Black Friday is more than two weeks away, but retailers like Amazon and Walmart are already rolling out deals on this year’s best-selling video games and consoles.
While we’ll have to wait until Nov. 23 for some of the best bargains from major game retailers like GameStop, our Black Friday guide should help savvy shoppers know what to look for—like steep price drops on Friday Nov. 16—in what promises to be an epic holiday shopping season.
Black Friday is a massive affair—in 2017, shoppers spent a record $5 billion in 24 hours—with an overwhelming number of deals, and we couldn’t catalogue them all. (For a truly comprehensive guide organized by games, hardware, and other tech, we recommend Games Radar.) Here’s a glance at what’s forecasted, what’s happening, and how it might differ from prior years.
This will be the best year yet for Nintendo Switch deals
Ok, it’s only Switch’s second Black Friday on the market, but as GameSpot notes, since the Nintendo Switch was less than a year old during last year’s holiday, there were less opportunities to snag a deal. That looks to change this year: Target’s 47-page ad for Black Friday 2018 surfaced last week, and it included several deals related to Nintendo’s consoles. These include bundle deals that combine the Nintendo Switch with popular games like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, or discounted prices on games alone. Newsweek published a handy round up every Nintendo console and game that will be on sale at Target.
Best Buy is also expected to have some of the best Nintendo Switch deals when Black Friday rolls around, and some games, like Splatoon 2, are already discounted. Amazon, which has an extended sales period, also already has deals on hardware such as controllers.
Xbox One’s big 2018 releases and Xbox One X
Some of the most popular Xbox One games, including this year’s big releases like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, will be discounted, predicts Games Radar. Deals for these games and numerous others on Target’s ad have already been unveiled, suggesting that other stores will follow. (A bundle deal for X Box One consoles with Red Dead Redemption 2 that took off $100 already debuted at the end of October.)
Retailers are also sure to offer discounts on all Xbox One consoles, but the Xbox One X is one to watch. The console originally retails for $499 and is one the most powerful consoles on the market—like Sony’s PlayStation 4 Pro, it’s targeted at gamers with a 4K HDR TV, which provides the best game graphics performance. There are already many bundle deals available, and Forbes notes that Microsoft will use aggressive pricing to get the Xbox One X into as many people’s hands as possible.
PlayStation 4 gets competitive
The PlayStation 4 is one of the best-selling console systems, with almost 86 million PS4 consoles (including the PS4 Pro) sold to date. TechRadar points out that stiff competition between Sony and Nintendo will also come to a head during Black Friday as the brands compete to see who can sell the most gaming machines during the holiday season.
There is a bundle deal combining Red Dead Redemption 2 and the PS4 console available already, and Walmart is already offering discounts on many PS4 games, while Target, as it does for other brands, has already previewed deals for this console. While Best Buy and Walmart haven’t released their Black Friday 2018 ad yet, Forbes predicts that there will also be PS4 virtual reality bundle deals from both stores.