Amazon Prime Members Get 20% Off Video Game New Releases and Preorders

Amazon Prime, savior of poor students and heavy online spenders everywhere, just upped its value big time.

Amazon Prime members will now enjoy a 20% discount on physical game pre-orders and new games until two weeks after their release date. This means games that typically sell for $60, would cost only $48 as a pre-order or within the first two weeks of release. Many consumers prefer waiting for the first sale to purchase a game, and sometimes that means missing out on weeks of playtime with friends. With this news, you won’t have to break the bank on day one – provided you’re an Amazon Prime member. The new initiative applies only to games shipped and sold by Amazon (which is most of them – look for the blue “Prime” tag) and only affects the list price, not the sales price. The new Prime price applies to the item at checkout. If you have some games already pre-ordered, rejoice! Amazon will automatically extend this offer to your preorders.

It’s not clear if this is a permanent move, but the terms and conditions indicate the offer applies to only one of each item (e.g. you can only buy one copy of, say The Division for $48. Your second copy would be the list price). Still, it’s welcome news for those of us who shop frequently with Amazon.

In addition to the new savings, Amazon Prime members also enjoy free release day delivery and their guarantee to have the lowest pre-order price.

Amazon Prime costs $99 per year at the normal rate, or $50 per year for students with a .edu email address. Not sure if it’s worth it? You can try Amazon Prime for one month, gratis. Amazon Prime members get free video streaming through Prime Video, free music streaming with Prime Music, unlimited photo storage with Prime Photos, and other benefits.