Competitor #1: Amazon Prime
Let’s start with our newcomer shall we? Well, it’s not exactly a newcomer as Amazon Prime has been around for a while and it has always had value to gamers thanks to its free two-day shipping and guaranteed day one arrival on new releases. That’s cool. But now that it has that extra 20% off pre-orders and new releases, it has definitely put itself squarely in competition with other brick and mortar video game retailers.
Price: $99 per year ($49 if you’re a student).
Note: for the purposes of this article we’re going to assume you’re not a student, but that’s definitely a game changer if you are.
By far Amazon Prime is the most expensive of the bunch even with the student discount. Mainly because it offers a lot of perks that don’t really have anything to do with video games. Unfortunately, you don’t have the option to break that up into monthly fees like you can Netflix or Hulu. It’s a one-shot price for the year.
Gaming Perks: 20% off pre-orders and new releases. Day one arrival for new releases.
As we’ve mentioned a couple of times by now, Amazon Prime now offers 20% off of pre-orders and new releases within two weeks. However, one of the advantages of going to a physical shop like Best Buy or Gamestop is that you can walk out with the game in your hand and not have to worry about shipping hassles. Amazon does a pretty good job countering this by guaranteeing that games you pre-order will be at your doorstep the day the game is released.
Non-gaming Perks: Many.
Amazon Prime is primarily a service for things beyond buying video games. As such, if you choose Amazon Prime to be your retailer/service of choice, you’ll get a lot of other perks as well. Most notably is its Netflix/Hulu-style streaming services and free two-day shipping on eligible items (most things that ship from Amazon directly). There’s also Prime Music, which is a library of music that you’ll have access to and a couple of Kindle benefits if you’re a reader (early access and book sharing). You can view the full list here.
Other Misc. Bonuses
There aren’t many to be honest since just about everything is covered under the Prime membership perks. However, Amazon usually has pretty good sales on video games and has some synergy with credit cards such as the Discover it card. Meaning if you get into a habit of only buying from Amazon, you can save some additional money that way.