Best Nintendo and Xbox Black Friday deals: Top UK offers on consoles and games in the 2020 sales

Ready, Player One - we have mere weeks to prepare for Black Friday 2020 and its annual avalanche of brilliant gaming deals.

Come November 27, the internet will once again be inundated with offers on the Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One and every console-plus gaming bundle in between. If we're lucky, we might even see some deals on the brand new PS5.

Traditionally, Black Friday marks some of the biggest and best gaming deals of the year - the trick is simply figuring out where and when to find the best price. You need to be fast, too, as the very best tend to sell out in a few hours.

Therefore, whether you’re in the market for a Christmas gift that will keep your child smiling through the new year or simply looking to expand your own gaming arsenal, it's time to get your game-face on.

Here is our ultimate guide to the best gaming deals in the early Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2020 sales.

Predictions for Black Friday and Cyber Monday gaming deals

For the gamer girls and guys among us, Black Friday is not only about saving big on games and consoles, but the tech and accessories required to play like a pro. Think gaming laptops, keyboards, monitors, headsets, graphics cards and more.

If VR gaming has piqued your interest this year, it might even be the opportunity you’ve been waiting for to get your hands on the brand-new Oculus Quest 2, HTC Vive, or Sony PlayStation VR at a discounted price. If past years are anything to go by, we expect to see between £100 to £200 off more expensive headsets, like the HTC Vive Pro, and £50 or so off more affordable headsets.

Prices will vary across different retailers on different days, but we will keep you updated throughout.

Console and video game deals typically create the most buzz throughout Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but their popularity also results in speedy sell-outs. We advise deciding what consoles and games you want to buy before the day itself - as well as the prices you're willing to pay them - so you can snap deals up as soon as they're released.

For a PS4 or Xbox One S, it’s worth noting that console-plus-games bundles are almost always better value than standalone console discounts. Before rushing to buy a console alone, consider which games you may want to play in the coming months and check whether they're available in a bundle. Deals often drastically discount the cost of one or two popular titles and throw in genre-friendly games you may not discover otherwise.

As the PS5 is new and in high demand, we don't expect to find major discounts, but its arrival will drive the price of PS4 bundles down further than ever.

Nintendo Switch deals and discounts

In its short tenure, the Switch has not only become the fastest-selling console in Nintendo's history, but something of a saviour to people looking for a bit of escapism in lockdown.

Because of this, the demand for the Nintendo Switch rarely falters and retailers have been turning a profit on the handheld console - and its associated bundles - from the start.

Thankfully, while they don't need to cut its price, Nintendo still offers great Black Friday deals. Last year, the best Nintendo Switch deal was offered from Amazon, which knocked £30 off the console’s retail price of £279, and we expect to see the same again.

Bundles are popular for Amazon and its competitors, too, which make for great Christmas gifts. This year, we expect the new Nintendo Switch Fortnite edition to be at the top of people's lists, as well as Animal Crossing, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Minecraft bundles.

Xbox One deals - what will be on offer?

While the Xbox One X and Xbox One S have made quite the reputation for themselves as two of the most desirable games consoles in the world, the new Xbox Series X and Series S are shimmying in to take their place this year.

As you might expect, the cheapest Black Friday deals will be tied to the slightly less-powerful Xbox One S — particularly when it's included in bundles — but we expect to see £50 to £100 off Xbox's last-gen models from most retailers. In the past, we’ve seen an Xbox One S 500GB bundled with Rocket League, COD WW2 and a NOW TV subscription for just £199.99.

PS4 and PS5 deal predictions

The PS5 is set to launch in the UK on November 19 but, as it's currently sold out on pre-order, we don't expect to see many Black Friday deals for the new console this year.

Alternatively, the brilliant PS4 Pro will be celebrating its fifth Black Friday this year, meaning it is likely to be offered at its lowest-ever price. Bundles for both the flagship PS4 and PS4 Slim could also be reduced by £100s this year, on the back of the PS5's arrival.

All three original PS4 consoles are still as powerful and reliable as they were on release, making the PS4 Pro (with its upgraded GPU and a high CPU clock rate) a great option if you're not bothered about having the latest model. In previous years, console bundles have been reduced by up to £100 off, so we're expecting the same - at least - for 2020.

PC and video game deal predictions

To draw in the crowds, most major retailers put the year's best-selling games at the forefront of their Black Friday deals. This year, they're has been great interest in Fifa 21, Pokemon Sword, Grand Theft Auto, and Animal Crossing, so we're sure to see significant deals on each.

By the same token, many of 2020's long-awaited game releases will come out just a few weeks before Black Friday, including Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Assassin's Creed Valhalla and  Cyberpunk 2077. Though the reductions won't be drastic, they could well be discounted as flash or ‘Lightning’ deals throughout Black Friday weekend.

Though you will be lucky to find new games discounted by more than £10, older games (think pre-2017) have been discounted by as much as 80 per cent in previous years’ sales.

The best gaming subscription deals

As they're almost never discounted, you will want to keep an eye out for deals on gaming subscriptions like PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Gold.

We expect many of the best subscription deals will be offered in console bundles. With the high cost of a PlayStation Plus subscription, in particular, it might be worth choosing a subscription bundle over a games bundle.