It’s that time of year again. The pumpkins have all been smashed, the peppermint is in the mocha, and all Mariah Carey wants for Christmas is you (and her big fat royalty check from Columbia Records). The holiday pre-season is officially upon us, with deals and discounts on a ton of games, consoles, and accessories. Sony is running a huge sale on first-party PlayStation games, while big box stores like Walmart and Target are offering hefty discounts on 2022 hits like Elden Ring. Here’s a quick rundown of some of the best Black Friday 2022 deals in gaming.
Nintendo Switch bundle includes Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for free
While Nintendo isn’t discounting the console itself, select retailers will have a $300 bundle that includes Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and a three-month subscription to Switch Online at no extra cost. The multiplayer racer is the Switch’s best selling game for a reason, and with a steady stream of new DLC courses throughout this year and next, the game has never been better. The deal is expected to go live on November 20 in-stores and online and will probably sell out fast.
Nintendo will also be running a temporary sale knocking $40 off the price of Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit sets, and discounting a bunch of other games. While the full list hasn’t been revealed yet, we know it will include 33 percent off WarioWare: Get It Together! and Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain, and up to $20 off Animal Crossing: New Horizons, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and other Switch hits.
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons - $40
- Assassin’s Creed III: Remastered - $15
- Astral Chain - $42
- Bravely Default II - $40
- Cozy Grove - $9
- Dead Cells - $15
- Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen - $10
- Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes - $40
- Fire Emblem: Three Houses - $42
- Mario Party Superstars - $40
- Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom - $20
- Ruined King: A League of Legends Story - $15
- Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury - $42
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - $40
- The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening - $40
The full list of Nintendo discounts is here.
Xbox Series S is $50 off
The Xbox Series S won’t be the hottest console this holiday season, but it certainly might end up being the best deal. Normally $300, Microsoft is selling it direct and through retailers for just $250. Some of the consoles are even bundled with a free Xbox Stereo Headset pack-in, which is normally $60 extra. New owners can take advantage of the $1-a-month introductory price for Game Pass. And if you want to buy a second Xbox controller, they’re currently $20 off.
Microsoft is also running discounts on a bunch of digital first-party games. Forza Horizon 5 is $39, Halo Infinite is $30, and Gears 5 is $13. Here are some other standouts:
- Assassin’s Creed Valhalla - $20
- Batman: Arkham Knight - $4
- Control - $9
- Cyberpunk - $30
- Deathloop - $20
- FIFA 23 - $42
- Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga - $30
- Madden NFL 23 - $35
- NBA 2K23 - $35
- Persona 5 Royal - $45
- Red Dead Redemption 2 - $20
- Resident Evil 3 - $10
- Scarlet Nexus - $15
- Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order - $6
- Tales of Arise - $24
- The Witcher 3 - $10
- Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands - $30
The full list of discounted Xbox Series X/S games is here.
PS5 DualSense is $20 off
Not surprisingly, Sony isn’t running any special deals on the PS5 console itself. Its current God of War Ragnarök and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II bundles will save you a whopping $10 off the PS5 and those respective games, but are also going fast. If you need a new PS5 DualSense, however, you’re in luck. Normally $70, the controller is now down to $50 across the full range of color variants, including Cosmic Red and Midnight Black. PS Plus subscriptions are also currently 25 percent off across all three tiers.
The deals are much better on the game front. 2022's Horizon Forbidden West is already $30 off, while The Last of Us Part I, released just over the summer, is $20 off. Here are some of the other standout game discounts:
- A Plague Tale: Requiem - $48
- Assassin’s Creed Valhalla - $20
- Cyberpunk - $25
- Death Stranding Director’s Cut - $20
- Demon’s Souls - $30
- Destiny 2: Witch Queen - $20
- Dying Light 2 - $30
- FIFA 23 - $42
- Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut - $30
- Gotham Knights - $42
- Grand Theft Auto V - $20
- Kena: Bridge of Spirits - $20
- Madden NFL 23 - $35
- NBA 2K23 - $35
- Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart - $30
- Red Dead Redemption 2 - $20
- Returnal - $30
- Spider-Man: Miles Morales - $20
The full list of discounted PS4 and PS5 games is here.
Two great VR games are free with a Meta Quest 2
Metaverse evangelist Mark Zuckerberg raised the price on the Meta Quest 2 VR headset earlier this year, but you can still get it for cheap in a current Black Friday bundle. It comes with Beat Saber and Resident Evil 4, with the 128GB bundle priced at just $350. All the dunking on Horizon Worlds aside, this is a great deal.
GameStop and other stores have their own sales
Here’s a quick breakdown of some early highlights for discounts on physical game across the major retailers:
- Dying Light 2 - $25
- Elden Ring - $40
- Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes - $40
- Harvestella - $50
- Soul Hackers 2 - $29
- Saints Row - $35
- Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin - $30
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection - $20
- The Last Of Us Part II (PS4) - $10
- The Diofield Chronicle - $40
- Assassin’s Creed Valhalla - $15
- Elden Ring - $40
- Far Cry 6 - $10
- F1 Manager 2022 - $30
- Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga - $30
- Persona 5 Royal (Switch) - $30
- The Quarry - $30
- Battlefield 2042 - $10
- Elden Ring - $39
- Ghostwire: Tokyo - $25
- Pokémon Sword and Shield - $39
- Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl - $39
- Pokémon Snap - $39
- Sonic Frontiers - $39
- Stray - $29
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD - $39
- Elden Ring - $40
- Grand Theft Auto V - $15
- LEGO Star Wars: Skywalker Saga - $30
- No Man’s Sky (Switch)- $40
- Sackboy: A Big Adventure - $20
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection - $20
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons - $29
- Elden Ring - $35
- Gotham Knights - $35
- LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga - $35
- Mario Party Superstars - $29
- Persona 5 Royale - $29
- Sonic Frontiers - $35
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - $29
- The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening - $29
PC game are dirt cheap on Steam, GOG, and elsewhere
The Steam Autumn sale kicked off on November 22 and other digital storefronts have been slashing prices like Epic Games Store and GOG. You can find our full rundown of the Steam Autumn sale here, but below are a few highlights from across the web (many of which are duplicated across the various storefronts):
- Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands - $30
- Valheim - $14
- Mass Effect Legendary Edition - $20
- Satisfactory - $18
- Cyberpunk 2077 - $30
- Civilization VI - $6
- Battlefield 2042 - $20
- It Takes Two - $16
- Hollow Knight - $8
- Shovel Knight Treasure Trove - $21
- Dead By Daylight - $8
- Grand Theft Auto V - $15
- Sifu - $30
- Far Cry 6 - $20
- Disney Dreamlight Valley -$24
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition - $10
- Dishonored 2 - $6
- Hitman 3 - $21
- Ghostwire: Tokyo - $24
- Alan Wake Remastered - $15
- Norco - $8
- Legend of Grimrock 2 - $4
- Slipways - $11
- Stellaris - $9
- Control - $10
- Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous - $20
- Elex II - $25
- Prey - $10
- Alien Isolation - $10
- Battletech - $10
- Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines - $10
- Deep Rock Galactic - $10
- Triangle Strategy - $42
- Unpacking - $14
- Guardians of the Galaxy - $21
- Night in the Woods - $10
- Endless Legend - $26
- Core Keeper - $10
- Nobody Saves The World - $16
- Hardspace: Shipbreaker - $24
- Loop Hero - $5
Gaming headsets are discounted too
Do you sound light years away when playing duos in Fortnite? Still using that single earphone pack-in that came with the original PS4? It might be time to upgrade. So far some of the best budget gaming headsets are already on sale, with more discounts likely to follow. The Razer Barracuda X is half off at Best Buy for $50, while the HyperX Cloud Alpha is down to $55 at Amazon and Best Buy. Microsoft, meanwhile, is taking $40 off the higher-end SteelSeries Arctis 9 X for Xbox Series X/S. But if you just care about good sound quality and don’t need a mic, Sony’s own Pulse 3D Wireless headphones for the PS5 are currently $30 off.
Dive into the world of mechanical keyboards
All the cool kids are clickety-clackin’ away on their loud-ass mechanical keyboards and raving out to the RGB lights. If you want to see what all the fuss is about, the Corsair K60 is a great budget entry point, and the Pro with Cherry switches is currently marked half-off and down to just $55 at Newegg. Other discounted keyboards w
- ROCCAT Vulcan TKL Pro - $99 (normally $160)
- Razer Huntsman Elite - $100 (normally $200)
- HyperX 65 Alloy Origins - $70 (normally $100)
- Mountain Everest 60 RGB - $120 (normally $150)
Grab a fancy new gaming mouse
One of the best wired gaming mice out there, and my personal favorite, is the Razer DeathAdder V2. It’s sturdy, not over designed, extremely comfortable, and comes with the Chroma mood lighting to help remind you that your PC is alive and breathing and may one day install a new world order. I grabbed mine from a Black Friday sale years ago, and it’s once again half off this year as well. Amazon is currently selling the $70 device for just $32.
On the wireless front, you can’t go wrong with the Logitech G502. It’s on the pricier end and normally $150, but currently going for just $90 at Amazon.
Update 11/21/22 10:29 a.m. ET: Added new information about Nintendo deals and other discounts.
Update 11/22/22 9:29 a.m. ET: Added more Nintendo cyber deals.
Update 11/23/22 12:47 p.m. ET: Added more sales for hardware and PC games.