How to save money on buying games

Playstation 4

Oddly enough, the most popular of modern platforms - the PlayStation 4 - has the least opportunity to save money.

Discounts and sales

The PlayStation Store has a 'Offer of the Week' every seven days - discounts for 1-2 games. In addition, the store regularly holds sales. Sometimes they are timed to coincide with important dates: Halloween, New Years, PlayStation's birthday, and so on. On average, sales take place about once a month. However, it can be difficult to find more than 30% discount on the PlayStation Store.

You can follow the promotions in the PlayStation Store, for example, on the thematic page "VKontakte".

Playstation plus

PlayStation Plus is a subscription service that gives PlayStation 4 owners access to the online content of their games, and also allows them to get several projects for free once a month. Mainly they give out independent and AA games, but sometimes blockbusters like Destiny 2 or Mad Max come across. Plus subscribers can also purchase some games from the digital store for a discounted price.

The cost of a subscription for one month is 499 rubles, for three months - 1,599 rubles, and for 12 months - 3,899 rubles.

Secondary market

Some PlayStation 4 owners buy games on disc. This approach allows for good savings. You can sell them immediately after passing, discarding part of the price, and buying any projects is much cheaper. And even new ones: resellers and on ad sites have fresh releases after a couple of weeks, and they sometimes cost a thousand to one and a half cheaper than sealed ones.

True, this approach has its drawbacks. If you want to go through the sold game again, you will have to buy it again. There is also a small chance of purchasing a non-working disk, so it's best to check your purchases right away.

Xbox one

Discounts and sales

Everything here is about the same as in the PlayStation Store: themed and holiday sales about once a month, discounts once a week. The only difference is that you can often find discounts of 70% or even 85% in the Microsoft Store.

It is convenient to follow the store's promotions using the GreatXboxDeals forum.

Xbox Live Gold

Xbox Live Gold is the equivalent of PlayStation Plus. It makes it possible to get several games for free once a month, as well as buy individual projects with discounts up to 75%. Subscribing to it costs 599 rubles for one month or 3,599 rubles for 12 months.

Xbox Game Pass

Xbox Game Pass is a service that gives you access to a huge catalog of games for a monthly fee. Microsoft puts a lot of emphasis on it - so far, this is one of the most profitable offers for Xbox One owners.

There are over 100 games available on Game Pass, and this list is updated every couple of weeks, including projects from previous versions of Xbox (for example, Gears of War 2 and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic). Moreover, Microsoft exclusives appear in the service catalog on the day of release.

The subscription price is 599 rubles per month. The first two weeks the service can be used free of charge.

EA Access

Another subscription service, this time from EA. Subscribers get access to many of the publisher's games, including projects from the Xbox 360 (Dead Space 3, for example). New items like Battlefield V appear in EA Access a few days before the official release. The service also gives a 10% discount on all Electronic Arts games.

The cost of EA Access is 299 rubles per month or 1,799 rubles for 12 months.

Secondary market

As in the case of the PlayStation 4, if it is not important for you to have a game on your digital store account, then you can buy discs from your hands. This is much cheaper. However, to get a fresh game, you have to wait 2-3 weeks after the release.

PC

If you want to spend as little as possible on games, there is no better platform than a PC. Even if you buy projects exclusively on release and in official stores, it will still be 1.5-2 times cheaper. For example, the base price of a blockbuster on Steam and Uplay is 1,999 rubles versus 3,999 on consoles.

Discounts and sales

Steam

For the gaming community, the words Steam and "discounts" have long been synonymous. The digital store always has discounted prices for some games. There are regular discounts: "Promotion in the middle of the week", "Promotion at the weekend", "Offer of the day". Every year there are at least two big sales: New Year's and Summer's - in December and June, respectively.

Also, from time to time, some publishers or developers arrange mini-sales of their games to draw attention to new projects. Sometimes they even give them away for free - this was the case, for example, with the shooters Insurgency and Metro 2033.

If you play on PC, then Steam is your main source of cheap licensed games. You can follow all the promotions of the store, for example, on the thematic page "VKontakte".

Origin and Uplay

Origin is EA's own store and Uplay is Ubisoft's platform. With rare exceptions, only games from these publishers are sold on them. Significant discounts in these stores are not such a frequent occurrence, but it also makes sense to follow them. If only because on these platforms, games like Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag and Dead Space are sometimes handed out for free.

You can learn about Origin promotions from the posts of the official community on VKontakte, and you can follow Uplay discounts by subscribing to the store's Twitter account.

GOG

GOG is a store originally created by The Witcher developers to distribute older games. But now there are many modern projects on the site, especially indie ones. GOG sales are frequent - at least once a month. It is now the best store for classic lovers.

You can follow the discounts on GOG, for example, on Twitter.

Epic Games Store

Fortnite's creators Epic Games digital store doesn't have many games yet, and not all of them have favorable regional prices. It is interesting because throughout 2019 it will distribute one free project every two weeks.

Bundles

Bundles are bundles of games that are often sold on a pay-what-you-want basis. Bundles have levels: to get certain games, you need to pay more than the indicated amount. For example, for $ 1 only three games are given out, for $ 4 you get access to two more projects, and for $ 12 you can get the entire bundle.

Bundles can be purchased at Humble Bundle, IndieGala and Fanatical stores. Sales of games are also held on these sites, but they are rarely profitable for residents of the CIS: regional prices at these sellers are rare.

Mostly indie games are involved in bundles, but there are exceptions. So, blockbusters appear from time to time in the Humble Bundle.

You can learn about new promotions through the Twitter accounts of the platforms: Humble Bundle, IndieGala, Fanatical.

Origin Access

Origin Access is a subscription service similar to EA Access for Xbox One. It only works within the Origin store. Subscribers receive a 10% discount on all EA projects and access to a catalog of over 140 games.

There are two types of Origin Access - Basic and Premier. There are few differences between them. Basic subscribers have six fewer games available, and add-ons and season passes are not included in the basic subscription. Also, Premier subscribers can play full versions of new projects a few days before release. In Basic, only 10-hour trials of fresh games are available.

The Basic subscription is priced at 299 rubles per month or 1,799 rubles per year, and Premier - 999 rubles per month or 3,999 rubles per year. Lifehacker recommends Basic: it's more profitable than buying individual games. Moreover, the basic subscription is much cheaper than Premier, and the differences between the two are very small.

Key Vendors

Another way to save money when buying PC games is sites like Steambuy or Steampay that sell keys for Steam, Origin, and other platforms. They work like regular online stores: you put the goods in the basket, pay and get the keys.

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These sites often offer promotions and sales, and many projects, even without discounts, are cheaper than on Steam. However, when buying on such sites, you should be careful: there is always the possibility of stumbling upon scammers. Also, keep in mind that games purchased this way are not subject to Steam and Origin refund policies.