We may be living in the new normal, but some things never change: gaming can be an expensive hobby.
As of the writing of this blog post, Sony's PlayStation 4 is selling at a retail price of $299.99 (17,700Php in the Philippines). The Nintendo Switch also costs $299.99 and so does Microsoft's Xbox One S at $299.00. The price of a gaming PC varies depending on the specs but they usually cost much more than consoles.
Whatever your hardware is, getting into video games now is going to put a $300 dent in your wallet. If you're not careful, buying the video games for your platform is going to exacerbate that dent.
Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic forcing people to stay indoors, gaming is quickly turning into a recreational activity that more and more people are getting into. Some time around April, the World Health Organization recommended video games as a pastime to stop the spread of the coronavirus. And it's working! The numbers don't lie; the video game industry has been making a killing during the pandemic.
I've been playing video games since I was a kid. Now I'm an adult and I'm still gaming as a way to kill time. Naturally I picked up on some budget-friendly tips and tricks and I'd like to share them with you in this blog post.
Whether you're someone new to the gaming scene or you're a veteran gamer looking for ways to save your wallet, here are some tips on saving money related to gaming so you don't break the bank.
1. Wait for price drops
If you're on a strict budget, buying a video game as soon as it's released should never ever be an option, no matter how excited you are to get your hands on it. Whether you're buying physically or digitally, a brand new video game normally costs around $59.99 (2,900Php). Generally speaking, the retail price of video games tend to drop significantly after six months have passed since its release date. Waiting even longer -- let's say a year -- will cause the price to drop even further. Some games go as low as below half of their original retail price.
There isn't a fixed time period on when games slash their prices. A good rule of thumb is the better a game performs at its launch, the longer it will take for its price to go down, so patience is the key. A terribly rated game like Fallout 76 can go from $59.99 to $39.99 (1,934Php) in a couple of months, while a critically acclaimed game like God of War stayed up at around $59.99 for a good long while.
Protip for Nintendo Switch and DS owners: Nintendo has a policy of NOT dropping the price of their exclusives. So you may be wondering why that Mario game you've been waiting for is still around $59.99. Unfortunately waiting won't do you much good in terms of budgeting if you're a Nintendo gamer.
2. Buy secondhand games
Want to know what's even better than waiting for the price of a video game to drop? Waiting for the price of a video game to drop, and then buying it secondhand! Secondhand sellers will never sell a game above its current retail price. I once bought Fallout 3: Game of the Year edition, which cost $59.99 many years ago, for just around $10.00 (483Php).
Your means of finding secondhand sellers will depend on your location and nationality. For me, websites like Carousel and Facebook groups are how I find out about people near me who are trying to sell their video games. You can even opt to trade games with people even if I don't recommend that.
3. Sell your game after you're done playing
If you bought a video game physically, you can sell the disc/cartridge to someone else once you're done with the game. Since you'll be a secondhand seller, you'd want to price your video game below the game's current retail price to attract buyers.
If you weren't able to follow the first tip on this list i.e. you succumbed to the temptation of buying a newly released game because you just had to have it right away, then this course of action can get you some of your hard-earned money back easily once you're done with the game. I say "easily" because newly released games are still popular so it's not hard to find a buyer. Trying to sell a game that has been out for one or two years already is much more difficult.
Let's say you bought a newly released game for $59.99. A couple of weeks pass and you've beat the game. Congratulations! You go back to the video game store and find out the game is still selling at $59.99 a pop. You can take advantage of this opportunity and sell your disc at around $44.99 (2,177Php). Once you've sold your game, you'd have technically only spent $15 (726Php) on it.
4. Finish your game
This is one of the more interesting tips because it tackles the mindset of a gamer.
Some players tend to play through games only until halfway through the story before losing interest and buying the next big thing. This is a bad habit that has to be curbed if you want to save money. A game with 80 hours of content isn't maximized if you only get to around 40 hours of gameplay, meaning you will look for and buy another game sooner than anticipated, burning yet another hole in your pocket before you have a chance of fully recovering from your initial purchase.
Sounds like an unnecessary waste, doesn't it? Completely finishing your game isn't just the practical thing to do, it's also a satisfying thing to do. You feel more accomplished after experiencing a great big adventure. It's almost the same feeling as reading a book up until the last page.
5. Buy games 150+ hours long
If you want to be a thrifty gamer, you'd want to develop a taste for massive and immersive video games.
Do your research and read some reviews to find out about popular titles in gaming that can keep you occupied for more than a hundred hours. Games that last this long usually belong to the role playing genre, like Witcher 3, the Fallout series, or the Persona games. These games are great choices because they can tide you over for weeks or even months depending on how frequently you play.
6. Replay your games
Once you've beaten your game, you might want to check and see if it's something you'd like to replay. Most games nowadays have a new game+ feature which lets you play the game all over again while keeping your latest progress, such as player level and equipment, intact to keep it interesting. Other games have alternate endings which make giving the story another go worth it just to see them.
By replaying games fully, you manage to double the lifespan of your game. A 30-hour game that you can replay will last you about 60 hours in total. Yes, this also means that a 150-hour game can keep you entertained for a whopping 300 hours if you replay it!
7. Take advantage of online sales and freebies
Keep your eyes peeled and your ears opened for any news about games going on sale or are being given away for free.
Physical shops like GameStop and Datablitz don't normally go on sale, but sales happen all the time in the digital world. All you have to do is go to your console's eshop, or for PC players, Steam, to find out about amazing deals.
Games that go free and yours forever is a rarer occurrence, but it does happen. EA made Sims 4 free for a limited time in May last year. Sony made the Uncharted: Nathan Drake collection and Journey games free back when the coronavirus pandemic just broke out. Ubisoft made Assassin's Creed Unity free for a moment to bring awareness to the Notre Dame fire that happened last year.
8. Take advantage of sales... but DON'T buy games you aren't going to play
While it's a good idea to take advantage of sales, you have to make sure you buy games that you're actually going to play. The infamous Steam sale is notorious for making PC gamers buy dozens of video games that they're never actually going to pick up. Isn't it ironic to end up losing all your hard-earned cash when prices are actually lower? When we play our cards right, a sale can actually save us money.
The trick here is to have a target, a game that you actually planned on getting, and buying only that.
9. Don't be fooled by free-to-play games
Free-to-play games seem like the best choice for a gamer on a tight budget, right? After all, it's free, and they're normally multiplayer games so they can provide hundreds of hours of entertainment. There's nothing wrong with playing free-to-play games like Warframe, Fortnite, or Valorant as long as you steer clear of microtransactions.
Microtransactions are a way for the developers of free-to-play games to make some money. They usually do this by selling exclusive weapons or armor in-game that can only be purchased with real money.
Cosmetic items like a fancy hat or a weapon skin are flashy but they can be easily ignored as you play. What's difficult with some free-to-play games are the ones that are "pay-to-win". In these types of games, skill can only get you so far. You're essentially forced by the video game to pay up some real cash just to get an advantage over your opponents. Clash of Clans is an example of a game like this. Sure, microtransactions don't cost a whole lot on their own, but collectively they can total more than $60.00 if you're not careful.
