With Black Friday on the horizon, it’s a great time to start looking around for deals on video games, hardware, and accessories. When it comes to the former, you can find an excellent variety of games discounted during this sale event. But what happens if you miss your shot to pick up a game you wanted while it was discounted or it ran out of stock? Don’t worry, sale events actually happen all throughout the year, so there are plenty of other opportunities to get games at a cheaper price. No matter which platform you prefer to play on, there’s always a deal to find somewhere, whether that’s during a sale event or at a retailer.
Retailers like Amazon, GameStop, Best Buy, Walmart, and Target usually offer discounts on games throughout the year or Buy 1, Get 1 Free deals, but oftentimes the best deals are found during these big sale events. Alongside Black Friday, we’ve rounded up some of the best sale events for games that happen over the course of the year that are worth keeping an eye on. There’s no better time to buy video games than when they’re discounted, and we’re here to help you plan ahead for those times.
For the Best Time to Buy Video Games, Keep in Mind…
- Sale Events:
- Publisher Events:
Black Friday and Cyber Monday
Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals begin in earnest at the end of November, kicking off the holiday season in style with a variety of sales on different items. If you’re looking to pick up some new games, this is an excellent time to do so. Thankfully, you can find deals at a variety of different retailers as well, from Amazon to Best Buy to GameStop.
If you’re curious about what you can expect from each of these retailers ahead of their actual sales events, we’ve written some breakdowns to help you out for Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, and Costco. Some locations, like the latter, already have their Black Friday ads available to look at as well so you can start planning your holiday shopping ahead of time.
And if you’re looking to pick up some discounted games, planning ahead is a must. You never know when stock will run out, so it’s a good idea to figure out which games you want from your list before checking out different retailers. It’s also a good idea to compare prices between retailers during the sale event. Sometimes, a game will be marked down 30% at one outlet and 40% at another, so keep multiple tabs open to see which retailer has the better deal.
Amazon Prime Day
Similar to Black Friday, Amazon Prime Day is another excellent opportunity to pick up games if you’re a Prime member. It occurs earlier in the year as well, usually around the end of June or start of July, so you have some time between the two sale events to figure out which games are next on your purchase list. However, unlike Black Friday which gives you the opportunity to check out multiple retailers, Prime Day is usually just Amazon unless you have a competitor like Best Buy that counters the sale day with their own selections.
And like Black Friday, you’ll want to make a list of games that you want to buy. This will help you figure out what to look for but also help with setting a budget so you don’t go wild buying everything in sight. Another helpful planning tool is using a website like camelcamelcamel, which shows the price history on an Amazon product so you can see how often a game you like goes on sale and at what price. This can help you figure out if it’s a better buy during Prime Day or if it’s better to wait until the holiday season to pick it up.
October Prime Day
Amazon also has a Prime Day 2 in October, which gives buyers a sneak peek at what’s to come during the holiday shopping season for Black Friday. It also features a few similar discounts to the ones in its earlier Prime Day sale, so it’s a good time to pick something up again if you missed it earlier on.
PlayStation Sale Events
The PlayStation Store has sales quite frequently, which is great news. If you tab over to the ‘Deals’ section of the store, you can usually find curated sets of deals listed as Essential Picks, Games Under a certain amount, etc. You can also find these deals broken down by PS4 deals and PS5 deals. These are updated frequently as well, so when one sale runs out a new one will usually take its place. Sometimes they even have fun themes, like a collection of horror game deals around Halloween!
More importantly, though, PlayStation also has big seasonal sale events throughout the year, which is where some of their best discounts are. During the spring they’ll usually have a Spring Sale which is followed by Days of Play and a Summer Sale during the summer months. Then, as you approach the holiday season, you’ll usually find a PS5 Black Friday Sale in November, and a Holiday Sale at the end of the year. The specific dates for these events are usually announced on PlayStation’s social media as well, so keep an eye out for any announcements there.
If you’re a PlayStation Plus Extra or Premium member, you also get access to exclusive discounts in the PlayStation Store. To learn more about these subscriptions, check out our breakdown of each PlayStation Plus tier.
Xbox Sale Events
Similar to PlayStation, Xbox frequently has sales going on under the store’s ‘Deals’ section, which are usually pulled into curated lists as well with different themes, but they also have big seasonal sales throughout the year. These bigger sales come around during wintertime, like the Xbox Black Friday sale or their Countdown Sale which occurs later in December, in spring with a Spring Sale, and in the summer for their Deals Unlocked Sale and Ultimate Game Sale. Their Deals Unlocked Sale usually kicks off in early June around Summer Games Fest time and the Ultimate Game Sale is usually around July. Again, keep an eye on Xbox’s social media for announcements of when these specific sale events will kick off.
And, like those with a PlayStation Plus membership, if you have Game Pass Ultimate or Game Pass Core, you get access to exclusive store discounts. To learn more about these subscription plans, check out our breakdown of Xbox Game Pass plans, explained.
Nintendo Sale Events
Nintendo isn’t one to offer massive discounts on their first-party games often, but the eShop almost always has sales going on if you tab over to their ‘Great Deals’ section. At the moment, you can have an early look at some of their Black Friday offers as well. This includes the Switch OLED Super Smash Bros. Ultimate bundle and an opportunity to save up to $30 on select Switch games at various retailers, which includes Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, Mario Strikers: Battle League, Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes.
Outside of Switch Black Friday deals, though, Nintendo will usually have seasonal sales year-round in the eShop, like a Summer Sale in early June, that feature great discounts. Nintendo Switch games are also frequently found on sale at various retailers, like Best Buy or Amazon, so it’s worth it to check them out to see what’s available.
Steam Sale Events
If you want to find excellent deals on PC games, Steam has always got a little something in their store. Alongside having a variety of discounted games to look through anyway in their ‘Specials’ section, they also offer seasonal sale events four times a year (Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter), themed sale events (called Fests), and Next Fest. The latter also gives players a chance to try out demos, watch livestreams, and learn about what new games are coming to Steam.
Valve also recently released the first few dates for their sale events for the start of 2024, which you can find listed below:
- Capitalism and Economy Fest: January 8 – 15
- Pirates vs Ninjas Fest: January 22 – 29
- Next Fest: February 5 – 12
- Remote Play Together: February 12 – 19
- Dinos vs Robots Fest: February 26 – March 4
- Spring Sale: March 14 – 21
- Deckbuilders Fest: March 25 – April 1
Epic Games Store Sale Events
The Epic Games Store also offers a variety of deals and sale events for PC players to enjoy. Alongside Deals of the Week – which offers new deals every Tuesday – and a variety of sales going on that you can look through regularly, they also offer seasonal sale events, themed sales, a MEGA Sale early in the summer around May/June (where you can find some of their best deals), and a Black Friday and Holiday sale.
The Game Awards Sale
With December fast approaching, another sale to keep in mind that occurs on most platforms is The Game Awards Sale. This sale kicks off around the time of the show – which will be Thursday, December 7 this year – and is a great opportunity to pick up a variety of games from various platforms at a discount for the holidays. The sale can usually be found on the PlayStation store, Xbox, Steam, and the Epic Store.
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