If you don’t currently buy into Amazon’s $99 a year service, which gives you free two-day shipping plus a host of other perks, there’s an incredible new reason to buy in.
As of Wednesday, all Amazon Prime members will get 20% off any new video games for up to two weeks after their release dates, as well as any games they pre-order.
Amazon applies this discount to all physical video games for consoles like PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, which normally retail for about $60. That means you’ll be paying about $48 to $50 per game. Those savings certainly add up if you generally buy a lot of games — and there are a lot of games worth buying.
This discount even applies to Collector’s Editions, which offer other bonuses for dedicated fans and can retail anywhere between $80 and $200 — but the more expensive the Collector's Edition, the more savings you'll get.
This is a great deal for customers, but it's a smart move for Amazon. Simply put, Amazon Prime is the company's most important product. It bundles many of the company's services together, and at its $100 price point, many people find great value in being able to get free two-day shipping on most products, as well as access to the company's vast multimedia library. It also has other perks, like occasional discounts on Amazon products.
But the reason Prime is so important to Amazon is that Prime members end up spending more — and more often — on the retail site than non-members. So the company is always looking for more ways to attract people into joining Prime — and this latest move will certainly attract people across all ages and demographics, since there's really no such thing as a "gamer" anymore (we're all gamers, really). And there are so many great games coming out this year.
(By the way, this whole 20% discount system also helps Amazon compete with Best Buy's Gamers Club Unlocked Program, which now offers 20% off new and pre-ordered games for anyone who buys into the company's two-year $30 membership program.)
Check out this page to learn more about Amazon’s 20% discount for games, and you can learn more about Amazon Prime’s other perks here.
