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.”