5 Tips On How To Save Money On Games
Nowadays, games are as ubiquitous as ever before. The internet offers a seemingly bottomless well of endless gaming options for all types of gamers. No matter if you are looking for some casual entertainment to pass waiting times or if you enjoy jumping head-first into long gaming sessions with complex gameplays and large game worlds. Especially when you like trying and playing lots of different titles, gaming can become a pricey hobby if you don’t pay attention to how much you’re spending on and within your games. To make sure you get the most of your gaming experience without losing track of how much you’re spending, these tips will help you save.
Wait for sales
We all know the feeling: A new game has been announced, and we simply can’t wait to get our hands on it. The minute it releases, we feel a strong urge to click the ‘buy’ button, no matter how much the title might cost. While it can be exhilarating to play a newly released title the minute it’s out, it can be a smarter choice to wait for a few months before buying. New full-fledged titles are usually released with a steep price tag, while waiting for the next sale might save you a ton of money. Popular game platforms such as Steam and the Epic Games Store regularly run large sales, where many titles are discounted by up to 80%. Even new games usually make it on sale and are often reduced by 10% or even 20%. Some of the biggest sales are usually around Black Friday, while spring, summer, and holiday sales offer great opportunities to save throughout the entire year. If you can calm your impatience and wait for a sale instead of buying a title right after its release, you can save a lot of money.
Make use of promotions and trial periods
Sales are not the only way to take advantage of a company’s marketing campaigns to save money. Many game providers also run promotions or offer trial periods and demos to allow new users to try their games and services for free or at a reduced price at first. Game platforms and subscription services tend to use these methods to help new players see if the offered service is for them. For instance, new users can try out the popular game subscription service Xbox Game Pass for three months for just $1. During the trial period, you can access the entire game library and features – that’s already three months of gaming without having to pay the full price. Providers of classic games such as casino games are also known for offering bonuses to new players to help them try out their service before choosing to pay money. Some of the best casino platforms which are regularly reviewed and rated by experts like VegasSlotsOnline offer promotions such as free spins or free credit to play casino games like slots and roulette without the need to place real money at first. Through offers like this, you can play games and check if you like what’s on offer before paying.
Use a subscription service
If you play a lot of games over the course of the year, a subscription service that includes a large library of games might be the way to go for you. You can make use of the trial periods to try out several available services first, although the one you choose will mostly depend on which gaming device you’re using. The Xbox Game Pass is largely considered to be the best subscription service around for console players, as it adds Xbox-exclusive titles to the game library on the day they are released. With a monthly subscription fee of just $10 you can access over a hundred games any time – that fee equals roughly the price of two AAA titles over the course of a year, so it can easily be worth it if you play more than that. With Sony just having launched their new three-tiered PlayStation Plus subscription service, PlayStation gamers can now enjoy similar perks as Xbox Game Pass members. However, PlayStation Plus will not include Sony-published titles right after their launch.
Play free games
This is probably the easiest and most obvious way to save money when playing games: choose free games. The number of games that are available to play for free is tremendous. Especially with the free-to-play model which has been a massive trend in the gaming industry, more titles than ever can be played without having to pay a cent. The best example is the Google Play Store, which has a long list of top free games that can be downloaded and played with the click of a button. Many of these games offer in-game purchases where you could pay for certain content, but these are not mandatory. That way, it’s possible to play a whole range of games at no cost at all. This is not just available on the mobile platform, as even many PC and console games are now available for free. On the PC gaming platform Steam, for instance, you can find a whole category with only free games from all sorts of genres.
Buy used games
If you’re using a gaming device that can play physical disks, buying used games can be a great way to save money – both on new games and old ones. Many gamers finish titles within a few days or weeks after their release to then sell them to other players at a cheaper price online for someone else to enjoy them as well. Check online marketplaces such as Craigslist and eBay, or check for local offers on Facebook Marketplace to find used games in your area. And another great thing about physical games is that you can sell them again yourself after finishing them to get some of your money back and to help other gamers save money on gaming, too.
The world of games has never been as big and varied as it is now. While it can be easy to lose track of the amount of money you spend on your gaming hobby, these five tips can help you save money and make the most out of your gaming sessions.
