Black Friday 2020: What to Expect for This Year's Best Video Game Deals

It's hard to believe, but we're in the early stages of Black Friday. It's not a single day event anymore. In fact, those days are long gone. Black Friday went from a single day, to 2 days, to a week or more, and now it's basically the entire month of November. If you're looking for the absolute best Black Friday deals on video games, some of them are already live. Best Buy, for example, had an early Black Friday sale happening through the weekend, with preview prices on 4KTVs and way, way more.

What to Expect From Black Friday Video Game Deals

This is such a wild video game year, it's difficult to predict what will happen. It's doubtful we'll even any PS5 Black Friday or Xbox Series X Black Friday deals, but that doesn't mean we won't see close-out Black Friday PlayStation and Xbox deals on current-generation hardware and software. Last year Sony dropped a great deal on a PS4 Slim and Spider-Man bundle for just $199, and even though everyone knew the PS4 was in its twilight, it still became one of the most popular deals of Black Friday last year. While PlayStation and Xbox console deals are in the air at this point, we already have a lead on one of Black Friday-past's most popular Nintendo Switch deals.

Nintendo Switch Black Friday Deals

[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-top-25-switch-games-fall-2020-update&captions=true"] The last two years, Nintendo offered a Nintendo Switch Mario Kart 8 bundle for $299.99. The first year, it was a pretty good deal. Last year, not so much. While the price remained the same, so did the model of the Switch contained within. That meant at a time when there was a newer version of the Nintendo Switch with significantly improved battery life, Nintendo used Black Friday to clear out the last of its older-model stock. It's no surprise, then, that Nintendo's Black Friday offering is more of the same. However, this year's bundle is a little better than the past couple years: you (finally) get the latest-model Nintendo Switch, along with a download code for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and 3 free months of Nintendo Online for $299 at Best Buy. It's likely other retailers will follow suit, but for now, Best Buy has a page in place for the Switch bundle. In case you're wondering, the model on the Switch bundle is HADSKABLD. The previous years' bundles were model HACSKABLH. New version Switch models begin with HAD, older versions begin with HAC. So in spite of what you may have read, it is the latest model Nintendo Switch, according to the model number on the Best Buy website. There will be lots of chances to save with Black Friday Nintendo Switch game deals, too. Some first-party Nintendo games will be going for as low as $34.99 this year, their lowest prices, ever.

PS5 Black Friday Deals

Black Friday follows the launch of the next-gen consoles by just a few weeks. Because demand for PS5 is so very, very high, the best we can hope for over Black Friday is the possibility of finding some PS5s in-stock. We might see bundles or deals on PS5 games, and we'll almost certainly see deals on PS5-compatible PS4 games. Also, keep an eye out for PS Plus deals, too. With the almost-20 PlayStation Plus Collection coming to PS5 for PS Plus subscribers, it's already a great deal. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=ps5-box-pictures&captions=true"]

Xbox Series X Black Friday Deals

As is the case for PS5, don't expect to see any Xbox Series X deals on Black Friday, but keep an eye out for potential bundled deals. And especially keep an eye out for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate deals this Black Friday. While PS5 is chipping away at Game Pass, it's nowhere near the excellent value of Microsoft's gaming service. My hope is we see the return of stackable subscription deals for Game Pass Ultimate. We already know, via Best Buy's Black Friday ad, the 3-month Game Pass Ultimate subscriptions will be $22.99. That's probably the Game Pass Black Friday deal we'll see at other retailers, too. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=xbox-series-s-and-series-x-comparison-photos&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Seth Macy is Executive Editor, IGN Commerce, and this is his fourth year covering Black Friday and Cyber Monday for IGN. You can find him on Instagram.