It has been officially announced by Larry Hryb on his blog MajorNelson.com, that Redbox is coming to Xbox.

“Beta testing for the Redbox Instant is underway, and it will launch in the near future,” Hryb said Feb. 5.

Redbox Instant is already available on Android and iOS smart phones and tablets, Samsung blue-ray players and on SmartHub TVs, stated Alex Washburn, writer for Wired.

If students don’t have an Xbox, don’t worry.

Redbox representatives reported, “The Xbox 360 is going to be the launch platform, but will be available in the future on other platforms.”

Redbox Instant is going to have some competition between other streaming companies like Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and more. What makes Redbox Instant standout among the others is that there is more than just streaming.

“This is about choice. You will have your streaming service plus four rental DVD credits a month,” said Redbox Instant’s chief executive Shawn Strickland

This means if you have the streaming service, you can also rent four movies at kiosks for free.

Redbox Instant will start with two price points. There will be an $8 price for streaming, plus four rental movies a month; or a $9 price for streaming, plus four Blue-Ray rental movies a month.

These price points are to keep up with competition such as Netflix, which has a price of $8 a month.

Redbox Instant will start with titles from Warner Bros., Sony and Epix. Epix partner companies are Paramount Pictures, Liongate and MGM.

This is a small start for Redbox, when it begins its list of streaming movies will be small and have older movies, but will grow over time.

Redbox has installed 42,000 DVD kiosks over the last 10 years. The kiosk is a stage for the future of Redbox and Redbox Instant.

“They want to extend the life of the windowing structure, or the release window,” Strickland said.

The release window allows Hollywood studios to get the most revenue possible from a movie. Redbox believes it is best structured to exploit the release system to make Hollywood studios most interested in Redbox Instant.

Redbox Instant will set up three stages to make this possible.

“First stage is the disk stage. This is the stage that the movies just released will go to the kiosk only,” Strickland said.

Verizon and Constar (Redbox) believes that there is still life in physical discs; this is why it will go to kiosks first.

“Once it has been in the kiosk for a few weeks, then it will move onto streaming, but it will not be free at first,” Strickland said. “Subscribers can buy or rent the movie right on their Xbox or any other streaming devices”. Down the road it will eventually be free for streaming.

The company will start small then grow bigger over time to keep up with the competition. However, some tech bloggers disagree.

Redbox Instant premiered at the International Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas on Jan. 9, by showing the pricing and timetable. Some tech bloggers compared the service unfavorably with their rivals’ stated Brad Stone, writer for BusinessWeek.

Will this new streaming service keep up with other competitors like Netflix and Amazon, or will this endeavor flop? Consumers will find out when the streaming service will be available to everyone in the near future.