Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Ready, Player One; you’re a mere month away from battling the wild west of gaming deals and it’s time to rally your resources. With savings that supposedly surpass the best deals offered across rest of the year, Black Friday and Cyber Monday have become quite the event for the gaming community.  

In fact, games consoles were in such high demand last year (many retailers sold out of Black Friday deals within hours) Britons are already approaching November 23rd with fierce anticipation.

Whether you’re in the market for your child’s favourite Christmas gift or you’re looking to expand your own PC and video games arsenal, it is time to get your gameface on.

Read on for our top predictions and tips.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2018 gaming deals

What to expect

Think beyond a new PS4, Nintendo or Xbox; the Black Friday weekend will boast deals on everything from accessories to VR. While the latter is still so new you’re unlikely to see huge price cuts, the best VR offers should be available from Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR, and HTC Vive (the industry favourite - who are expected to include a Viveport subscription in its deal).

Popularity begets pandemonium and gaming deals often cause digital meltdowns when they go live. Because of this, retailers like GAME have vowed to extend their physical stores’ opening hours.

Bundles are almost always better value than console deals themselves. Before buying a standalone console, think of the games you may look to purchase over the next twelve months and search out bundles which include them. Often, bundle deals drastically discount the cost of each product and introduce you to genre-friendly games you would not discover otherwise.

As console technology advances, many gamers look towards 4K TVs to get the most of their games’ visual capabilities.

The best Xbox One deals

Microsoft did not release the Xbox One X until November 7 last year, which meant deals on Black Friday and Cyber Monday were few and far between. Expect to save around £100 on consoles alone this year, with more in bundles.

For price comparison, the overall cheapest Xbox One bundle last year was an Xbox One S 500GB console that came with Rocket League, COD WW2 and a NOW TV subscription that was discounted to £199.99.

The best value deal, however, was GAME’s offer of a Xbox One S 500GB with Doom, Wolfenstein 2, The Evil Within 2 and a NOW TV Movies pass for £229.99.

This year, we expect to find the Xbox One X at roughly £100 off, Xbox One S around £50 off, and deeper discounts for both in bundles.

The best PS4 deals

The PS4 Pro will be celebrating its third Black Friday this year, meaning it is likely to be offered at its cheapest yet. Bundles for both the Pro and Slim could exceed £100s off following recent rumours that the model is heading into the final stage of its life cycle.

Last year, the cheapest PS4 deal was for the PS4 Slim with FIFA 18 (for £199) while the best bundle offered a PS4 500GB Slim with FIFA 18, Destiny 2, GT Sport, Knowledge is Power, an extra controller and 3 months of PS Plus for £249.99.

Amazon has traditionally offered big deals on its bundles and individual games. Last year, the super-retailer offered Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy for £20, Tekken 7 for £27, Wolfenstein 2 for £20, and cult classic Nier Automata for £24.

The best Nintendo Switch deals

It was incredibly difficult to find a Nintendo Switch in the first few months following its March 2017 release. Even more so across Black Friday and Cyber Monday because many retailers were still sold out. Luckily, the shortage has ended and deals of £40 to £50 off are expected for 2018.

Nintendo won’t stop at the Switch though. The company has long reigned supreme as the leaders of handheld gaming and are likely to offer deep discounts on the 3DS and 2DS, as well. The XL versions of both models are also likely to be reduced to around £130 for the 3DS XL and less than £100 for the 2DS XL.

The best PC and video game deals

Chart-toppers will be at the forefront of major retailers’ Black Friday gaming deals because they know they will get customers through the door - virtual or otherwise. Look out for offers on Fifa 19, Fortnite, God of War, Monster Hunter: World, Forza Horizon 4, and Assassin's Creed Odyssey.

By the same token, many of 2018's long-awaited releases will come out in the weeks before Black Friday and could well be discounted as flash or ‘Lightning’ deals. Set Red Dead Redemption 2 (out on Oct 28th), Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (11 October), Hitman 2 (November 13), Fallout 76 (November 14), and Spyro Trilogy (November 13) on Amazon deal alert so you don’t miss out.

Beloved cult favourites like Divinity: Original Sin 2 are expected to use the sales event to reach a wider audience. Look for indie games outside of bundle deals to take advantage of rare discounts.

Though you will be lucky to find new games for £20 less than their RRP, older games (think pre-2015) have been discounted by as much as 80 per cent in previous years’ sales.

The best gaming subscription deals

As they're almost never discounted, you will want to keep an eye out for deals on gaming subscriptions like PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Gold.

Many of the best subscription deals will likely be offered in console bundles. With the newly-increased price of PS Plus, it might almost be worth opting for a subscription bundle over a games bundle as it could be your best way to secure long-term discounts.