Update: Looks like Amazon has made some changes and now games that weren’t reflecting the 20% discount, now do. However, are still some games that don’t show up correctly – Gran Turismo Sport is one of them.
Originally, Best Buy was the only game in town that gave gamers a 20% discount when it came to both physical pre-orders and already released games. Of course, Amazon didn’t sit on the sidelines and eventually implemented their own discount that game gamers 20% off all pre-orders and games that were released within a two-week window. This put them right smack against Best Buy’s Gamers Club, and of course, this sort of competition is good for everyone. But was it too good to last?
Seemingly, AMaazonis putting an end to this and they’ve been going about it quietly, without any notification. It was previously reported by multiple gamers that Amazon Canada had slashed their 20% discount to just a 10% discount. This was thought to believe that this would also be done across the board, meaning we’d see it in the United States as well. And while we haven’t seen this happen just yet, what we did see was a change on how long our 20% discount would be applied.
Popular Twitter user, Wario64, who posts on video game deals noticed that Amazon had removed the 20% discount on games with-in the two-week window. That the discount only applies to pre-orders. However, my own investigation shows that it may go much deeper than that.
Just checked a few latest releases, looks like no more 20% off Prime discount on games released within 2 weeks. Discount only for preorders https://t.co/Mj9GP0cXRq
— Wario64 (@Wario64) August 16, 2017
At first, I thought it might have been just a coincidence, so I went on my account to see if it was also happening to me. Turns out that it was, which is very disappointing. But that’s not all, as I wasn’t able to see the 20% on Agents of Mayhem at all. The discount was nowhere to be found, despite the listing show that I was indeed signed into my Amazon Prime account. I then went to see if I could pre-order Fallout 4: GOTY and the 20% discount was not applied to my purchase at all. Ignore the $10 discount, as it applied a gift card balance that I couldn’t remove from the order.
The item in question is $99.99, minus 20%, should have been $79.99. Instead, I was charged the full amount of $99.99. Definitely bizarre, indeed. Next, I opened a chat session with an Amazon representative, to see if they had any idea as to what was happening. As always they were helpful and asked what issue I was having. Once I pointed the rep to the pre-order, however, it was a very long pause. The rep, who I won’t name, was gone for a solid ten minutes as they tried to see what was happening.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. After doing some more checking, it seems that the discount isn’t completely gone and it is still being applied to games. It just seems that at the moment, it’s completely random.
While it was missing on Fallout 4: GOTY, when I checked Madden 18, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, Ni No Kuni 2, and Forza Motorsport 7, the discount was indeed applied. When I checked on several multiplatform games, I got mixed results. Games that had the discount applied to PS4 and Xbox One games were missing for the Nintendo Switch and vice versa. Definitely, something odd going on here.
After another nine minutes, the Amazon rep had replied back to me stating that they do provide the 20% on pre-orders. But currently, there seems to be an issue, which is why the discount is missing.
I’ve posted the entire conversation with that rep below, but for obvious reasons, I have replaced their name.
Me: I am not noticing any 20% discount on video game pre-orders anymore.
You are now connected to Amazon Rep from Amazon.com
Amazon Rep: Hello, my name is Amazon Rep. I’m here to help you today.
Me: Hello Amazon Rep
Amazon Rep: How are you, Keith ?
Me: Good, thanks for asking.
Has Amazon removed the 20% off of game pre-orders?
Amazon Rep: May I have the link for this pre order game that you are looking for ?
Me: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074N…(See full link)
I did pre-order it, order number ORDER # 114-1039426-6709014
outside of my 10 dollar gift card, I was given the full price.
Amazon Rep: Let me check that for you.
Thank you for being patient.
Me: no worries
Amazon Rep: I checked the whole page for it and I see no 20% discount on this game. We provide 20% discount on games however there must be some issue which is why it is not showing. Do not worry, once the item is shipped out we will refund the 20% of this order.
Me: ok, thank you.
Thanks for checking.
So it would seem that Amazon hasn’t pulled the pre-order discount, at least not as of yet. But there’s still no way to confirm that they are removing it from games during the two-week window. Whatever is stopping the discount from showing on Fallout 4: GOTY, could also be affecting other things.
We’ll just have to wait and see what Amazon says about it.
