Are Xbox Games Cheaper Online?

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Xbox is an incredibly popular gaming system all over the world but man are the games expensive! The prices on newly released games seems to just keep going up and up. Obviously we would all love to save some money when buying games and maybe you heard that buying digital versions is cheaper… but is that true? 

Are Xbox games really cheaper to download online instead of buying the physical copies? 

If you are looking to buy a brand new release then the price online for downloading it and the price in your local retail store will normally be exactly the same. You can often find games cheaper on online stores like Amazon far cheaper than retail stores on older games but for new ones the online prices will be about the same. 

Xbox is an amazing gaming console that is developed and produced by Microsoft. The players on the Xbox platform are provided with a unique and dynamic world of games that were never experienced before now. Moreover, all this comes with multiple features, accessories, and many more things to make your gaming experience as fun as possible. 

Many Xbox games are updated regularly in order to improve the quality of the games and to help the users to have the best experience of the game possible. It is possible for the players to stream the games as well while playing and this is a great feature of the Xbox. Another feature called Xbox Live helps the players to connect and play with or against other players around the world. This way, the players can learn and improve their techniques as well. In addition to that, when these games are a little bit older the users can often find them quite cheap on the Xbox platform itself. 

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Going the digital way

Digital mediums are being used in various businesses around the globe. So why should the gaming industry be left behind? Gaming can be done online as well and it is quite easy. Xbox One, which is one of the versions of Xbox, uses the Xbox Live feature to provide a gaming experience and special services to the players through the Internet. 

This helps the customers, who previously had to go to stores to purchase their physical games can now do it without ever leaving the house. 

Purchasing games online is certainly the future and in that future the pricing of downloads might be cheaper but as of now the pricing on new releases is virtually the same. This is because Xbox wants the physical stores to carry their consoles, controllers, and other accessories so if they undercut the retailers on price people would stop buying games locally and in turn retailers might stop carrying the games or consoles. 

Of course in the future this could certainly change as downloadable games could get big enough that Xbox doesn’t need physical game sales but until that happens the prices for downloading or purchasing the physical copies of the game are likely to be the same price. 

Physical games are often available online for cheaper than what you would pay at a retail store. This is because places like eBay, Amazon, etc. allow just about anyone to sell on their platforms so the amount of supply drives the prices for the games down over time. 

Selling physical games as well as digital ones online is much cheaper because of the lack of overhead . Game stores have to pay employees, electric bills, heat/AC bills, etc. Where sellers on Amazon or eBay have none of that overhead. Microsoft has a large amount of overhead but when you take out the cost of the physical discs, formatting them, packaging, shipping, etc. digital games can also be sold much cheaper. 

At some point in the future it would not be surprising for Xbox to come out with an all inclusive subscription style service that gives you access to all of the games older than say 6 months for a set monthly fee similar to Netflix, Disney+, etc.

 Digital games are certainly the way the future is heading but for now the physical and digital copies of the latest games are all the same prices. 

Using A Subscription 

Users have a great opportunity to have the use of several games on Xbox because of a subscription service. Using these subscriptions, the users can obtain several games at prices that are lower than the actual prices of the games. Currently, in many Xbox gaming consoles, the user has the choice of picking up and playing three different games using a subscription. 

There are gaming passes as well for Xbox players and these passes are made for players who want to try out many games and want to know more about those games. The user can purchase such subscriptions on a monthly basis and they can provide the customers with quite a large number of games at a price that is quite a bit less when compared to the high prices of the individual games. 

With the help of a subscription, users can also play games that are compatible with the previous versions of Xbox as well. There are different types of subscriptions available for the users and they just have to choose the right subscription that will work best for them. 

For example the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is available with access to over 100 games as well as Xbox Live for quite a low monthly cost! Subscriptions such as this one are likely to become more and more inclusive all the time until eventually all games will be available on a subscription style service. 

Play free games 

There are certainly games that can be purchased on the Xbox but there are certain games that come in the free to play category as well. Customers can have a wonderful experience by playing these games and they are always free. 

These free games are available in a digital library that can be accessed by any user with an Xbox Live account. There are currently over 35 games that are 100% free to play on the Xbox console! 

Developers, who are independent, are who mostly provide these titles while there are certain titles that are produced by developers of large gaming studios. These games can help the users to gain more points and thus, a higher ranking and they can be quite fun as well. 

You certainly don’t have to buy the $50-$70 new releases to have fun on your Xbox!

Online Retail Sellers

The Microsoft Store is one official platform where users can purchase Xbox games. But there are many other ways in which a user can buy games at cheaper prices as well. Online retailers and distributors have their own set of offers and deals for the users. Some of them will provide pre-paid codes and other coupons that can be used by the customer to obtain the games at discounted prices. 

Xbox users can also buy older games from online marketplaces as mentioned earlier for considerably cheaper than they cost a few months or years ago. For example if you buy a Call of Duty game for your Xbox that is a year old you can get it for half the price of the newest game. 

Deals like this are not only available online. You can often save money by buying games that are a couple of years old from places like Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, etc. 

Conclusion

The newest Xbox games will be the same price to download online as they are to buy the physical copies in stores. Older games can be quite cheaper to purchase online at places like Amazon, eBay, etc. but that is normally after the games have been out for a couple of years. 

The best way to save money on games is to pay for a subscription service like the Xbox Game Pass or to just play all the free games that are available on Xbox as well.