Digital gaming is soaring with purchases exceeding $36 billion in 2016. At least 2 in 3 American households own a digital gaming device. Nevertheless, if left unchecked, gaming can precipitate or hasten financial ruin. Many players buy almost all newly released major games. To make matters worse, they proceed to participate in the micro-transaction schemes in games such as Clash Royale and League of Legends.
This can stack up to a considerable amount of cash each year leading to a serious strain on the gamer’s personal finances. Like any other expense, you have plenty of options. Yes, you can be a hardcore gamer without breaking the bank. The following are some useful tips to help you stay on the path to financial success.
1. Take Advantage of a Sale
If you have always relished the thought of playing a particular game, it’s best to delay your purchase for a couple of months in anticipation of a sale that’ll make the game more affordable.
A number of online game stores have a wish list feature where a user can indicate the games they’d be keen on buying if the price were reduced. Many other gaming forums and news sites run threads and dedicated pages that list the latest game sales. Waiting for a sale has two advantages. The first and more obvious is spending less money.
The second and just as important is that the waiting allows you to carefully evaluate whether you really want the game. You’ll get to hear from other gamers’ experiences including any bugs and unpleasant features they encountered. Waiting also lets you think through whether you really wanted to play the game or were simply making a purchase because of the euphoria.
Interestingly, you’ll notice that often the desire to buy the game eventually fades away thus leaving only games that you are truly interested in on your future purchase list.
2. Shop Around for Accessories
Gaming accessories come in a wide variety of models and brands. In fact, many players will escape the financial pitfalls of buying the game itself but end up losing money when purchasing accessories. To avoid getting more than you bargained for, only buy from authorized retailers. Buying an ultra-cheap controller from a site with an unknown reputation will only cause you pain in the long-run.
At the same time, develop a budget and stick to it. For instance, if you are looking for a headset, determine the maximum amount you’d like to spend on one then take time to find the best gaming headset for your budget.
3. Buy to Play Immediately
You can’t be a successful gamer if you don’t deeply love gaming. Nevertheless, a passion for gaming is a risk factor for impulse buying. You may be tempted to buy multiple games during a sales campaign in the hope that you’ll eventually get around to playing all of them in months and years to come.
Unfortunately, this future date rarely comes especially because most gamers are either working or in school and can therefore only spare limited time each day for play. Ergo, the result of these impulse purchases is a huge backlog of unplayed games.
To avoid going down the rabbit hole, don’t buy a game that you have no intention of playing immediately. After all, the other games will still be available for purchase later when you need them. If there’s a game you intend to buy in future, you can leave it in your online shopping cart as a reminder.
Finally, the good thing about a sales campaign is that an item that was on sale in the past is likely to be on sale sometime in the future.
4. Set Clear Playing Goals
Once you buy a game, don’t leave the playing to chance. Set clear targets. Maybe you want to complete the main quest in a story-based game. Perhaps you’d like to attain 80 percent of the achievements in an adventure-type game. You probably want to complete all levels of a puzzle game.
Whatever the nature of the game, set out a goal that pushes you to deeply engage the game. Having clear targets will significantly extend the total amount of time you spend playing the one game thus lowering the total cost of ownership in the long run. That’s savings.
5. Don’t Buy the Hype
With digital gaming now a multi-billion-dollar industry, gaming companies spend large amounts of cash on marketing. In fact, major game launches aren’t too different from the premier of a major film. Gaming forums, magazines and stores are saturated with ads and promotional stuff that seeks to maximize sales.
You’ll see mouth-watering reviews as well as play-through videos that are highly effective in generating excitement and painting the game in the most positive light. Sadly, plenty of initial game reviews are shallow, biased and, in certain cases, paid for by the developer albeit indirectly.
Think about it, days after a game has been released, how many people will really have had the time to explore it in depth? Very few. In fact, a lot of the first reviews will simply be a rehash of the features already stated in the game’s documentation. To avoid falling for the false or misleading claims that accompany the initial launch, allow the dust to settle and let genuine feedback from a wider range of users come to the fore.
If the game is as good as it claims to be, the sentiment of majority of users will eventually affirm it. If it doesn’t live up to the hype, you’ll have dodged a bullet and avoided spending money on something that wasn’t worth it.
6. Create a Strict Strategy on Micro-transactions
Game developers have overtime realized what internet titans like Google and Facebook discovered a while back. If you want your games to go big, you should make the game free or offer it at an attractively low price that can draw in the masses. You can then make your money from the small purchases users are encouraged to make within the game in order to enable new features. These are referred to as micro-transactions.
Many digital games are now significantly limit your enjoyment unless you make these micro-payments. The result is an unnoticeable but steady drain on the player’s wallet. Tread carefully with games that have too many levels and features that can only be unlocked through a micropayment. It’s not worth your time, money or effort especially because there’s an abundance of equally good games out there that don’t exact such a high price on your finances.
Digital gaming is fun, thrilling and a fairly safe hobby. It can however be pricey. To make sure your fun does not come at the cost of your financial security, follow the above smart spending tips.
I write like I think—fast, curious, and a little feral. I chase the weird, the witty, and the why-is-this-happening-now. From AI meltdowns to fashion glow-ups, if it makes you raise an eyebrow or rethink your algorithm, I’m probably writing about it. Expect sharp takes, occasional sarcasm, and zero tolerance for boring content.
