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. 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.
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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 – $10
- 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 – $10
- 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:
- Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes – $40 (Amazon)
- F1 Manager 2022 – $30 (Best Buy)
- Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga – $30 (Best Buy)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection – $20 (Target)
- Saints Row – $40 (Target)
- Elden Ring – $35 (Walmart)
- Sonic Frontiers – $35 (Walmart)
- Ghostwire: Tokyo – $25 (GameStop
- Battlefield 2042 – $10 (GameStop)
- Pokémon Sword and Shield – $40 (GameStop)
- Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl – $40 (GameStop)
- Pokémon Snap – $40 (GameStop)
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. Microsoft, meanwhile, is taking $40 off the higher-end SteelSeries Arctis 9 X for Xbox Series X/S.
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.