With households increasingly feeling the squeeze, sometimes the most superficial-seeming costs are the first to go.
After all, when you’ve got bills to pay, the luxury of buying a new PlayStation game can seem, at the very least, unrealistic.
Yet having fun and ensuring you can access recreational entertainment and media shouldn’t have to be sacrificed unduly.
Below we’re going to be taking a look at two of the most popular entertainment sectors today – gaming and content streaming, to explore whether a range of clever tips, tricks and strategies can’t save us from having to forgo these well-loved elements of R&R that occupy such an important place in our lives.
Fortunately, if you know where to look, there are ways you can have your cake and eat it when it comes to home entertainment.
Video Games
Gaming is one of the most expensive forms of media nowadays, with a new console game sometimes setting you back as much as £70. Obviously, that’s well out of the range of a lot of people and can make the process of buying a new title a rare occurrence.
Fortunately, there are frequent fire sales that take place on official platform stores like the Nintendo eShop. These often coincide with holidays and can lead to huge savings of over 50% on select games, as such it’s always a good idea to periodically check in on what deals are available at any one time.
Another great way to get gaming on a budget is to access Free-2-Play titles like Fortnite and Call of Duty: Warzone. These games make all their money through inessential micro-transactions that do not confer any tangible advantage on the player.
This works out as a win-win for fans of these titles, as those who want to invest in customising their characters can do so, but gamers who aren’t bothered can still proceed with playing the base game unencumbered for free.
These games are not to be confused with Freemium or so-called “play-to-win” games, which should be avoided as they do not offer a satisfying experience without having to spend money. Free-2-Play games are incredibly successful as they offer gamers a means of accessing high-quality gaming without having to spend a penny, and are among the most popular online games played today.
Even fans of gameplay experiences typically thought to require money, such as those belonging to the iGaming category, can find free options if they know where to look. For example, VegasSlotsOnline is committed to serving up a range of Vegas-style Online Slots in the UK wholly free of charge – all that’s required if you confirm your age. With over 7780 slots on offer, this is the single largest collection of free slots titles on the internet and promises hours of fun without having to invest any of your hard-earned.
TV & Movies
Undoubtedly the most popular form of entertainment nowadays is that of TV and movies, especially as exemplified by the binge-worthy content of streaming platforms like Netflix. This service’s standard subscription cost is £10.99 per month, but you can split this cost between housemates or members of your household to lighten that load.
Netflix is also experimenting with the idea of bringing out a cheaper subscription tier that plays ads. Should this make its way to the UK, you can expect it to cost a far more palatable £3 a month. Other platforms, like Disney+, are also soldiering ahead with bringing out their own budget ad-supported tiers.
When one considers that subscribing to several of these services at once can really add up, this new format may end up proving perfect for certain users who don’t mind the prospect of sitting through the occasional advert.
Finally, if you’re wanting to watch a specific series only available on, for example, Disney+ or Amazon Prime Video, if you’re committed to the binge, you can always watch this show within the 7-day free trial time span and quit before being billed.
However, for those that don’t want to have to deal with direct debits, it also bears keeping in mind that Freeview now offers over 70 channels nowadays for no added cost, with a wide range of noteworthy shows – it’s not all just Antiques Roadtrip (not that we’ve got a problem with that).
