FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Corporate Communications 214/854-3190   SURVEY BY BLOCKBUSTER® INDICATES VIDEO GAME RENTALS SPAN ALL AGE GROUPS Increased Popularity in Games Sparks Extended Rental Period DALLAS, June 3, 1998 -It's not just for kids anymore. A recent survey commissioned by Blockbuster -- the number one rental outlet for video games -- indicates that more than 60 percent of 12 to 34-year olds had rented a video game within the past three months. The survey also reveals that video games are becoming more and more popular with all age groups. "While 12-24 year-old males certainly dominate the games industry, the activity is becoming more and more popular with young girls and even older customers," says Allen Klose, Blockbuster vice president of market research. The survey of more than 1,200 video game players and renters indicates that a surprising 25 percent of the 35-55 year-olds age group and 5 percent of the 55-plus group said they had rented a video game in the last three months. Girls tend to rent more of the educational, strategy and puzzle games, but are fairly represented in some of the adventure games such as "Tomb Raider" that features the heroine Lara Croft. Young men typically rent the sports, simulation, action and role playing games about twice as often as girls. Blockbuster is responding to this latest trend by extending its game rentals to five days, offering more fun for video game aficionados. The new extended rental policy for games now matches the five-night rental for Blockbuster Favorites, allowing members to rent and return movies and games at the same time. The new rental policy also establishes common pricing at Blockbuster's company-owned stores at $4.99 for rental of Nintendo 64® and PlayStationTM games and $3.49 for Sega Genesis®, Sega Saturn® and Super Nintendo® games. The new five-evening rentals also apply to the Playstation and Nintendo 64 hardware, which rent in most stores for $14.99. "We want our customers to think of Blockbuster as the only place to go for video games, so we're giving them two additional evenings of play time to enjoy their favorite games," says Brian Woodrick, Blockbuster's video game buyer. "In a telephone survey of our active game renters, 90 percent of renters said they like the extended rental periods 'a lot'." What's Hot? According to Woodrick, each Blockbuster store carries approximately 600 different titles, with each store's selection tailored to the tastes of that individual neighborhood. Some of today's most popular games include "Tekkan 3," "Gran Turismo" and "1080† Snowboarding," according to Woodrick. "We had some great sleepers in 1997, with the overwhelming popularity of 'WCW Wrestling,' 'Parappa the Rapper' and the updated, '90s version of the '80s favorite 'Frogger'," says Woodrick. "In fact, Frogger recently was featured in an episode of 'Seinfeld,' showing just how popular video games have become." Because Blockbuster holds such a significant portion of the video game rental market, the chain has been chosen as the exclusive outlet for the new Nintendo 64 release "Clayfighter - Sculpture's Cut," which hit stores in May. Blockbuster operates approximately 6,000 Blockbuster Video and 400 Blockbuster Music neighborhood entertainment stores in the United States, its territories and 26 other countries and may be accessed internationally at www.blockbuster.com. Blockbuster is a unit of Viacom Inc., one of the world's largest entertainment and publishing companies and a leading force in nearly every segment of the international media marketplace. ### |  Current Releases   |  Archives   | BLOCKBUSTER name, design and related marks are trademarks of Blockbuster Entertainment Inc. © 1998 Blockbuster Entertainment Inc. All rights reserved.