A week after Amazon and Best Buy launched their own early Black Friday sales, Walmart has joined the party. Everyone can now benefit from the site's early offerings, and discounts are spanning PS5, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch right now. I've scrolled through this entire sale this morning and picked out seven offers that stand a cut above the rest. That's either because they're at record-low prices, or they sit on rarely discounted products.
We're still two weeks away from official Black Friday gaming deals, but retailers have bee running their full sales early for years now. In fact, I often see these kinds of discounts simply running through to the main event itself. It was Walmart's early Black Friday sale last year that signposted a lot of the official offers that would land on the big day - and many products simply stayed at the same sales prices that entire time.
Walmart's early Black Friday sale at a glance
- PS5: record-low accessory prices
- Switch: renewed consoles from $234
- Xbox: $50 off consoles
- Laptops: from $539.99
- Monitors: from $67.99
- PCs: from $489
- Walmart Plus: now 50% off
Are early Black Friday sales worth it?
Gone are the days of Black Friday actually meaning the last Friday of November, for the last few years retailers have been extending their holiday sales earlier and earlier - sometimes even stretching into October. In the first few weeks of that sale it's natural to be a little skeptical - there's so much time for prices to drop further, after all. I've noticed a trend in the last couple of years, though. The discounts that land on the shelves from the start of November tend to stick across the sale as a whole. While there will likely be more products on sale on Black Friday itself, the kinds of savings we're seeing now will be representative of prices on the day as well.
That means it's worth taking a look at early sales - you can avoid the competitive rush of Black Friday itself while still taking the time to price check other stores, evaluate exactly what you need from your gaming tech, and make sure you're getting a 'real' saving. Things can move fast on Black Friday - and the increase in attention means deals that may have been on the shelves for weeks leading up to the main event can quickly run out of stock. Early offers can present excellent peace of mind.
That said, we don't ever truly know what will go down on the big day. I can track price histories and make an educated guess as to whether a game or accessory is at its rock-bottom price for the year, but stores can always surprise us with their flash sales. This is more dangerous for expensive gadgets - PCs, laptops, and TVs. The difference in price between now and Black Friday could be a couple of hundred dollars, it could be nothing, it could be out of stock. However, it's safer to buy from early Black Friday sales when the MSRP of an item itself is lower - if it falls further at the end of the month, you'll only miss out on a few bucks extra discount.
We're also keeping you topped up with all the latest Black Friday Nintendo Switch deals, Black Friday PS5 deals and Black Friday Xbox deals.
