Gaming on your PS4 or PS5 may be a costly hobby, especially if you prefer to purchase games as soon as they are released. However, there are methods to save money while still getting the most out of your PS4 or PS5.

We’ve compiled the greatest tips for getting your desired PS5 games and saving money.

1. Shop the PS Store’s Regular Discounts

The PS Store is Sony’s digital marketplace for everything PlayStation related. You can buy games, DLC, themes, subscriptions, and more. There are many reasons to love the PS Store. For example, digital games are more convenient than physical because you get instant access.

When it comes to saving money, the PS Store always has some sort of sale. Whether it’s to celebrate a holiday or a franchise’s anniversary, if you’re patient then you can get some deep discounts through the PS Store. To get notified when something goes on sale, you can add it to your PS Store wishlist.

2. Sign Up to PlayStation Plus

PlayStation Plus (PS Plus) is an ongoing subscription that lets you play your games online with others. The longer you sign up for, the cheaper it is.

Perhaps the most exciting aspect of PS Plus is that you get a handful of free games every month. As long as you maintain your subscription, you’ll have indefinite access to these games. Even if you unsubscribe and then subscribe again later, the games will come back.

These aren’t just bottom of the basket games, either. PS Plus often gives away brilliant games. Past examples include Mortal Kombat X, Hell Let Loose, and NBA 2K21. Still not convinced? If you’re a member of PS Plus, you can get even deeper discounts on the PS Store. PS Plus is an excellent purchase, even if you’re not bothered about saving money.

3. Stream Games Using PlayStation Now

PlayStation Now (PS Now) is another subscription service that Sony offers. It gives you on-demand access to hundreds of PS4, PS3, and PS2 games, streamed to your console or Windows PC over the cloud.

You pay a subscription fee (again, the longer you subscribe, the less you pay) and get access to a huge collection of games. Titles like The Last of Us Part 2, Fallout 76, and Tekken 7 are all included. Providing you can complete the games quickly, PS Now will save you lots of money over buying all the games included individually.

4. Buy Discounted Gift Cards

Sony sell gift cards of differing values, which you can redeem in the PlayStation Store. There’s no point buying these gift cards at full price. However, during sales, plenty of other retailers will sell them at a small discount. You could save $5 on a $20 gift card, for example, which soon adds up to great savings.

Of course, to save the most money, you should ask for PlayStation gift cards as presents for your birthday and Christmas. You might never need to buy your own games again!

5. Use Video Game Discount Sites

Though the PS Store is the official first-party destination to buy digital Sony games, it isn’t the only option. There are lots of third-party retailers that sell digital codes for PlayStation games that you can then redeem on your console.

Read Also: Why is The PS5 Outperforming The Series X?

Avoid any shady key websites, but there are great video game discount websites you can use to ensure you only buy from legit merchants. Most of these let you set up alerts so you can be notified when your wishlist games reach your desired price.

6. Buy Used Games

So far, we’ve only focused on digital PlayStation games, but you can get most of them physically too. Often, physical games end up costing more than digital to account for the manufacturing and shipping.

The way around that? To buy used games. As long as you’re not a collector who needs their games in pristine condition, there’s no downside to buying used. While the case might be scuffed, the game itself will be exactly the same as if you bought it new.

7. Trade Games With Your Friends Using Share Play

Did you know that you can play any of your friends’ PS4 or PS5 games for free? It sounds unbelievable, but it’s true, thanks to a PlayStation feature called Share Play. Even if you own a PS4 and your friend has a PS5, you can still play their games. You can also use Share Play to play multiplayer games together.

It’s an oft-overlooked feature of the PS4 and PS5, so ensure you don’t miss it. If you often play the same games as your friends, you can decide between you who buys which ones and share the love.

8. Be Patient

This is the hardest tip on this list, but it might be the most fruitful. Considering AAA PS5 games launch at $69.99, it’s simply not cost-effective to pre-order games or buy them soon after release.

The solution? Be patient. After half a year or more, the retail price will drop. The longer you wait, the cheaper it’ll be. Lots of first-party PlayStation games end up being repackaged anyway, whether it’s a “director’s cut” or part of Sony’s Essential range.

While you might not be able to join in discussing the latest and greatest games, you can be smug in the satisfaction that you’ll enjoy it in the future and save heaps of money as you do.

While it might be expensive to buy a PS5 (the latter can be especially hard to get hold of at retail price), the games don’t have to break the bank. Whether it’s shopping in a sale or using a PlayStation subscription service, there are plenty of ways to save.

Most of these tips can apply to all gaming, no matter your console; PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, or something else, it pays to be a patient gamer.

How to Buy a Digital Copy of a PS5 Game For Your Friend

Sony’s buying regulations prohibit digital game downloads from being sold by sellers other than the PlayStation Store. As a result, if you want to offer your friend a digital game, you’ll need to purchase a gift card.

Unfortunately, you technically can’t gift a digital copy of a game anymore, on PS4 or PS5. While this used to be an option, it’s no longer possible. Now, if you want to give a digital game to a friend, you’ll want to send them a PlayStation Store gift card so they can buy the game themselves. It’s far from ideal, but it’s the only real option.

You can buy someone a physical game, but then you’ll have to ship it to them, and they can’t play it if they are using a PS5 Digital Edition. While inconvenient, if you truly want to buy a game for someone without them technically purchasing on the PlayStation Store, a physical copy will be your only option.

Fortunately, if this is truly the way you want to do it, Sony continues to produce physical copies of all its first-party games from Sony Worldwide Studios and major third-party titles from other companies. All of the best PS5 games will be available physically and digitally for the foreseeable future. You don’t need to worry about this changing anytime soon. So if you insist on buying a game for your friend, make sure you have their address (or will see them in person to just give it to them), and as long as they’re okay with disc drives, you can give them a physical copy of the game.

Sony used to allow digital game gifting through digital codes at retailers, but not anymore. Effective April 1, 2019, Sony disallowed retailers from selling full digital game download codes.

“We can confirm that as of April 1, 2019, Sony Interactive Entertainment will no longer offer full games through SIE’s Global Digital at Retail program,” a PlayStation spokesperson told The Verge. “This decision was made to continue to align key businesses globally. To support full games and premium editions, SIE will introduce increased denominations at select retailers. DLC, add-ons, virtual currency, and season passes will still be available.”

Previously, people could buy digital game codes through Amazon, Best Buy, and GameStop stores. Now, however, that’s no longer an option. Unfortunately, there aren’t many other options for those looking for different paths to gifting games to their friends, especially if you’re strictly looking to pick up a digital copy.

What about game subscriptions?

While you can’t directly gift a digital game, you do also have the option of buying your friend a subscription service like PlayStation Plus. Anyone subscribed to PlayStation Plus gets free monthly games that they can keep forever, with higher tiers offering an additional library of frequently updated games.

The premium tier also offers a selection of classic games from previous eras of PlayStation and game trials for selected titles so that your friend can try a game before you buy. They’ll also get instant access to the PlayStation Plus Collection, a selection of PS4 games accessible for PS5 users subscribed to PlayStation Plus.

It is a shame that you can’t shower friends with game-related gifts, but luckily there are some solutions. Gift cards may be inferior to buying a game directly, but they are the closest you can currently get. Your friend will get a choice when making a purchase, and there are multiple options when looking at how much to spend on your gift card. 

A subscription to the recently-overhauled PS Plus is another decent option if you want to spend a little more money, with different tiers giving you a choice over which version of the service to subscribe to. With the service containing a large library of updating titles at higher tiers and likely to increase in value for money, a PS Plus subscription could be a great present idea for a friend. Sony could once again allow players to gift games to friends, but in the meantime, these solid options will have to suffice. 

What to do After Getting Your New PS5

Congratulations if you’ve been fortunate enough to obtain a PS5. There’s a lot to accomplish once you’ve found a suitable location for your huge console. First and foremost, there will almost certainly be a slew of upgrades to address all of the changes from the previous year. After that, you’ll very certainly need to update your controller as well as any game you install.

After you’ve completed all of the upgrades and your new PS5 is ready for you, here are some things you should do.

Set a default download location for an external drive

If you own an external Hard Disk Drive (HDD) or Solid State Drive (SSD), you’ll want to make sure this is set up with your PS5 before downloading any games. While PS5 games must be downloaded to the custom SSD inside your PS5, PS4 games can be downloaded anywhere and still run.

Of course, if you want to take advantage of enhanced visuals or performance of specific PS4 games, you’ll probably want to download them to the PS5’s internal SSD. If you’re playing a regular old PS4 game that hasn’t been enhanced in any way, put it on your external drive to save precious space on your PS5’s SSD. Your PS5’s SSD only starts with about 667GB of usable download space, so make sure you use it wisely.

You can set default download locations in your PS5 settings to make sure you’re downloading all your PS4 games to the right place.

• Go to Settings > Storage > Extended Storage
• Then, turn on Install PS4 Games to Extended Storage

Sony has now activated the internal SSD expansion slot for game downloads, so you can finally have more space for all those big PS5 games. If you want, grab yourself an SSD, pop it in under the side panel, let the console do its thing from there, and your expanded storage will be ready in no time!

Transfer save data from your PS4 or PS4 Pro

If you owned a PS4 or a PS4 Pro before getting the PS5, you’ll want to make sure you transfer all of your saved data. Then, you can pick up in-game on your new console right where you left off on your old console.

It’s not tricky at all to do this; it’ll just take time to download everything. Here are the steps you need to take:

• Go to Settings > Saved Data and Game/App Settings > Saved Data (PS4)
• You can then choose either Cloud Storage or USB Drive, depending on how you want to transfer your saved data.
• Wait for everything to transfer!

Get your PS5 games downloading

The PS5 has been on the market for over 18 months now, as have all of its launch games. By now, those launch games will probably have a hefty update package when you first install the game. With bugs, patches, content updates, and more, you might be waiting a while before you get to play your new games.

As soon as all of your console and controller updates are finished, get your PS5 games downloaded. Even if you don’t intend to play right away, it’ll be nice to have them downloaded and ready for you when you are ready. Though, let’s be honest, you’ll probably want to play as soon as possible.

While you’re waiting on your PS5 games to download, the other things on this list will keep you entertained.