How to get cheap games on the Xbox Series X and S

Gaming is a relatively cheap hobby when considered to other equipment-heavy sports. Even if you don’t have to budget yourself while shopping for games, everybody likes free or less-expensive games.

This article will cover three methods that will showcase how you can keep expanding your library. Although these games won’t technically be free as all the options have an entry barrier, considering the retail prices of the games you’ll be receiving, you’ll be swimming in bargains.

Here’s how you can get cheap games on the Xbox Series X and S.

Become an Xbox Game Pass subscriber

The console membership for the Xbox Game Pass costs $9.99. After registering for the service you get instant access to a huge game library with more than 100 games.

Microsoft constantly introduces new games for the subscription service, meaning that you’re unlikely to run out of games to play. Xbox Game Studio titles become available for Xbox Game Pass owners on release day as well.

If you also own a PC, you can go all-in with the Xbox Ultimate Game Pass which also includes the PC version of the service. You’ll have two separate game libraries, both on PC and your Xbox Series X/S.

The Ultimate bundle also throws in a Gold membership into the deal which is a must-have to play games online with your friends. Getting the Ultimate version of the deal also means that you’ll be getting more free games since Microsoft keeps adding games both for the PC users and the console players.

Starting in the 2020 holiday season, Microsoft will also include an EA Play membership with the Xbox Ultimate Game Pass, increasing the deal’s value even further. At $14.99, you’ll have access to a gigantic game library that includes both PC and console titles and the whole benefits of EA Play.

Like any other subscription service, EA Play also adds new games to its service, increasing the number of sources you’ll be getting free games from to two. The Xbox Ultimate Game Pass is currently the best bang for your buck deal for Xbox players who are looking to enlarge their game library.

Consider other subscription services

If the Xbox Game Pass titles don’t excite you, there’s always other subscription services with their own epic libraries. You can only subscribe to the EA Play to have full access to EA games with more to come.

Ubisoft+ is currently only available on PC, but the developers are looking to make it available on more platforms.

Trade games

This method won’t be feasible for Xbox Series S owners since it’s impossible to trade digital games. Game trading is the oldest method of getting “free” games. Once you finish a physical copy of a game, it suddenly turns into a collection piece. While there’s nothing wrong with storing your old games as achievements, you can also use them to trade and play more titles in the process.

If you have a network of gamer friends, you could come up with a plan and have each of them buy different titles that you’d all like to play, including you. Once everyone completes their games, you can all trade with each other and keep the cycle going.

Even game stores allow players to bring in their old games to give them hard-to-pass offers on their next title or accept one-to-one trades where you leave your old game and pick up a new one. 

This method isn’t entirely free either, but it should save you a decent sum of money in the long run. You can also join local gaming communities around you for more trading options.