There area number of holidays during the summer that are accompanied by big sales — Memorial Day and July 4, just to name a couple — but Amazon’s Prime Day blowout is the biggest summer retail event by far. In fact, it’s one of the biggest of the entire year, even edging out Black Friday weekend in sheer sales figures, and Prime Day 2019 was no different with Amazon breaking 2018 records.
Aside from laptop computers, video games and gaming consoles are among the hottest items that deal-hungry shoppers are after during big sales like Prime Day. Prime Day 2019 saw a lot of solid PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch deals, and other retailers like Walmart also ran their own big sales to steal some of Amazon’s thunder. You may have enjoyed some of these (or maybe you missed Prime Day altogether this year), but if you’re curious, then here’s a quick rundown of the best gaming deals we saw for Prime Day 2019 along with a forecast of what gamers can expect to see next year.
What were the best gaming deals on Prime Day?
You aren’t going to see Nintendo hardware go on sale frequently, so events like Prime Day are the best chances to prioritize your Switch purchases for the year. During Prime Day 2019 we saw bundles available containing the Switch and some of its best games, as well as necessary add-ons such as the Pro Controller, stands, and cases. The Xbox One is also a solid choice for a more traditional console thanks to its library of games, and Microsoft does a better job than others of offering game bundles. During Prime Day, these bundles saw some nice price cuts, as did the 4K-capable Xbox One X which was easily one of the best gaming deals of the bunch.
If you’re looking for the console with the biggest library of exclusive games this generation, however, then the PS4 is the console for you. Just like with the Xbox One, bundles containing both exclusive and third-party games were available at solid discounts (a good thing considering that PS4 console bundles aren’t quite as numerous as those for the Xbox), and popular recent games also had their prices dropped. Of course, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention PC gaming deals for Prime Day, which were also some of the best offerings with Amazon as well as other retailers like Newegg and HP featuring a bunch of great deals on everything from gaming laptops to desktops and desktop components.
What to expect from Amazon Prime Day 2020?
The gaming market isn’t quite as broad as that of other electronics like TVs, computers, or smartphones. You’ve pretty much got PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, and PC gaming, and that’s about it, so the field is a little narrower as to what you can expect to see for Prime Day 2020. The biggest and best deals are always going to be on expensive hardware like consoles and gaming PCs, with a smattering of lesser discounts on cheaper stuff like games and accessories.
The biggest difference between Prime Day 2019 and Prime Day 2020 offerings will be the hardware. Both Microsoft and Sony have new machines coming down the pipe, although those probably won’t be out until after next summer when Prime Day has already passed. This means that while we won’t see those next-gen systems available for Amazon’s mid-July sale, it’s very likely that we will see big price cuts on the Xbox One and PS4 — especially the 4K models — as retailers start to clear out older inventory to make room for the new machines. Prime Day 2020 should be a very good time to grab an Xbox One X or PS4 Pro if you’re the kind to wait a few years to buy new consoles until the “kinks” get worked out.
Nintendo is also about to release the Switch Lite, a handheld-only version of its hugely popular hybrid console, so Prime Day 2020 should offer some juicy discounts on the regular Switch system which doesn’t go on sale that often (and not for particularly generous discounts when it does). Gamers who want to jump into the world of virtual reality should also keep their eyes on the PS4. Sony’s console is really the only one to support full-fledged VR, so Prime Day 2020 should have some good discounts on PlayStation VR headsets as well as VR games.
