As much as we love gaming, its reputation as a welcoming form of entertainment isn’t always great. Gaming has long held a legacy of being expensive to start and maintain, and while this isn’t always true, decades of public opinion can be difficult to break. Luckily enough, we’re involved enough to understand that, with the right knowledge, gaming can be much cheaper than you think.
While keeping everything completely legal, here are some of our most successful tips in cutting down the costs of gaming over the short and long term.
Hardware
Hardware can be quite tricky, as this is a side of the market that casual players often aren’t familiar with. Luckily, even the PC space has a bark bigger than its bite.
1. PC
For PC hardware, the cheapest option is to build your own system from components. We’d recommend a building website for those on this path, so you can ensure all the pieces fit together. This is the single area of biggest confusion most newcomers have, so don’t overlook this step. Be sure to check the reviews of each component too, and keep things in a similar tier.
One component being too fast or too slow can hurt overall performance, so keep this in mind. If you’re not confident about your building ability, be sure to look up guides or have a friend help you.
2. Consoles
The biggest piece of advice we still have for console buyers is to not engage with scalpers. These rip-offs will charge far more than a system is worth, and will often not carry a warranty. Instead, those after new systems should sign up to a local Twitter restock alert account.
Be sure to have notifications on, create accounts on websites that typically sell the console, and you’ll be ready to go. We’d also recommend going with the disk system for the PS5, which we’ll explain below. If you choose to go secondhand, be sure you get a return guarantee in case the system is defective.
Software
Software is usually much more flexible, and it’s where you can often end up with a huge library without putting much of a dent in your wallet. For a start, we need to begin with the understanding that online offerings in the PC and mobile space are going to be a great way forward.
1. Online Multiplatform Experiences
Web forms of interactive entertainment are usually those which have the greatest emphasis on low-cost offers. Some of the most common examples of this are free bingo games. Easily playable on both phones and computers, bonus offers, regular promotions, and game-specific deals on live websites like this will keep players getting more for less. Just be sure to keep checking in, as these can occasionally depend on time and season.
2. PC Gaming
There is no platform out there with as big of a library as that of the PC. A savvy player in the PC space will be able to access titles as far back as the 1970s, so you’ll never be left wanting for choice. To this end, if a game no longer has a publisher or developer, nobody is making any money from it, so it’s perfectly okay to download if you can find it on an abandonware game site.
In a more modern sense, we’d first recommend keeping updated with a free game checker website. These work with consoles too, where the basic idea is that they cover the rotating free titles that pop up on different distribution systems. Services like the Epic Games Store often feature full AAA games, so they can’t be ignored.
3. Consoles
More directly in the console space, we’d first suggest subscribing to one of the monthly console services. While not free, this only costs around $15 a month, with each month featuring a few titles that are active as long as your subscription is. This means you can build a library of dozens of games in a year, at a fraction of the cost it would cost to purchase the titles outright.
Tying into what we mentioned about hardware above, we’d recommend second-hand games as well-worth your attention. A new title can usually be found on a Facebook marketplace as a vastly reduced cost not long after launch. In the case of the PS5 Disk Edition, buying a few second-hand games will quickly make up for the extra cost of this model, and will continue to save you more in the long run.
With all this in mind, you have a starting position from which to begin your savings journey. Most important of all is the requirement that you stay aware, and consider using alert systems so you don’t miss out on the best big deals. Other than that, remember to look after your games and hardware, and you’ll be surprised at how far your collection will go.
Also read: The History of Gaming Technology
