2021 Holiday Shopping Guide For Consoles and Games
Welcome to our 2021 holiday shopping guide. We have rounded up all of the resources, links, and flyers in one place to highlight the best deals in console gaming this holiday. In addition to a few tips on how to snag an Xbox Series or PlayStation 5 console. With the exception of Amazon, nearly all of the holiday gaming deals are live today.
Console Watch
Wal-Mart
Starting at 3:00 PM EST on Monday, November 22nd, Wal-Mart will post consoles on their website. The sale will be exclusive to Wal-Mart+ paid members. Usually, when Wal-Mart has a sale they go up every 10 minutes in order to fight off bots and high traffic. With the new Wal-Mart+ barrier, it is unclear if they will still do that. So do not give up if the consoles sell out right away.
You will want to get signed up and signed in well in advance. Also, you can not be on a trial membership of Wal-Mart+. You will need to cancel the free trial and sign up for a paid account in order to receive early access. For those who do not wish to enroll in Wal-Mart+, another set of consoles will go up at 4:00 PM EST.
Wal-Mart will also hold an in-store event on Friday, November 26th at 5:00 AM local time. You are going to want to line up a few hours in advance if you hope to snag a console.
GameStop
Unfortunately, GameStop is opening its stores at 5:00 PM locally to sell consoles on Thanksgiving day. If you are still looking for a console and do not spend the holiday with your family, you can line up early on Thanksgiving day. It is not clear how many of each console GameStop will have. There is a slight chance that an online sale will take place around the same time.
Target
Target had consoles in stock on Friday the 19th. It is unlikely they will sell consoles again before the first week of December. Target posts consoles for sale usually once every other week. The time always seems to be at a 30-minute mark, 6:30, 7:30, 8:30 AM EST. For the most part, this happens on Thursdays or Fridays. Something to keep an eye on for next week.
Best Buy
Best Buy posted consoles for sale last week, it is not clear if they will have consoles to match what Wal-Mart is doing next week but, it is likely. It is hard to tell if Best Buy will post consoles on Monday, Tuesday, or Friday. You will want to follow these Twitter accounts and set some stock alerts.
Best Overall Deals
- $39.99 12 months of PlayStation Plus at all retailers
- $24.99 3 months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate at all retailers
- $20 Resident Evil Village At Best Buy, Gamestop and Wal-Mart
- $20 Hitman 3 at Best Buy and Gamestop
- $29.99 Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy At Target, Gamestop, and Best Buy
- $25 Hot Wheels Unleashed Wal-Mart Exclusive Challenge Accepted Edition
- Save on Gen 4 NVMe SSD PS5 storage expansion cards at Best Buy
- $64.99 ($10 off) Forza Horizon 5 Xbox Series X|S Controller At Target
- $19.99 Chivalry II At Best Buy
- $9.99 Cyberpunk 2077 At Target
- $25 Deathloop At Wal-Mart and Gamestop
- $35 Far Cry 6 At Wal-mart and Gamestop
- $19.99 It Takes Two At Best Buy and Target
- $29.99 Lost Judgement At Best Buy
- $29.99 Sackboy A Big Adventure At all retailers
- $19.99 Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania at Gamestop, Target, and Wal-Mart
- $19.99 Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl at Gamestop
- $14.99 Marvel’s Avengers at Gamestop and Best Buy
- $25 Back 4 Blood At Wal-Mart
Best Nintendo Switch Deals
- $25 Hot Wheels Unleashed Wal-Mart Exclusive Challenge Accepted Edition
- $54.99 Ring Fit Adventure At Best Buy, Gamestop, and Target
- $26.99 Paper Mario and the Origami King at Gamestop
- $20 Sonic Colors Ultimate Launch Edition $20 at Gamestop and Wal-Mart
- $20 Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania at Gamestop, Target, and Wal-Mart
- $20 Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl at Gamestop
Best PlayStation Deals
- $39.99 12 months of PlayStation Plus at all retailers
- Save on Gen 4 NVMe SSD PS5 storage expansion cards at Best Buy
- $20 Resident Evil Village At Best Buy, Gamestop and Wal-Mart
- $25 Back 4 Blood At Wal-Mart
- $19.99 Chivalry II At Best Buy and Gamestop
- $25 Deathloop At Wal-Mart and Gamestop
- $27.99 F1 2021 At Best Buy and Wal-Mart
- $44.99 Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade At all retailers
- $19.99 Hitman 3 at Best Buy and Gamestop
- $25 Hot Wheels Unleashed Wal-Mart Exclusive Challenge Accepted Edition
- $35 Far Cry 6 At Wal-mart and Gamestop
- $19.99 It Takes Two At Best Buy and Target
- $29.99 Lost Judgement At Best Buy
- $14.99 Marvel’s Avengers at Gamestop and Best Buy
- $49.99 Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart at all retailers
- $29.99 Sackboy A Big Adventure At all retailers
- $24.99 Scarlet Nexus at Best Buy and Gamestop
- $19.99 Tribes of Midgard Deluxe Edition at Best Buy and Gamestop
Best Xbox Deals
- $64.99 ($10 off) Forza Horizon 5 Xbox Series X|S Controller At Target
- $5-$15 off Xbox Series X|S controllers at all retailers
- $24.99 3 months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate at all retailers
- $59.99 Razer Kishi Xbox X Cloud Controller For Phones At Best Buy
- $20 Resident Evil Village At Best Buy, Gamestop and Wal-Mart
- $20 Hitman 3 at Best Buy and Gamestop
- $29.99 Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy At Target, Gamestop, and Best Buy
- $25 Hot Wheels Unleashed Wal-Mart Exclusive Challenge Accepted Edition
- $35 Far Cry 6 At Wal-mart and Gamestop
- $29.99 Lost Judgement At Best Buy
Best TV Deals For Gaming
We found that almost all TVs are on sale this holiday. Although Best Buy seems to have the best prices compared to Amazon, Target, and Wal-Mart. For the best console gaming experience and to future-proof your setup, you are going to want a TV with HDMI 2.1. This will allow for up to 120 frames per second while playing in 4K on both the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series consoles.
While we wish there were more options, the equivalent Sony TVs are the A80J Series. They are $100 more and offer essentially nothing more than its equivalent LG model. The Sony A90J series TVs do offer a little more but they are not on sale anywhere this holiday. Anyone looking for more options may have to wait until next year when HDMI 2.1 becomes standard on all displays.
Resources For Holiday Deals
Gamestop Live Black Friday Deal Page
Best Buy Black Friday Deal Page
Spreadsheet of all games – Thank you to Cheap Ass Gamer and the community.
