How the Amazon Prime price hike affects gamers

AMAZON recently announced that it is increasing the price of Prime membership subscriptions. Here’s how it affects Prime Gaming.

From September 15, the price of Amazon Prime’s monthly subscription cost will increase from £7.99 to £8.99.

The increase is higher for those who pay annually going from £79 to £95 for the year.

This change comes in the midst of a cost of living crisis when many use their Prime subscriptions to lower the cost of entertainment.

Many use their Prime membership to receive free games and rewards via Prime Gaming, though this may not be cost effective following the increase.

Those who use Prime Gaming for the free subscription to their favourite Twitch channel will see a significant change.

Twitch recently lowered the price of monthly subscriptions in the UK to £3.99.

The price hike will see Prime users pay even more compared to Twitch sub prices than ever before.

If you only use Prime Gaming for the free Twitch sub, remaining subscribed to Amazon Prime could cost you an additional £60 a year.

However, Prime Gaming will still offer free in-game currency and bonuses to a number of live service games such as Pokémon Go, Valorant, GTA Online, and Apex Legends.

This could save you money if you are likely to spend in these games via microtransactions.

Prime Gaming also offers a handful of PC games which are free to download every month.

This month, Maniac Mansion, Suzerain, Fishing: North Atlantic, and Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark are all available to download.

While most of these games cost more than the price of Prime elsewhere, if you are not a PC gamer, or you rarely download these games, then your subscription may not be worth the cost.

Prime also offers discounts on a number of gaming pre-orders. However, better deals can sometimes be found on other storefronts.

For example Prime users can get a 10% discount for upcoming Xenoblade Chronicles 3, costing £44.99.

Those who shop at Currys will get a 15% discount on their pre-order, saving an additional £7.

It’s up to gamers whether the price increase is worth it to them personally, but hopefully this guide will help you decide.

Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.