The Best Deals on Destiny

When Destiny arrives for the Xbox One and PS4 on September 9th, the hope of a new generation of video games will go with it – at least that’s what its developer and publisher are hoping. The game represents a big change in the way users play first-person shooters. Should it be successful, we could see online role-playing characteristics make it to more and more console games. Regardless of the outcome, the Destiny release is going to be a big deal and buyers are going to be in search of the best Destiny deals on launch day.

Read: 3 Reasons You Need to Play the Destiny Beta Today

Destiny is one of the most exciting high-profile games to make its way to consoles this calendar year, but you’d never know that by the amount of Destiny deals out there. There are just a few, excluding the Destiny special edition PS4 bundle and a few game bundles.

Best Buy

Ironically, of all places it’s Best Buy, the American electronics retailer, that’s offering the best Destiny deals for release day. Users who have a My Best Buy membership get a $10 gift certificate when they purchase Destiny. This deal doesn’t exclude any version of the game, meaning users who are purchasing copies of Destiny for the Xbox One, PS4, PS3 or Xbox 360 will get Best Buy gift cards with their pre-order and purchase. Luckily, anyone can get a My Best Buy membership free of charge. Other rewards of the program include free shipping on orders of $35 or more.

Late last year Best Buy introduced a My Best Buy Gamers Club Unlocked program for gaming lovers and anyone who frequently purchases video games for others at its retail locations. My Best Buy Games Club Unlocked users get 20% off of whatever games they purchase from the retailer. That means that users who take advantage of Best Buy’s Destiny deal get an additional 20% off the cost of Destiny and that $10 gift certificate that can be used for just about anything sold in the store or online.

Unfortunately, Best Buy Gamers Club Unlocked isn’t free. It costs $119.99 to join the program and get 20% off any game for two years.

Microsoft

The Microsoft Store, the retail arm of the software company of the same name that makes the Xbox One is offering its own exclusive Destiny deal and no memberships, discount cards or game trade-ins are necessary. From now until release day, Microsoft is giving users who pre-order Destiny for the Xbox One a $10 gift card. That gift card can be used for just about anything. We’re talking more games from the Xbox Store or even a television show for users to watch right before the game arrives on their door step. About the only catch related to this Destiny deal is timing on the gift card. Users will need to redeem the gift card code on their Xbox Live account sometime before 2016. If they don’t, they’ll lose the full value.

Additionally Microsoft is promising that users who order physical copies of Destiny before September 5th will get the game delivered to their door on release day.

Where Are All The Rest of the Destiny Deals?

So where are the Destiny deals? That’s what most gamers are asking and there’s not really a clear answer.

For the most part it comes down to how popular Destiny is expected to be. Destiny television commercials have aired for weeks. Furthermore, publisher Activision has had almost two years to hype the game. What that has created is a climate where Destiny is the most talked-about game coming out this September and October. That’s left most retailers pretty sure that they’ll be able to move copies of the game without extra deals.

It also doesn’t hurt that in early August game retailer GameStop announced that it would no longer be focusing deals on release windows. Instead, the company slashed the number of individual prices for its games and boosted trade-in values across the board. That’s why we’re not seeing in specials like the extra 30%-50% boost it used to give gamers who traded in other titles towards new releases. In the short-term that means we’ll all have less limited time deals available to us. In the long-term that could force many gamers to join the company’s Power Up Rewards program. Power Up Rewards buyers pay $14.99 a year and get a 10% bonus on things they trade-in.

Read: Destiny Special Editions: Which Should You Pre-Order?

When Destiny launches it’ll come in a number of different versions. Users who purchase directly through their console will can pick up a standard version of the game or an upgraded version that costs more and includes access to the game’s first two expansion packs. Two high-end official Destiny Special editions will also be available.