thatdemoguy

Anybody who knows me knows I buy a whole lot of games. I also love to save money in any way possible when it comes to the games I buy. The average cost of a brand new game nowadays is sitting right at $60, meaning gaming can be an extremely expensive hobby, especially when you have every platform. Trust me, I know....I reached ELITE PLUS status at Best Buy, meaning that I spent $3500 in a calendar year, most of which I can tell you was indeed towards games or gaming peripherals or gaming gifts. Long story short, being a serious gamer does require having a budget.

 

Enter Amazon, who today announced that all current Amazon Prime members would start to get 20% off of all new release games and preorders of new release games. Per the fine print, a new release game is defined as any title within the first two weeks of hitting the market. So this means you don't have to rush out on day 1 to buy a new title, you actually may be able to make it until your next payday to buy it. And 20% off of $60 will make your new game $48, plus all applicable taxes of course. This is indeed a fine deal for any customer who is an EXISTING member of the Prime service. Especially considering that Amazon Prime isn't totally catered to gaming, it has a bevy of other non-gaming benefits including access to Amazon's streaming service for its television and movie catalog and free two-day shipping on any item ordered.

 

But naturally, the comparison has to be made to the Best Buy Gamer's Club Unlocked program (GCU for short). This program offers the EXACT same 20% off any new release game, but the two-week window doesn’t restrict the offer. Meaning that any time you go in to buy a new (as in unopened) game, regardless of how old it is, or even how much it currently costs if its on sale, you will always get that 20% off. GCU also gives you 10% off of any pre-owned games you buy and also gives you 10% bonus on any trades that you take in store. The big bonus is that GCU gives you double rewards points for every single dollar you spend towards gaming, which then stacks towards your rewards coupons. So say you buy 1 new game at $48, instead of getting just 48 points in your rewards account, you will get 96 points, and every 250 points earns you a $5 off coupon. All of your money spent also goes into a pool that gives you increased buyer status. Once you spend $1500 in a year on ANYTHING you reach ELITE status, which then gets you a 10% point bonus on top of your double points. You are also given an extended return window of 30 days on purchases. Then when you spend $3500 in a year on ANYTHING you reach ELITE PLUS status, which then gets you a 25% point bonus on top of your double points and then an extended return window of 45 days on purchases. You then also get FREE expedited shipping on your purchases, meaning you get your games sent to you on release day. So as a pure gaming program, GCU simply offers the consumer more bang for the gaming buck.

 

The real caveat here comes in the cost of the programs. Amazon Prime costs $99 per year. GCU costs $30 for TWO years of access (NOTE: this is a decreased rate, the program did cost $99 for two years previously). So even when it comes to cost efficiency, Amazon's deal doesn't quite add up to the value of GCU. Hence why I say that the Amazon deal is indeed "prime" for those who are existing members of their program, but new subscribers need to know the pros and the cons of what they are being sold.   

 

Now, if you have followed me previously, you know that I am quite savvy to finding loopholes and hustles to these programs, as in ways to share or ways to stack with other promotions. So know that I will definitely be keeping my nose to the ground for any and all ways to make this work better for myself...and most definitely for you!!!