Amazon Ends Prime Discount on Video Game Pre-Orders
By Simon Hung
August 20, 2018Prime members won't be able to save on upcoming video games starting this month, because Amazon will stop offering discounts on video game pre-orders as of Tuesday, August 28.
The company announced the change in an email to Prime members, noting that all pre-orders placed on or after August 28 will no longer receive a 10% discount, while any pre-orders placed before August 28 will still be eligible to receive the discount until the game is shipped.
Amazon first introduced a 20% pre-order discount for video games in September 2016 with the launch of Twitch Prime, a collection of perks aimed at gamers following their acquisition of Twitch. The discount was one of the cornerstone benefits for frequent gamers, as it amounted to a savings of $16.00 off video games priced at $79.99, meaning a Prime membership would essentially pay for itself after approximately five pre-orders.
Last year, the pre-order discount was cut to 10% -- a move that irked some Prime members as it came with zero notice and diminished the overall value of a Prime subscription.
The decision to discontinue the discount entirely will likely be unpopular, as no other retailer in Canada offers a similar incentive with pre-orders. It also means savvy shoppers will likely have to strategically place pre-orders during popular sale events like E3 in order to avoid paying full-price, instead of having the option of getting a small discount year-round.
In addition to ending the pre-order discount, ad-free viewing will not be offered to new Twitch Prime members as of September 14, while monthly subscriptions will have access to ad-free viewing until October 15. All other Twitch Prime benefits, including free monthly games and exclusive loot, will remain unchanged.
Showing 21 Most Recent Comments
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I'm not a big Twitch Prime user but still stream here and there and don't want to sit through ads just because I want to watch a different stream.
On the other hand, I'm too deep in Amazon ecosystem to cancel Prime all together though.
Sure we lost the 20% and now 10%. But with so many other deals on other items, I am not cancelling.
I frequently buy stuff from Amazon several times a week and it saves so much time and money in terms of gas, save and subscribe items, lightning deals etc far outweighs it.
With games so expensive new, I hardly preorder anyway (not unless there's an additional discount). But still not happy with the change.
Amazon sucks with pre-orders, too.. rarely get them on release day.
Twitch.. meh. I really don't see the appeal in watching people play video games... I'd rather play them myself. The free monthly games are the main thing I get out of that (not that I've played any of the freebies yet..)
Their whole goal is to get more subscribers, right? I don't see how taking stuff away helps.