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Kinja Deals

The Best Black Friday Gaming & Media Deals [Updating]

By
Shep McAllister, 
Chelsea Stone, 
Elizabeth Zimmerman, 
Tercius, 
and Corey Foster

Black Friday is one of the best times of year to get a new game console, pick up a game that’s been on your wish list, or score some discounted gift cards for your favorite media services. We’ll be collecting all of the best deals in this space below through the entire holiday weekend, so it’s game on. Stay tuned, we’ll be updating this post as deals go live, and throughout the holiday weekend.

Looking for the rest of our Black Friday coverage? You can visit our Black Friday hub, or jump straight to one of the posts below:

More Black Friday Deals

Black Friday Hub | Tech | Home and Kitchen | Clothing & Lifestyle Gaming & Media | Kinja Deals Exclusives | Top 15 Deals

The Best Deals

The Ryze Tello Quadcopter Drone is popular with beginners for several reasons: It’s easy to control, flies steadily, and takes excellent HD photos. The price is also a factor — it’s crazy affordable, especially at its new all-time low price of $79 at Walmart and Amazon. If you’re stumped on a gift for your most gadgety friend, this would be a pretty safe bet. Just be warned that it could be a gateway into a very expensive new hobby.

We thought the days of $40 PlayStation Plus sales were behind us, but lo, here it is once again for Black Friday. If your membership is due to expire soon, or hell, even if it isn’t, you’ll want to take advantage of this. This is as good a price as you’re ever likely to see, so if you own a PlayStation, or are planning to get one this holiday season, this is a no-brainer. Also available at Walmart, if Amazon sells out.

Note: You can add as many 12 month codes to your PlayStation account as you want. They just extend your membership expiration date.

Update: Probably sold out, but we’ll leave the links up, as it’s worth checking.

Nintendo’s big Black Friday Switch discount isn’t tremendously exciting—you’re basically getting a download of Mario Kart 8 for free with the purchase of a console—but they didn’t run any Switch console deals at all last year, so count your blessings. Mario Kart 8 is a compulsory purchase for any Switch owner anyway, so we still wholeheartedly recommend you buy it.

Also at Amazon, if Walmart is sold out.

You don’t need a Pro controller to enjoy the Switch, but you very well may want one, and it’s on sale as well.

Mario Kart 8 will take up a fair bit of space on the Switch’s internal memory, so you probably want to pick up a discounted microSD card as well.

While you’re at it, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate comes out in just a few short weeks, and Prime members can get a $10 Amazon credit by preordering. Just note that it won’t be added to your account for about a month.

The Commodore 64 Mini only came out last month, and while it hasn’t flown off the shelves like, say, an N64 Mini might, this Black Friday discount to $65 is the first deal we’ve seen from its original $80.

The half-sized scale model C64 Mini includes 64 games onboard, but crucially, lets you add your own as well, no hacking required.

Haven’t read the super popular Ghost in the Shell mangas yet? This collector’s box set includes three large-sized hardcover volumes, plus a collectible lithograph by creator Shirow Masamune for $44, which is a new all-time low. Don’t let the live action movie ruin the series for you, this is better!

Haven’t used the NOVBOOK18 promo code yet? It’ll save you an extra $5 here.

We almost never see iTunes gift card discounts of more than 15% anymore, but while supplies last, promo code ITUNES20 will take $20 off a $100 digital iTunes gift card from Amazon. That’ll work on music, movies, apps, and even iCloud storage plans.

If you aren’t a Hulu member by the end of the day, I don’t know what to tell you. New and “eligible returning” (meaning you haven’t been a paying customer in 12+ months) members can get 12 months of the streaming service’s Limited Commercials plan for just $1 per month, this weekend only for Black Friday. It’ll auto-renew thereafter at the usual $8 per month, so you may want to set a calendar appointment to cancel, but that’s one of the best streaming deals we’ve ever seen.

If you have any notable holes in your Nintendo Switch game library, you can fill them today with rare discounts on first party Nintendo games. Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Splatoon 2 are all marked down to $45, and that’s just for starters. Check out the image caption above for more deals.

Arcade1Up’s 3/4 sized arcade cabinets have been a hit with our readers, and you can save $50 on a couple of them for the first time this Black Friday. The deal is only supposed to be available on the Pacman and the Galaga/Galaxian machines, but now it seems that all of them are included (though not all are in stock at this moment)

Walmart also sells a riser that brings the cabinets up to standard arcade cabinet height, so that might be a good way to spend your savings.

Obviously your prime concern when it comes to computing peripherals is that they’re highly functional; nobody wants to deal with lag or ghosting. But there’s no reason your input devices can’t also be beautiful, and that’s the appeal of the Razer Holiday Chroma Bundle. It includes a gaming keyboard, mouse, and mousepad, all with RGB lighting. The glow is so alluring that even the least techy people you know will have to appreciate it, and there’s something to be said for showcasing your interests in a new light.

With Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft basically created the Netflix of video games, and it’s a great deal at its usual $10 per month. But for a limited time, you can get a gift card for a whole year for just $70.

Xbox Game Pass grants you access to newer releases like State of Decay 2 and Sea of Thieves, as well as classics like KOTOR and all of the Gears of War games. The only catch is that you’ll be auto-renewed at the standard rate after the year is up, but hopefully there will be another deal before that happens, right

Just because you’re not at your desk doesn’t mean you can’t play the latest games at high settings: A pair of MSI gaming laptops are on sale at Walmart for Black Friday:

At $849, the perfectly capable 15" MSI GF63 features an 8th gen Core i7, a GTX 1050 GPU, a 256GB SSD paired with a 1TB HDD, 16GB of RAM, and even a copy of Black Ops 4.

Or, for $1399, step up to the 17" GP73, which comes with all of the above, plus a larger 120Hz display, double the SSD space, and a GTX 1070 that can handle VR gaming.

Breath of the Wild is one of the greatest games ever made, so we’ll forgive Nintendo for spiking the football with a ~400 page hardcover compendium full of design artwork, commentary about the game’s development, and a history of the Breath of the Wild’s take on Hyrule.

The book only just came out, but its price just plummeted to an all-time low $20 (technically $19.99, which is annoying given today’s Amazon $20 minimum book coupon). That’s not a lot of rupees for an incredible gift for any Nintendo fan.

What kind of person still reads physical books? The best kind of person, IMO. If you’re one of them, this is probably your favorite time of year, because you know that Amazon always drops an awesome coupon. The discount this time around is $5 off $20 via code NOVBOOK18, and it works on pretty much every single hardcover and paperback sold and shipped by Amazon. The only downside is that it’s limited to a single use per customer, so you may have a hard time deciding what to buy. But don’t wait forever — the deal ends Sunday. (You can see a few more of our suggestions here.)

For a 17 year old (approximate guess) game, Skyrim has been remarkably stubborn about going on sale on Nintendo Switch. This Black Friday though, you can download it for $30, easily the best deal we’ve ever seen. You could certainly argue that’s still too much for a game that you probably own on four other systems, but he, it’s Skyrim in your pocket, how cool is that!

Life hack: It’s the same price on the eShop, but if you buy on Amazon, you’ll get credit for the number of Gold coins (300) you would have gotten if it was full price. If you buy it from Nintendo, you’ll only get credit for the discounted price (150 coins).

This is not a drill — the LEGO Ideas NASA Apollo Saturn V Set has fallen below $100. It’s hard enough to find at retail price, much less at a $25 discount, so it’s not exactly rocket science if you’re on the fence about buying it. The main spacecraft is more than 3 feet tall when assembled, and the set allows you to simulate an entire mission, from launch to splashdown. We’re kind of bummed that it doesn’t come with a pack of astronaut ice cream for extra realism (and deliciousness!), but you can always get that at Amazon.

It’s a shame that Dead Cells’ launch was overshadowed by poor ethics in game journalism, because it’s a terrific game that you really ought to play. The Switch digital release is $5 off its usual $25 on Amazon right now, the first discount we’ve ever seen on the downloadable version.

Life hack: It’s the same price on the eShop, but if you buy on Amazon, you’ll get credit for the number of Gold coins (125) you would have gotten if it was full price. If you buy it from Nintendo, you’ll only get credit for the discounted price (100 coins).

There's a Lot Of Star Fox In Starlink Switch
Starlink: Battle for Atlas [Switch] | $40 | Walmart
Starlink: Battle for Atlas [PS4] | $35 | Amazon
Starlink: Battle for Atlas [Xbox One] | $35 | Amazon

Starlink is the latest video game ecosystem (every game is an ecosystem now) to combine a digital game with real life toys, and it’s actually pretty fun, especially on Switch where you get to play as Star Fox.

For a limited time, Switch starter kit (complete with an Arwing) is down to $40, and the PS4 and Xbox One kits are both down to $35. Those are the best deals we’re expecting to see, so do a barrel roll of excitement and go place your orders.

Amazon also has a ton of accessories on sale as well.

If you malakas haven’t picked up Assassin’s Creed Odyssey yet (and you should, because it’s amazing), Amazon just marked it down to $40 on PS4 and Xbox One, today only. We expect various retailers to drop it down to $30 or $35 on Black Friday, but if you want to play it this weekend, and don’t want to stress about it selling out, this is the best deal we’ve seen so far.

The latest Call of Duty does Battle Royale better than PUBG, and has <shotguns a can of Juggernog> The Biggest Zombies Mode EVER. It only came out about a month ago, but Walmart is already discounting it to $37 for Black Friday on PS4 and Xbox One, while supplies last.

Undertale is one of Kotaku’s 12 best games for the Switch, and the love letter to/subversion of Earthbound is down to $13 on Amazon for Black Friday. That’s only a couple bucks off the usual price, but you should buy this game at any price.

Though you’ll still need an expensive-ass computer to run it, the Oculus Rift VR system is finally approaching affordability, with the headset and controller bundle now available for $349 for Black Friday. I think we could all use a little escape from reality right about now, amirite?

Update: Going in and out of stock.

If you want a PS4, this is the Black Friday deal you’ve been waiting for. Get the console plus a copy of Marvel’s Spider-Man (which is excellent) for just $199, or $100 less than the typical MSRP for the console by itself. There’s no telling how long this will last (or even if it will last through Black Friday, given how early it’s going live), so don’t let the deal escape your web.

True story: My 6-year-old has come up with a game called “Survive the Night” where he loads up a backpack with NERF guns and other tools like flashlights and snacks and hides out in a fort. (It’s inaccurately named, though, as it never lasts an entire night.) He must not be the only kid doing this, because there’s a toy called the NERF Zombie Strike Survival System Scravenger that seems designed exactly for his purposes.

It comes with an auxiliary blaster, a “tactical light,” and a few other accessories that’ll give your budding survivalist’s bag some nice heft. But the most interesting thing about it — today, at least — is that it’s on sale for just $25 at Walmart and Amazon. That’s half the original price and a solid deal for such a substantial NERF gun. Throw in a little real camping gear and you may not see your child again until 2019.

Real reality is pretty awful these days, but you can temporarily escape it with a PlayStation VR headset, and Jet just went live with this year’s Black Friday deals. And yes, they’re real.

The one you should almost certainly get is the $250 bundle which includes Superhot, Creed: Rise to Glory, the required PlayStation camera, and a pair of Move controllers. It’s a top pick in our holiday gaming gift guide for a reason. Also available here, if Walmart sells out.

For $50 less, you can also opt for a bundle with Astro Bot Rescue Mission and Moss. You don’t need the Move controllers for every VR game, but you need them for some, and they vastly improve the VR experience on others. Considering they sell for nearly $100 by themselves, you should probably buy the more expensive bundle.

Need an extra controller to go with your PS4? Amazon has a bunch of them marked down to $39 right now. Walmart has even more colors in stock for $40, and you can try to use code ELLEN10 there with a new account to save $10 at checkout, though that code will expire at some point.

Xbox One controllers don’t drop to $40 very often, so if you think you might want one, Black Friday’s the time to place your order. These are the newest models with built-in Bluetooth, so they’ll also work with your PC without an adapter. Available in black or white.

If you were holding out for Black Friday for an Xbox One S, this 1TB Minecraft Creator’s bundle just dropped to $199, complete with a copy of Minecraft and a bunch of DLC. Plus, you may still be able to use code ELLEN10 (new accounts only) to save an extra $10 at checkout.

We think we’ll see this same bundle for the same price with a $20 gift card from some retailers closer to Black Friday, but if you don’t want to stress out about it selling out, it’s not a bad idea to buy it today.

Every princess needs a castle, and your little princess is no different. If she’s currently without, the Disney Princess Royal Celebration Wooden Dollhouse is a good option. It’s over 5 feet tall and features a working elevator — perfectly regal and sure to impress any visiting dignitary. It also comes with furniture, because you can’t expect royalty to make do with an empty domicile. In all, it befits even the most noble of ladies and is guaranteed to reign supreme over the rest of the Christmas haul.

It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities. Example: If you choose to buy this Harry Potter Illustrated Collection Boxed Set, it shows that you’re an awesome person who knows a good deal when it apparates right in front of you. The set includes the first three books and is an enchanting $64 off today at Walmart and Amazon.

Reading and engaging your imagination is the closest thing to magic most Muggles can manage. Like Dumbledore says, even if it is happening inside your head, why on earth should that mean it is is not real? Certainly you’ll feel like you’ve actually escaped daily life to visit the wizarding world.

You may be asking yourself whether you really need another edition of this series, but in your heart you already know the answer. Always.

Tiny R2-D2 is Bleepin' Awesome
Sphero R2-D2 | $40 | Amazon

At its original $180, Sphero’s R2-D2 droid was something for Star Wars fans to drool over, but probably not buy. But at an all-time low $40? It’s the droid you’re looking for.

You can make R2 run around your desk with a virtual joystick on a phone app, but more importantly, you can make him emote. Even its included charging cable matches the copper color of the power couplings on his feet. I shouldn’t have to tell you that this would be a great gift for any Star Wars fan.

For sheer wow factor, a ride-on toy is hard to beat on Christmas morning. It’s a rare present that has a shot at earning a Nintendo 64-level reaction, and Walmart has all shapes and sizes on sale, from princess vehicles to superhero cars. When you surprise a kid with one, you’re showing that your gifting game is strong. Others will have to kneel before the GOAT. So really, it’s also a present for yourself!

LBR, nobody really likes the taste of gingerbread. It exists for exactly two reasons: To serve as a flavor for seasonal scented products, and to build whimsical structures during the holidays. Fulfill your annual obligation on the latter front with the Wilton Build-it-Yourself Nintendo Mario Bros. Gingerbread Castle, $14 at Walmart. (You’ll probably want to pick it up in-store to save on shipping.) Most sellers charge $20 or more, but honestly, even that would be reasonable for such an awesome confection. Just to make extra-sure no one eats it before Christmas, maybe you should go heavy on the included fondant.

Finally getting your hands on Red Dead Redemption 2 is good, but you know what’s even better? Finally getting your hands on Red Dead Redemption 2 AND getting a $10 Xbox One gift card to spend on something else. It’s one of the best Red Dead deals in all the Wild West, and you can take advantage of it right now at Walmart for $60.

Not to mention, you can stack this deal on yet another Walmart deal. Use promo code ELLEN10 to save an additional $10 on any $35 Walmart.com purchase (new customers only). There’s definitely room enough in this town for the both of these deals.

Smart shopping isn’t a skill you’re born with — it’s learned. Start your child off early with the Little Tikes Shop ‘n Learn Smart Cart, $40 at Walmart and Amazon. It comes with scannable food and an interactive game mode so that maybe one day, when the Olympic Committee decides to include shopping as an event, you can say you’re the parent of a world champion.

Forza Horizon 4 is amazing, and its Black Friday deal is already off to the races. Just $35 gets you a massive map (which our deal researcher Corey, who just went to Scotland, says is eerily accurate), four seasons, over 450 cars, and free new content every week.

Anki toys are smart in more ways than one. They’re smart in the technological sense because you can control the cars from your phone, but they’re also smart in the “why didn’t anybody think of this sooner?” way. Racing vehicles on a flat track is fun and all, but racing on a course with jumps, banked turns, and bridges? Now that’s legit.

Among the Anki items on sale at Amazon are the exact pieces you need to make those upgrades. (A couple of starter kits are there too, just in case you’re a new user.) And, according to the great Dom Toretto, the small scale of the competition will not diminish your victories. Ask any racer. Any real racer. It don’t matter if you win by an inch or a mile. Winning’s winning.

Whenever Logitech’s G29/G920 racing wheels go on sale, they don’t stay on sale for long. So peel out and get over to Amazon to score yours for $200, the best price ever, and a match for last year’s Black Friday deal. Just note that there are different models for PS4/PC and Xbox One/PC, so make sure to buy the right one for you.

It’s okay to admit that you’re too old to sit comfortably on the floor. You’ve done your time, and now you deserve better. The Crew Furniture Classic Video Rocker, $25, will keep you close to the action (board games? video games? reindeer games?) while giving your ancient bones a break. Or, if you’re really popular, you can get the X Rocker Dual Commander Gaming Chair and always have room for a friend to sit with you. It’s a little more spendy at $149 (though you can save $4 if you want to deal with in-store pickup), but it does come with two built-in speakers and a subwoofer. Luxurious!

With adjustable weights, a massive DPI range, and custom RGB lighting, it’s no surprise that Logitech’s G502 was named our readers’ favorite gaming mouse earlier this year. If you want to experience it for yourself, it’s down to an all-time low $35 (from the usual $50) right now on Amazon.

If you somehow don’t own Overwatch yet, the Legendary edition is back down to an all-time low $20 on PS4, PS4 Digital, and Xbox One, in advance of Black Friday.

The Legendary package includes 10 extra skins for the game, plus bonus Overwatch-themed content for Blizzard’s other games as well. But don’t worry about all of that; the underlying game is a must-own even without any extras.

The Switch Pro controller isn’t just one of the best ways to control your Nintendo Switch, it might be one of the best gamepads ever made, period. If you have a Switch and still haven’t picked one up, $60 is a really good price - we rarely see it drop below $64.

If you feel like your brain has been atrophying since the last new episode of Sherlock came out, well we have something to help keep you in tip-top shape. This DVD/Blu-ray box includes the first three seasons with original bonus features, new commentaries, and never-before-seen outtakes.

Plus, just to turn the Sherlock love up to 11, they’re also including limited edition art cards and busts of Sherlock and Watson.

This whole set can be yours for $43 with code KJSHERL7.

Remember in the movie Chef, when Jon Favreau had his 10-year-old work alongside him in a food truck? You can now recreate this at home, except without the dangerous elements of heat and pointy objects, with the Little Tikes 2-in-1 Food Truck, $99 at Walmart and Amazon. No, the 2-in-1 doesn’t refer to it being both a toy and a lesson in economic realities. It just means the truck comes with accessories to function as either a traditional eatery or strictly an ice cream stand. A kid who’s a born hustler will love running a “business,” and our capitalist overlords will be pleased that you’ve chosen to indoctrinate your offspring in the ways of commerce.

Remember last Christmas, when you were ready to pay $20 or more to procure a Fingerling? Would you have believed that we’d be sitting here, just a year later, able to buy two Fingerlings for only $9? Because that’s what’s going on at Walmart. It’s limited to Kingsley the Sloth, and you’ll probably want to go the store pickup route to avoid paying for shipping, but still. That’s two adorable robot creatures for even less than the usual price of one.

If you devour books the way a pygmy shrew eats (constantly, as if your life depends on it), Kindle Unlimited was designed for you. Until November 30, new customers can give it a 3-month whirl for only $1 — a massive savings and a rare discount that only the library can beat. (Be aware that you’ll automatically start paying the regular rate of $10/month if you don’t cancel at the end of the trial.) With access to more than a million ebooks and audiobooks, you’ll never run out of new material to consume.

Do you enjoy playing Monopoly? Are you a fan of Rick and Morty? Then have we got a deal for you! Two of your favorite things have been combined in the Monopoly Rick and Morty Board Game, just $23 at Amazon today. Houses and hotels are replaced with flooble cranks and gobble boxes, and the most expensive properties are no longer Boardwalk and Park Place, but Rick’s Garage and Morty’s Bedroom. Our only complaint is that they didn’t find some way to include a bottle of Szechuan sauce.

Taking your kids to the park is a great way to pass the time. They burn off excess energy so they’ll actually go to bed at night, and playing outside is one of the healthiest activities they can do. Bring those benefits right into your own backyard with the Kidkraft Castlewood Wooden Play Set, $950 off today at Walmart. You’ll even get a workout of your own when you put it together — fun for the whole family!

All right: Stop, collaborate, and listen. Ice is back with this cool toy invention. Kids will grab ahold of it tightly, play with this hockey set daily and nightly. Will they ever stop? Yo, I don’t know. Maybe turn off the lights and make them play in real snow? (And ice! Ice, baby.)

Now, here is some information that’s hard to fit into the lyric format. At $19, the PlayMobil NHL Hockey Arena is an absolute steal. It’s usually $60! It’s unlikely you’ll find a better deal on a gift for a kid who’s into hockey. (Trust me, I’ve been looking.)

Are you feeling the Christmas cash crunch yet? Wondering how Santa’s going to make a decent showing without putting you in the poorhouse? Amazon understands. When you spend $100 on a range of toys that covers everything from My Little Pony to Marvel to Hot Wheels to NERF, you’ll get $20 off at checkout. That kind of savings would make even the Grinch feel a little holly jolly, and if you can’t make a dent in your shopping list with this selection, you’re not even trying.

Note: The promotion is limited to toys shipped and sold by Amazon (no third-party nonsense!).

You don’t need superpowers to nail down the perfect gift for Deadpool fans. Devotees of the merc with a mouth will love this $13 Deadpool Loot Crate, which allows them to express their antihero pride without saying a word. It includes a sarcastic apron, socks, lanyard, pin, and bag. They’ll have to provide their own katanas, though.

Always a surefire holiday hit, LEGO’s Star Wars Advent calendar features 24 tiny Star Wars-themed LEGO gifts, including brand new ones for 2018 like a snowman in a Rebellion helmet, a Rose minifig, and tons of miniaturized spaceships and speeders. It MSRPs for $40, but Amazon’s got it marked down to under $33 right now. You can start opening it in just a few short weeks, and it might not get cheaper before then.

Amazon’s FreeTime Unlimited is a subscription service offering up a ton of kid-friendly content for Kindles, Fire tablets, Android devices, and the Fire TV, and you can try three months for just $3 right now.

Normally, a family subscription (for up to four children) costs $7 per month for Prime members, or $10 for non-members, but this deal is open to all. Just note that after your first three months, you’ll be charged the regular monthly rate going forward, but you can always cancel or change to a prepaid membership if you wish.

Once you’re signed up, you’ll have access to over 13,000 apps, games, movies, TV shows, and books, divided into different age group buckets to make it easy to find the right content to keep your kids quiet for a few minutes enrich your kids’ minds.

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More Black Friday Deals

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