Cost Saving Measures for Home Entertainment

There are so many small pleasures in life we tend to take for granted, such as having easy access to our favorite TV shows, movies, and video games. Yet nowadays the mounting costs of subscription services and the rising price of new games seem to be conspiring together to restrict our enjoyment of these basic amenities.

Fortunately, there are ways you can have your cake and eat it when it comes to home entertainment. Below we’re going to be taking a look at some clever options to ensure you don’t have to sacrifice your precious R&R, even when you’ve got bills to pay.

Gaming: Fire-Sales and Free-2-Play Save the Day

Anyone who has been following gaming closely will know that even when correcting for inflation, games and games consoles are getting more expensive. With the latest generation of Xbox and PlayStation games now retailing for a staggering $70, they are becoming increasingly inaccessible to many gaming fans.

Fortunately, if you know where to look you can access high-quality gaming without the price tag. For one, all gamers should become aware of the value of shopping around.

Many sectors, such as that of iGaming and online casinos, frequently offer promotions such as no-deposit bonuses for use with their games, and these are often collated together by reputable comparison platforms such as OddsChecker which streamlines the process of finding a deal that suits your requirements.

Elsewhere, official digital game stores, such as the Nintendo eShop, often host fire-sales around holiday periods that can lead to savings of over 50% on headline titles.

In certain situations, it’s even possible to play top-tier games free of charge. One key example of this relates to games that belong to the Free-2-Play genre. These titles employ a monetization model that is built around micro-transactions.

Gamers are invited to purchase loot boxes, skins, and emotes that customize their characters.

While this lets players express their individuality in-game, the crucial point is that, unlike so-called “play-to-win” games, these micro-transactions confer no actual gameplay advantage, and do not unlock any new features.

This means that anyone can dive into a game of Fortnite or Call of Duty: Warzone without having to invest any money whatsoever.

This model is growing increasingly popular across the industry, with new titles like Halo: Infinite even offering their multiplayer segment as a separate Free-2-Play experience accessible to everyone.

Streaming Services: New Lower-Cost Tiers on the Horizon

Back in the early 2010s, streaming was simple. You had one choice, Netflix, and its subscription cost was a very reasonable $7.99. However, before long, new services emerged and began to position themselves as rivals of this content behemoth.

Nowadays, there’s a wide range of distinct providers, from Amazon Prime Video to Disney+, HBO Max, Peacock, Hulu, and Apple TV+. With each of these platforms asking for a monthly subscription fee, you can quickly end up paying more than a premium cable package if you want access to all of them.

Furthermore, as competition has continued to heat up, shareholders in these companies have pressed for subscription costs to rise – the top-tier Netflix subscription available in the US as of 2022 is now $16, over double the original fee.

This is likely an unsustainable situation, and it’s reasonable to expect that the “streaming wars” will eventually yield a more compelling and affordable approach before long.

Some analysts argue we are already witnessing the impact of streaming overload, with a range of platforms, such as Disney+ and Netflix, recently unveiling budget tiers.

Low-cost subscription tiers are nothing new globally, as famously users signing up to Netflix from the Indian sub-continent have the option to subscribe to the service for as little as ₹199 – approximately $2.50.

But these offerings are a first for western markets. Both Netflix and Disney are rumored to unveil budget tiers costing around $5 soon. The catch? That these will be ad-supported. For some, this isn’t a big issue, and the savings will more than makeup for this extra friction.