Amazon Prime Takes Away 20% Off Game Pre-Orders, Replaces It With New Reward

Written by Brandon Hofer on August 20, 2018

News: Amazon has revealed that beginning later this month you will receive a reward credit for pre-ordering certain games but no more 20% off titles.

Amazon has just announced some changes that will be coming to your Prime membership. The most important one for gamers is that beginning on August 28, Amazon Prime members will be able to get a $10 Amazon credit for pre-ordering select games on Amazon. It is basically the same thing that Best Buy does with certain games, where they will give you $10 for pre-ordering certain titles with them. The bad part about this for gamers is that this $10 reward will replace the 20% off pre-order program. If there is a game that you want to pre-order and still get that 20% off you need to do it before August 28th (you won’t get the $10 reward though, obviously). Not all games are eligible for this offer but it will be easy to tell which ones are still using this program as it will immediately tell you before you add the item to the cart. Once August 28 arrives the 20% off offer will disappear and be replaced by the $10 Amazon credit offer.

While the $10 Amazon credit is certainly appreciated, that will make these games a bit more expensive up front. With the 20% off pre-order program you saved money immediately, only having to pay $47.99 up front (plus tax) instead of the $59.99 standard price like you will have to do now. Additionally, Amazon has stated the following in regards to how long it will take to get your reward:

“You will receive an email from Amazon up to 35 days after the qualifying purchase is delivered or made available that indicates that $10 in Amazon promotional credit has been added to your customer account. The email will also provide instructions on how to redeem the promotional credit.”

Up to 35 days seems a bit excessive to me but I have to believe it won’t take nearly that long. Best Buy’s program, by comparison, has your reward in your account approximately 14 days after you get your game. It also appears that you will only have a specified amount of time to use these rewards. This promotional credit will expire 60 days after it appears in your account, so you are going to want to pay attention to dates so that you don’t lose out on your “free” rewards. This $10 reward program will also only apply to games sold through Amazon. If you are buying a game from a third party on Amazon you will not receive the reward. For additional details, click here.

What do you think about this change to Prime? Keep in mind that this $10 reward does not apply to every title. If Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, for example, is a title that is participating in this program you should see it on the product page before you add the item to your cart. Do you like this new $10 reward program or would you have preferred they keep the 20% pre-order bonus? Tell us in the comments below.