Amazon Prime 20% Video Game Pre-order Discount Is Ending, Following Best Buy's Lead
Given that we're all gamers around here and that it's a high chance that you have an Amazon Prime membership, it's likely that you're affected. The 20 percent discount on game pre-orders has been a boon to those who like to receive games on release day and save quite a few bucks in the process. In its place, Amazon will now be giving customers $10 in store credit when pre-ordering "select video games". To qualify for the $10 credit, the game will have to be sold by Amazon.com or Amazon Digital Services LLC (for digital downloads).
To see how this would affect your future purchases, let's take a look at a game like Shadow of the Tomb Raider, which is available right now for pre-order from Amazon and will ship on September 14th. The retail price for PlayStation 4 version of the game is $59.99, but the 20 percent pre-order discount takes that down to $47.99.
Under the new system, you'll pay the full $59.99, then receive a $10 credit within 30 days of delivery. Once the credit has been applied to your account, you have 60 days to use it. It's a sloppier system, you pay more up front, and you're tied into spending more money at Amazon in the end via the $10 promo (which is a win-win for Amazon).
Amazon says that the last day to pre-order a video game and receive a 20 percent discount is August 28th.
If this sounds familiar, it's because Best Buy made a similar move last month with its Gamers Club Unlocked membership. Gamers could get a two-year membership for $30 and then receive a number of perks like 20 percent off video games, a 10% bonus credit on video game trade-ins, 10% off pre-owned video games, and more. Interestingly enough, the surviving My Best Buy program now gives customers a $10 credit for pre-ordering "select video games". Sound familiar?
