Saving Tips for Gaming in Switzerland

Be it AAA, indie or retro: The kind of money that gamers spend on their hobby is as varied as gaming itself. Check out these pointers on how to cut the cost of gaming without sacrificing the fun.

Promotions

As with many things in life, saving on video games is all about timing. With a little patience, you can buy just about any game – and PC games in particular – at special promotional prices eventually.

The Steam gaming platform is probably the biggest deal-hunting ground there is. Its winter and summer sales, in particular, generally offer a huge list of games at rock-bottom prices. But other gaming platforms - including the online stores of major game console brands – frequently run promotions as well.

Keeping track of promotions can be a big challenge. Special websites for gamers like gg.deals and isthereanydeal.com give you an overview of current deals on PC games. You also sometimes have the option of checking a game’s price history to find the lowest price which it has sold for. This information gives you a good idea of whether or not the promotional price is really a good deal. If the game was repeatedly offered at lower prices in the past, you may do your wallet a favor by waiting a little longer.

Giveaways

There are regular opportunities to get games which normally cost money for free. These giveaways are usually carried out by gaming marketplaces. These platforms offer free games as a way of luring new users.

The most prominent example: Epic Games offers a free game every week on its gaming platform. Some of the games offered are no-namers, but big blockbusters like Grand Theft Auto V have also appeared in giveaways. With a little luck, you may be able to pick up the game you want without paying a centime. The main requirement is that you grab the giveaway and add the game to your library before the offer expires. Keeping an eye on giveaways pays off. Epic Games usually tells you which game will be given away next week on its website.

Besides Epic Games, a number of other gaming companies also offer games through their gaming platforms or online stores (GOG, Origin, and Ubisoft Store, for example) – but less regularly. Sometimes, older versions of a video game series are given away for free shortly before a new version is released. You can get an overview of most current giveaways on websites like gamerpower.com.

You normally have to install the corresponding software client in order to play the free game. Giveaways are primarily a PC game phenomenon, and are rarely available for consoles.

Free to play

Like giveaways, free to play games do not cost money – at least not until you begin playing in earnest. These games are often financed by in-game purchases, so while you can always download and use free to play games, some of them seriously limit play unless you pay for additional content. This tactic is very widespread among mobile games. If you are interested in a free to play game, you can generally find information (and complaints) about whether it is really free, or if it is unplayable without in-game purchases.  

Many free to play games can be downloaded from game platforms and online stores (like Steam, Playstation Store, Microsoft Store, Epic Games Store, Battlenet, GOG Galaxy, Origin, and the Apple and Google app stores). These platforms generally give you the option of sorting games by their price tags, or filtering for free games.

Some free to play games for PCs can only be launched through a specific gaming platform or are only available in a few stores. If there are many of these games that you want to play, you may have to install multiple gaming platforms and create a user account for each. That is a bit tedious, but free is free.

Stay away from in-game purchases

It is not just free to play games which have in-game purchases – many paid games have them too. Because the individual microtransactions are often very small, they encourage you to buy in-game content continuously. If you fall for it, you can easily end up spending much more money on the game than you expect to.

Keeping track of in-app purchases is often much more difficult than tracking the cost of buying a game, because the games are designed to encourage impulse spending. Because of this, avoiding in-game purchases altogether is generally a good move. It is also best to not store credit card information or other payment methods in your accounts. That way, you will have to manually enter payment information for each purchase, giving you a chance to stop and think about whether you really want to spend money on it. Another benefit is that other people (your kids, gaming pals, or siblings, for example) cannot intentionally or unintentionally spend your money while using your gaming devices. If you are getting games for your children – or if you find it difficult to resist buying mods and add-ons when engrossed in games yourself – then checking whether a game has in-game purchases before getting it can make sense. If you only use games which do not have in-game purchases at all, you do not have to worry about unplanned spending.

Gaming subscriptions

If you like to play many different games instead of focusing on one at a time, a gaming subscription could be a pocketbook-friendly option. These plans normally have a monthly or annual flat fee. In exchange, they let you access a whole selection of games through the corresponding platform.

The downside of gaming plans: If you terminate your subscription, you will no longer be able to play any of the games. In some cases, your saved games remain on the platform so that you can continue where you left off if you ever choose to subscribe again.

If you only play a couple of games, and stick to those games for long periods of time, then getting a gaming plan probably is not worth it. A gaming subscription could work well if you enjoy trying out many different games without having to pay for each one. In other words, these plans are great for “tourists” who check out games, but rarely stay for long. Even if you only buy a couple of games at standard prices every year, you may save money by using a plan instead. You can find information about gaming subscriptions available in Switzerland here:

Bundles

If you are not looking for a specific game and just want to get games at a decent price, game bundles can be a budget-friendly solution. Game stores (like Steam and GOG) often offer packages which bundle multiple games in a series, a genre, or from the same game developer. The per-game cost is often just a couple of francs.

Humble Bundles are particularly popular. They include a selection of indie games and let you choose exactly how much you want to pay for them yourself. There are different price thresholds. The more you pay, the more games are included in the bundle. Part of the profits earned on your purchases is donated to a non-profit organization, and you can choose how the price should be distributed.

Often, one or more games are bundled with consoles or other gaming hardware. Comparing prices is worth it, because these bundled deals often cost more than the hardware would cost on its own. In some cases, the markup you pay for the bundled game may be higher than the prices charged for the game during special promotions.  

Checking how much you would pay for each game in a bundle if you bought it individually is recommended. If there are some games in the bundle which you are not even interested in, you may save money by buying the games you do want on their own instead of in a bundle.

No need for a gaming device

Many games, and older games in particular, run just fine on any average laptop or desktop computer. Getting an expensive gaming PC or console often is not necessary.

Unless you play games which require powerful graphics cards or CPUs, you can save yourself the investment in this hardware and just play on the computer you already have – or on your phone. To check whether a specific game you want to buy works on your computer, just use tools like those available on the System Requirements Lab website to analyze your computer.

If you do eventually need a new device or peripherals (a controller, for example), then make sure to compare prices. It is also worth looking at alternatives from third-party manufacturers. In many cases, you can buy good hardware for much lower prices than those charged by Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony.

Retro games

Games generally get cheaper over time. The price of the last version of a game often is often slashed when its sequel is released. If there is a game which you have always wanted to play, it can be worth waiting to buy it until the next version launches.

Older games often have less demanding system requirements than new games, and can be played on affordable devices. The obvious disadvantage of buying games as they expire is that you are never on the cutting edge of gaming. But if you want to buy the most up-to-date games, you have to be ready to reach much deeper into your pocket.

Long games

Short may be sweet, but if you have to cough up 70 francs for a new game every two weeks, you will likely appreciate those games which provide more than just a few hours of entertainment. If you game a lot, spending a lot of time on just one game can save you money.

Some genres like RPGs (role play) and strategy games are known for having long game times. Studios often advertise how many hours of play you can expect to get out of a game. You can sometimes also find average gaming times in online reviews.

Of course, game time is not the only thing to consider – because a minute of fun is worth more money than an hour of boredom. Whether or not the game has good ratings from other gamers is at least as important when deciding whether or not to buy.

Multiplayer

If the relation between cost and game time is important to you, then multiplayer games could be your thing. Theoretically, multi-player games offer unlimited gaming fun because you can simply start a new round at any time. Single-player games which have a multi-player component can also offer an extra layer of fun – as long as you are willing to give the multi-player mode a try. So in the best case, you can get years of gaming from just one multi-player game, which means you will not have to constantly buy new ones.

Frugal gamers will be happy to know that there are also many online multi-player games which are completely free to play. If you opt for online multi-player games, make sure to resist the temptation to make in-game purchases, or you could end up spending more than you would have on a paid game.

Trade

If every time you get bored of a game, you simply trade it with someone for a different game, you will never have to buy a game again. Unfortunately, trading games has become more difficult because they are increasingly sold in digital form only, rather than on disks or other physical media which can be easily sold or traded.

Still, older games in particular can still be found on trading platforms like exsila.ch. Of course, you can also try to sell your unused games on auction sites like Ricardo or Ebay. Some console games and gaming equipment can be traded in at Gamelife (previously Gamestop) stores, but you only get a discount off new purchases – not a whole new game. But if you are sure that you will not play a certain game again, trading it in for a discount can still make sense.

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