFly offers GameCube owners. Originally, when I looked at the selection yesterday for the first time, it wasn’t a library of games but rather a single game: Looney Tunes back in action. I laughed, took a screenshot, and shared with my fellow Kotaku writers a silly idea to write a blog about it all. (They also laughed and agreed that was a good idea. That’s how about half of Kotaku’s content is planned.)

But today, while writing this blog, I looked again at the GameCube section to take a better screenshot and discovered something peculiar. It looks like someone just returned Mario Superstar Baseball for the GameCube after renting it out indefinitely.

Screenshot: GameFly / Kotaku

I cannot ask GameFly to share this customer’s information with me. I understand that. But if you’re reading this and you’re the person who rented this game (or any older PS2/GameCube title for that matter) in 2022, please contact me or leave a comment below explaining why. I guess there must be a reason beyond it being funny or weird to do. I would like to know.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll try to rent a copy of The Incredibles on PS2.