The £25 Game Challenge

Games aren’t cheap, are they? Especially if you don’t bother shopping around, and just pop into your local Game on release day and pay £50 because you’re too lazy or impatient or ignorant or rich. And, when you buy as many games as I do, that’s a lot of wasted pounds.

So I’ve decided: I will no longer pay more than £25 for a game.

It’s actually not as big or bold a statement as it seems. I always shop around as it is, and don’t remember the last time I paid more than £30 for a game anyway, but now I’m making it a fixture in the game buying process. Hopefully the pay-offs will be three-fold:

1. I will save money (obviously)
2. I will, in a very small way, be protesting about the high cost of games
3. I won’t buy so many launch-day games that I don’t play for months

The latter in particular is a big thing. If I pay £40 at launch, and then don’t play it for six months, the chances are the price will have come down. OK, so I run the risk of never actually buying the game, but that’s better than the risk of buying it and never actually playing it, yes?

However, there will be some exceptions to this £25 Rule:

• If I have loyalty points, gift vouchers, store credit, etc. then these don’t count in the £25.
• If the game is, say, £30, but is in a “2 for £50” offer, then the price counts as £25 if I buy both.
• For games that include extra hardware (Guitar Hero III, for example) I am allowed to pay over £25, but never full price.
• Any postage costs are not part of the £25.

So, anyone fancy joining me in The £25 Game Challenge?