With the price of pretty much everything skyrocketing at the moment hobbies will become harder to fund. However we shouldn’t abandon the things that we enjoy. Here are five ways to keep playing video games and save money.

1. No point being trendy – The next big thing is always nice but the hype train often leads to unnecessary expense as new games cost a lot. I recommend checking the preowned section or looking for little known games which won’t cost a lot. Usually a game will have something similar or older in the same series that’s worth buying before the expensive new thing, example Dark Souls to Elden Ring.
2. Deals! Deals! Deals! – Be it digital or physical there’s always a way to find something cut price or two for a better price. Make a wish list of games you want and set yourself a max price for what you want, when a game dips into that price it’ll be worth getting. Be careful because a lowered price still might not be a good one.
3. Ultimate Editions and bundles – After a year or two from a game’s initial release all the content will be released in an expensive bundle Ultimate Edition. When this goes on offer you’ll get more content for sometimes less than the cost of the game on its own. Sometimes you’ll find collections of a few games together which can work out cheaper than buying them individually.
4. Traders benefit – Some physical stores will allow you to swap games for money or in store credit, this means any purchase will help you buy your next game when you’re done with it. I’ve bought brand new copies of games before purely on trade credit.
5. Rewards and subscriptions – Everyone’s aware of the Xbox Game Pass by now but adding the price over a year will cost over £100 so only activate it when you want a specific game. PlayStation and Xbox both have an online service that gives out free games, for the cost of one new game you can get a few per month and sometimes they’re good. Microsoft Rewards works over Xbox, PC and mobile and with a little effort works out as free money so that’s also worth looking into.

There’s always something cheap or something free, all you have to do is look. Being eagle eyed and having self control will save a lot of money. Know what you want and it’ll make looking even easier.

If anyone else has any money saving ideas or tips feel free to comment.