Playing on the Cheap

This list pre-supposes you live in the US

Get a PC

Sorry console folks, but the best deals are on PC. There is much less you can do on consoles to get a good deal than on PC so I will be going over some tips for consoles, but this is mainly a PC centric list. Also, I know that in the past couple years PCs aren’t exactly cheap. But if you want to just get a machine that will run games at 1080p 60fps. You can probably get away with spending between $800-$1,000. Just make sure you buy from a reputable retailer as there are a lot of scammers out there these days.

OK for Console…

Gamefly — They aren’t new, they new to you… Usually

Gamefly is a video game/movie subscription rental service that allows you to get a large discount off when you rent a game. In other words, you rent a game, you like it, you buy it. This is really the only way to get new release inexpensive games. The only problem lately is that with the pandemic’s hit to the mail. You might be waiting quite a bit longer for the games to arrive either at your house or at the Gamefly warehouse. Also, I wouldn’t use this option if you live in an apartment or anywhere else where others have access to your mailbox. Finally, I will say this is the best option to get Nintendo Switch Games as even Humble Bundle only VERY rarely has Nintendo games on sale.

XBOX — Make sure you get XBOX GAME PASS

With Game Pass you can get hundreds of games to play, many of them brand new for the price of a budget priced game every three months. This is an incredible deal, and you certainly won’t find any comparable deal anywhere else for console.

Playstation-Patience is a Virtue

While this going to sound cliché don’t buy any games at launch, don’t pre-order, and generally wait for a game to be out at least three months before even considering buying it. Try to start at around 30%-40% off. You’re going to want to troll the Playstation Store on a weekly basis and try to find the best deal you can on the games you want. I usually find it faster to do this on my computer but it’s really up to you. Other than trying to get an isolated deal on Ebay or Amazon. This is pretty much all you have access to. Of course, there are deals like Black Friday or similar; but as these are just yearly events often games aren’t as cheap as they might be on the Playstation Store during the rest of the year.

Nintendo Switch- Aww! Well…

The problem with Nintendo Switch is that no matter the vendor. Nintendo tightly controls the prices. As I said earlier, Gamefly is a great choice here. Also, Humble Store does sell digital copies of Switch games. Unfortunately your 20% off never applies and they only rarely have sales that are almost always on back stock that could be as old as a year or two. But Nintendo Games are timeless, right?

PC Gaming on the cheap…

Get All the launchers!

I know this is not something most people want to do. But if you see a particular deal that is only good from one of these company-specific launchers you’re going to miss out if you don’t have it or you won’t even know about it if you don’t have it. Also, the Epic Games Store has free games available that change often. You are going to want to have access to these freebies. Also, GOG has free games periodically, mostly having to do with promotions. I’ll give you a quick rundown:

Steam

Epic Games Store (Epic Launcher)

XBOX GAME PASS (XBOX app)

EA Play Launcher (For EA Play from Game Pass)

Origin Launcher (Might need to have this with EA Play)

Ubisoft Connect (formally Uplay Launcher)

GOG Galaxy Launcher

That may seem like a lot, but it really is necessary if you want access to free games and all the best deals.

Check out Cheap Shark.

Using the search feature, you can find almost all of the available gaming deals from across the web. Just know that if you have subscriptions or exclusive deals from any websites, this site does not take that into account.

Humble Bundle Choice is VERY GOOD.

For $12 a month you get 12 games and a 20% discount on games in the Humble Store. The offered games usually amount to at least a couple of hundred dollars and the 20% while it doesn’t apply to all the games in the Humble Store it does apply to most of the games. You might not be able to get all new releases; but you will be able to get many of them.

Green Man Gaming is Good but not Great.

For a long time, Green Man Gaming was as good or better than Humble Store. But in the past few years they have been getting more and more spotty. Both with inventory and with prices. The good part of Green Man is that they almost always have the games they advertise for Launch Day as soon as the keys are available as opposed to Humble where it seems that they have some kind of deal with publishers to hold keys until the day of launch. Whenever you see a game on sale on Green Man Gaming, I would check Cheap Shark for other options to make sure you are getting the best deal.

Don’t PRE-ORDER!

No matter where you go, pre-ordering is never going to be a great deal. I know that some games you just need right now. Like shooters and fighting games, tend to be a bit time-sensitive. Of course, you might want to get the game on Launch because your friends are getting it. Just know that you are always going to get a worse deal if you buy it this way. Even with Green Man Gaming or the Humble Store; your Launch discount will be eclipsed in a month or two after launch. There are plenty of times where this isn’t necessarily true. But unfortunately, there is still one other thing that can happen to the early adopter…

The GAME OF THE YEAR DEFINITIVE ULTIMATE EDITION!

If you tend to get games at launch or around launch, I’m sure you’ve experienced this. About a year or maybe two after a game comes out. Many times, it will come out with a bundled edition that puts all the downloadable content together and will sometimes even have some special feature to be added for that edition. While this can be especially bad on console. There are a fair number of times, this happens on PC to negative effect. If you didn’t buy your game from Steam, where they adjust prices for content you already own; you might have never noticed this. But many times, the downloadable content can cost as much as the full price of the game. So, getting all of it bundled together can knock down the final price quite a bit. But this will also mean that you want the downloadable content and are willing to wait 6 months to a year after release. Sometimes these editions are also far cheaper than what you would have paid in a month or two after launch.

My Subscription is my Passport…

Services like EA PLAY PRO, UBISOFT+, and to a lesser degree XBOX GAME PASS as Game Pass only applies to PC/XBOX. These services allow you to spend a price every month or in the case of EA PLAY PRO, one price every year. Giving you access to a very large number of games that you can play as much as you want or until your subscription runs out whichever comes first. This is a great option because most times your monthly fee is just a fraction of whatever you would pay for any of the games, you’re playing on it would be new. The problem only comes in with services like EA PLAY PRO or UBISOFT+ when you are paying per month. You can easily spend almost $200 a year for something like this, while that’s not a lot of money when you consider Ultimate editions for games can be $100 all by themselves. But it is only worth it if you continue to use it. Otherwise, you’re just paying to have access to the service. Also, for open-world games like Assassin’s Creed or Far Cry; your mileage may vary considering just one of those games can take months to complete. While your save games ARE stored in the cloud. Just remember you don’t own any of these games. When your subscription ends, you only have your saved game and nothing else.

Conclusion:

While there are certainly many strategies to get the best deal on video games. As you might have noticed it can be a lot of work. Especially for consoles. But even on PC, there is a fair amount of work to be done to try and get the best deal. My overall suggestions are not to pre-order or buy at launch. Always try to wait as long as you can before you buy any video game. The longer you wait the better deal you are going to get. There are exceptions to every rule; but in general, this is how it works. Getting a subscription-like Game Pass, Ubisoft+, or EA PLAY PRO are probably a good choice for most people. But for people who only play games once or twice a week, these subscriptions might not be a good deal either. Assess your options and decide what is right for you.