November and December are typically the right time to snatch some video game deals, and this year won’t be any exception. (As I’ve stated before, I probably spend 50% of my video game budget in the last 2 months of the year, and it seems I already started early this year).

Ongoing Deals, and what to expect this year

I’m going to make this one short, here are the deals I’m currently looking at

•  Spiderman PS4 Bundle will be discounted to $199.99 in many stores including Walmart, Best Buy, Target and Gamestop (Link is to Amazon, currently not discounted. Not actually sure if Amazon will be doing this for this specific bundle, but historically they align or offer a similar deal)

• Amazon also have ongoing discounts on select Xbox One X, and Xbox One S.
• 1 year of Playstation Plus is currently discounted for $39.99 (33% off) and is a great gift for a Playstation gamer friend or yourself (yes, these can stack, allegedly Amazon has a limit of 2, but nothing prevents you from buying more directly from the PSN).
• Xbox One Games discounts on Ubisoft digital games, Microsoft digital games including PUBG or Sea of Thieves (XBO), Red Dead Redemption, among others.
• PS4: PSN’s Black Friday sale. (And if like me you don’t want Sony to have your credit card number, remember that you can buy PSN codes at face value from Amazon)
• PC gamers: The Humble Store have a fall sale with discounts on games such as Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, The Witcher 3, and Resident Evil 7. Your purchases on The Humble Store also support a charity of your choice.

I’ll try to get a much more complete list ready as we get closer to black Friday, and of course I will post most deals I find on twitter for people to snatch them while they last. For those of you looking to get good video game deals during black Friday this year, my “battle plan” from previous years still applies, so I’m adding it below:

0.TL,DR

1. Make a list of the stuff you plan to buy
2. Know in advance how much you are willing to pay for it (what you’d consider a deal)
3. Jump on surprise “flash” deals that are too good to ignore (e.g. 75% off a game you were on the fence about getting). Worst case scenario you will be able to resell the game easily (even maybe for a profit) afterwards.
4. It’s not only about video games, there’s other stuff you probably want/need to buy and now’s the right time: clothes, etc… Include those in your list
5. Do a bit of comparison shopping, but don’t waste too much time (you could lose a deal if you hesitate too much). You probably already have your favorite sore anyway, that’s where you’ll get 90% of your deals. You don’t need to do comparison shopping if you already know how much you are willing to pay for the stuff you want! (see steps 1 and 2)
6. Follow us on twitter, we will tweet VG deals throughout the week
7. If you plan to shop on Amazon, make sure to get a prime free trial ahead of time to get all the associated benefits.
   • If you own an Amazon echo, there will most likely be additional deals reserved for Alexa owners.

1. Make a list of the stuff you need/want

So, that one is simple: ahead of the sales days, I make a list of what I want and need. Typically I’ll be looking at the video game section on Amazon, and make lists of the games I’ve thought about buying this year. Last year I focused mostly on AAA titles but didn’t have much success. This year I still have a huge backlog of games to play and not much time to play them, so I have to admit I’m failing my own advice and don’t really have a list.

I also got myself a PS4 Pro in preparation for the 5.05 exploit earlier this year, so I won’t be looking for any new hardware this year.

The PS4 Pro: This will again be a hot item this holiday season. We might get good deals this year

2. Know in advance how much you are willing to pay for the things on your list

Once you have a pretty good idea of what you want to buy, you have to know what’s a “good” price for you for that game or piece of hardware. You can search the net for some price comparison to understand how much the game currently sells for. Then you have to know if you would buy it even without a sale, or if you’re really looking for a sale to justify the purchase. In the first case, this is simple: if you catch that game on sale during the holiday season, just get it without thinking, even if the sale is just a mere 5% off or some gift code you don’t intend to use. You would have purchased the game at retail price anyway, so you might as well do it. In the other case, ask yourself how much you would be willing to pay for that game, and set that as your limit. If the game doesn’t sell for your target price, then you’ll wait for another opportunity, you don’t have to buy it this year.

Heads up that CheapAssGamer maintain a huge list of all announced prices for Black Friday in the US so far.

3. Be open for surprise deals that are too good to ignore

While always keeping in mind that you don’t want to buy stuff you’ll never play, keep an open mind for really good deals. In the past, I’ve been able to get great deals on Amazon for games such as Uncharted 4 or Doom. The prices were so good that I was able to buy the games, play them, resell them for a profit and the buyer was still amazed at the good deal they were getting from me! These don’t happen often so you have to seize the opportunity when you see them.

So, generally, have a list of what you want, but also be open for such opportunity deals, if the item on sale is something you would like to play at some point.

4. It’s not only about video games!

I tend to focus my shopping spree on my hobby which is video games, but there’s also a bunch of things I need or want to buy that I’ll include on my list. This goes from board games for my family to other items (pretty sure I need new socks – again – this year)

For all of these, just like for games, I have a vague idea of what kind of stuff I want, and will be on the lookout for deals in those categories.

5. Price is not the only convenience you should look for

I’ll be very bold here, I do most of my shopping on Amazon. There’s so many places one person can look at during the shopping season, and rather than miss on a good deal just because I want to compare prices, I’d buy on Amazon. I don’t want the shopping season to become an obsessive price comparison thing, so I’ll only do the occasional check on target, Newegg, bestbuy, eBay, or walmart if I come across some surprise deals over there (note: being in Japan now, this most likely limits my choice to Amazon, the only company I’d trust with international shipping from the US). Your choice might vary. I am a member of Amazon prime (in Japan this year, not US) and have gotten back that investment tenfolds since I subscribed, but you might have your favorite retailer too. Pick your main choice, but stay on the lookout for deals on other retailers if possible.

If you intend to shop on Amazon: make sure you subscribe to a Prime free trial now to get the additional benefits for Amazon Shoppers.

6. Where and when to look for deals

More directly, you can check Amazon.com’s deals page throughout November and December.

If you’re looking for deals on specific games or hardware, let me know in the comments and I’ll do my best to look for those in particular in the weeks to come!

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