Random Best Ways To Get Discounted Video Games (12 items)

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  (#1) Yard Sales Are A Gold Mine For Old Games

  Older generations have always been a little behind the times when it comes to entertainment. Video games are no different, and even though they've probably been the primary purchasers of games for their kids, most parents have no idea how much used games are worth. After all, it's not uncommon to see used DVDs on sale for a dollar or less, so why should video games be any different? They're all media discs, right? 

  While you probably won't find this year's new Call of Duty game at your neighbor's garage sale, older games are often set out next to the rest of the "old toys," and you usually don't have to haggle too much to get a good price. 
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  (#2) GameStop Has Piles Of Cheap Games If You Go In-Store

  These days, increasingly fewer people are actually purchase games from GameStop, but it can still be worth it to take a gander inside one of their retail locations every once in a while. Maybe the biggest incentive to step back inside the store is their massive collection of cheap PS3/Xbox 360 games. 

  GameStop has largely moved on from that console generation, but they still have a huge stock of older games. Some of them they can still make money on, but many of them they just throw in a bin marked $10 or less. Those games can be a real steal for anybody willing to take the time to manually scroll through the options.

  GameStop's prices are often higher online, so it's worth venturing out into the real world to score some deals. Generally, 360 games that aren't backwards compatible on Xbox One are more discounted, but Microsoft has been steadily adding new backwards compatible games for the past few years, so there's a good chance the $3 copy of The Darkness you picked up will one day be playable on current-gen hardware. Additionally, retail locations are run by humans, who are totally capable of making mistakes, so it's possible to find games that have been listed for less than their established values by accident.  
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  (#3) Subscribe To Playstation Now And Xbox Game Pass

  The subscription service Playstation Now boasts a catalog of over 600 games, though it will set you back $100 per year or $20 a month if you go the reoccurring payment route. That's a solid deal, considering all the great content you're receiving (including The Last of Us, Uncharted, and God of War), but it's still something of an investment. Additionally, some gamers have reported lag when streaming games, especially when playing on a subpar internet connection. 

  Xbox Game Pass is only $10 a month, but it also has fewer games. However, all new first-party releases hit the service the same day they go on sale, and players actually get to download the titles they want to play, eliminating any danger of lag. 
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  (#4) Amazon Prime Members Get 20% Off All Video Game Pre-Orders

  There was a time when Amazon Prime members could get 20% off of all new games purchased online. Unfortunately, they've since rolled that back a bit, but it's still possible to get a 20% discount on any pre-orders you place for new titles. Sure, you might not get to read many reviews before the game comes out, but 20% off is a massive discount, even if the game turns out to be less than stellar.

  As long as you only pre-order surefire winners you know you'll love, you should be fine. Besides, after four purchases, you've saved enough money to purchase another preordered game basically for free. 
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  (#5) Wait For Seasonal Sales

  Most Americans are aware of the large sale that happens on the Friday after Thanksgiving each year. Black Friday is a fantastic time to pick up new games (and just about anything else) for dirt cheap prices, but many game retailers also host several other massive seasonal sales each year.

  For example, Steam has four major sales per year, while companies like Sony and Microsoft frequently have things like spring sales or other holiday sales that can last for a month at a time. Even if a sale isn't currently happening, it's worth waiting a bit to see if one will happen soon, especially if there's a game that you only sort of want to play. 
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  (#6) People Will Pay You Real Money For Steam Trading Cards

  Steam has a system where players can acquire "trading cards" by playing certain games. No one game will give you all of its cards, so players are forced to barter with others to get a complete set. Sometimes that means trading, but other times, people are willing to down to fork over cold hard cash, which can be used to purchase more games.

  The kicker is, you don't actually have to physically play a game to collect the cards. Steam doesn't care if you're participating in the game you have open on your desktop, it just tracks amount of time it's open. That means you can open up a game, take a shower, go to bed, and come back to a bunch of steam trading cards sitting in your account. If you're still a little confused about how it all works, PC Gamer wrote a helpful guide to get the money ball rolling.
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  (#7) Keep Up With Gaming Websites

  Sites like Kotaku, IGN, Polygon, and GameInformer are always posting about game sales. If you're on the hunt for a new game, check those sites regularly. Whenever a sale is posted, most gaming sites immediately write a news story about it, and try to promote it to all of their readers. Be one of those readers, and you'll save some money.
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  (#8) Ask The Gaming Community

  If you don't trust the professionals, sites like Reddit or Cheap Ass Gamer can help players find truly niche deals. Both offer threads dedicated to finding game sales, and the best deals tend to rise to the top of any particular forum.

  Some of these community-driven sites are even frequented by Humble Bundle or Amazon employees who are hoping to draw attention to their special sales. It takes a little effort to hunt down the right threads and the users you trust, and it can yield some serious long-term rewards.
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  (#9) Pay What You Want For A Humble Bundle

  Humble Bundle is arguably the best way for PC gamers to acquire high-quality games on the cheap. The storefront partners with game publishers to curate a selection of games — usually around a particular theme or publisher's back catalog — all in the name of charity.

  Purchasers are allowed to pay whatever they want, but there is a three-tier system in place if you want all of the games. For the first tier of four to five games, you only need to pay a dollar or more. For the second tier, you just have to pay the average price paid by other purchasers, which usually amounts to less than $10. For the final tier, you just need to pay over a set price — it's almost always less than $20 — to score eight or more games. Many of the games are actually pretty great, so be sure to check out Humble Bundle often for new deals.
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  (#10) Buy Premium Xbox And Sony Online Memberships

  If you want to crush your enemies and friends in Xbox or Playstation's online multiplayer, you'll have to pony up for a premium membership. The cool thing about both Sony and Microsoft's premium accounts, however, is that every month, they offer several free games.

  The selection can be a little hit-or-miss, but free is free, and sometimes the offerings are fantastic. If you still have a 360/PS3 in addition to your Xbox One/PS4, you can collect twice as many games, as both services offer games for past and present consoles concurrently. 
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  (#11) Take Advantage Of Cryptocurrency Miners On Ebay

  Since there's no bank or official organization that monitors cryptocurrency, "miners" are required to map out and record transactions. Whenever a transaction occurs, a miner has to make sure it checks out with the currency's history, and they're rewarded with cryptocurrency for their efforts. To prevent large amounts of cryptocurrency from being doled out, miners are forced to guess cryptographic hashes that correspond to each transaction before they see any reward. The more guesses a miner submits, the more money they can potentially make, so computer power is seriously important. 

  To be a successful miner, a high-end graphics card is basically a requirement. However, graphics card companies like Nvidia and AMD know their clientelle primarily consists of gamers, and will often package their cards with free computer games. When cards are bought by people who aren't interested in playing the games (such as miners), they'll often throw the games up on eBay for a significantly discounted price.

  If some cool, new graphics card is released in a bundle, hop onto eBay and see if the packaged game codes are for sale; you could find yourself an absolute steal. 
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  (#12) Get The EA Access Pass

  Even though Electronic Arts is basically the real-life final boss from every video game you've ever played, they have put out a lot of really sweet games. Rather than going out and purchasing every new iteration of Madden, you could just sign up for their "Access Pass."

  For $5 a month, you get unlimited access to huge hits like Titanfall 2 and Battlefield 1, and purchasers can even receive discounts on games if they decide they want to go ahead and buy them forever. If nothing else, it's a great way to try a game out without fully committing to it.

  The catalog is pretty extensive, and it's always growing as new games release. Since the monthly price averages out to $60 a year, it's a no-brainer for anyone planning to buy more than one EA game every 12 months. 

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