GameStop’s Black Friday sale has been revealed, and… it’s pretty underwhelming. The game retailer is effectively offering the same baseline $199 PS4 and Xbox One deals as every other big store under the sun. What was interesting about the sale was that it starts on Sunday, Nov. 18 — three days before Walmart (Wednesday, Nov. 21) and four days before most other retailers. But now we’re seeing a pre-Black Friday sale at Target that starts Sunday, too — and it includes the same or similar discounts that GameStop is offering.
Highlights of GameStop’s sale (cross-referenced with Target) are below. Note that:
- Sale prices don’t start until Sunday, Nov. 18 and are in effect until Monday, Nov. 26 while supplies last.
- CNET may get a share of revenue from the sale of the products featured below.
PlayStation 4
As noted above, the same (great) 1TB PS4 + Spider-Man bundle for $199 is widely available elsewhere during Black Friday week. But it looks like the Sunday sales at Target and GameStop are the first you’ll be able to find them.
[Online links for the PS4 bundles at Target and GameStop will be added here once available]
GameStop is also offering the PSVR bundle for $249 ($100 off): the PSVR helmet, two Move controllers, the PlayStation camera, Creed: Rise to Glory and Superhot. Again, this one is widely available nearly everywhere, but GameStop will have it first.
As for titles, it’s a pretty nice selection of PS4 games at good prices — but you might want to price check these versus the frequent digital sales at Sony’s online store. Some notable recommendations (all PS4 exclusives):
Xbox One
The Xbox story is much the same. GameStop is offering the same 1TB Xbox One S Minecraft bundle for $199 that is available at nearly every other retailer. But you’ll find it here first. (Target’s ad doesn’t specifically mention the Xbox One S; see below.)
As for the Xbox One games that GameStop is advertising — they seem far less appealing than their PS4 equivalents, for this reason: All 4 titles highlighted in the GameStop circular — PUBG, Sea of Thieves, Forza Horizon 4 and State of Decay 2 — are available on the “all you can eat” Xbox Game Pass service, which Microsoft is offering to new users for $1 a month (to start) between now and the end of the year. If you have a fast internet connection, that’s the way to go. At least start with that to sample them, and then pay full price if you really fall in love with a particular title.
The “$70 off Xbox One consoles” is more complicated. If it’s a bundle — with a game or two you want — it sounds very similar to the deals that Amazon and others are offering, folding in Battlefield, NBA 2K19 and Fallout 76 at decent discounts. But if you don’t need games, note that the step-up Xbox One X for $100 off is at plenty of other retailers later in the week — including Target, starting on Sunday.
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’30 percent off whatever you can stuff into the $5 bag’
Weirdly, the Nintendo Switch is completely absent from the GameStop ad, so we want to make sure you know you can buy the Switch with Mario Kart 8 bundled in at no extra charge at many other retailers later in the Black Friday week.
Yes, really.
GameStop/Screenshot by CNET
Instead, GameStop is offering an oddball promo: You can get 30 percent off whatever “stuff” (with plenty of caveats) you can cram into a tote bag. Oh, and you need to spend $5 on the bag, to boot. Personally, it doesn’t look particularly fun to me — but you do you.
Originally published Nov. 13. Updated Nov. 15 with comparisons to newly announced Amazon and Target deals.