Let me start with the moment that changed how I buy games. I had EA Sports FC 26 in a basket at one of the big high-street chains, thumb hovering over pay, when a mate messaged me a screenshot. Same game, same day, nearly a tenner cheaper. Same shop he always uses. It’s called The Game Collection. I closed the other tab. Felt a bit daft, honestly. And I’ve barely paid RRP since. If you buy more than three or four games a year, this genuinely adds up.
So this is not a gentle “have a browse sometime” piece. This is me pointing at the offers that are live right now and saying: go look before they move. The Game Collection is a UK games retailer that leans hard on price, free delivery and same-day dispatch, and the range covers PS5, Xbox, Switch, Switch 2 and a deep back catalogue. Open the current deals at The Game Collection in another tab and read on with it beside you.
The console bundle that quietly undercuts everyone
Consoles are where the savings stop being pocket change and start being a proper night out. The Switch 2 plus Mario Kart World bundle is the obvious hero here – a next-gen console and one of the biggest launch games in one box, priced as a bundle rather than two separate full-price hits. Buying the game alongside a console almost always beats grabbing it on its own later, and this is the cleanest example of that on the site right now.
Here’s the honest reason to move on a bundle like this quickly. Console allocations get thin, launch bundles sell through, and the price you see today is rarely the price in six weeks. If a Switch 2 is on your list, locking the bundle in now protects both the stock and the saving. Check the live Switch 2 bundle price here before you talk yourself out of it.
New releases, minus the RRP tax
This is the bit that hooked me. New-release pricing here regularly sits below the headline number the publishers want you to pay. EA Sports FC 26 is a perfect test case – it’s the game half the country buys on day one, and it’s exactly the kind of title where a single shop being cheaper saves you real money every single year.
Do the sum with me. Six new games a year. Each one five pounds cheaper. That’s a free game by December. Buy the big annuals – a FIFA-shaped game, a Call of Duty, the odd Nintendo first-party – and the gap gets wider, because those are the titles other shops protect their margins on. Scan the new-release chart here and you’ll spot the pattern fast.
Why the price is lower (and still safe)
The Game Collection is a long-running UK specialist, not a random marketplace seller. You get brand-new, sealed, UK-stock games with tracked delivery – just without the full high-street markup.
Free UK delivery on qualifying orders and same-day dispatch on in-stock titles mean the low price isn’t clawed back at checkout. That’s the part that actually matters.
Preorders that lock in the price early
Preordering used to feel like a mug’s game. It doesn’t here, because of one small promise that does a lot of work – you pay the lowest price between the day you order and the day it ships. Big hitters like Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition on Switch 2 are exactly the kind of title worth reserving, because launch-day stock evaporates and you want the bonuses.
My rule now is simple. If I know I’m buying a game at launch anyway, I preorder it the moment it’s listed, take the price guarantee, and forget about it until it lands on my doormat. No queues, no day-one sell-outs, no paying more because I dithered. Have a look at what’s open for preorder right now and reserve the ones you were always going to buy.
Don’t sleep on the recent-release dips
Here’s a habit worth building. The sharpest savings often aren’t on the newest game – they’re on the one that came out three months ago. A blockbuster like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 drops in price faster than you’d expect once the launch rush cools, and that’s the sweet spot: still current, still online-busy, suddenly a bargain.
So my playbook is a mix. Preorder the two or three games I truly can’t wait for, then fill the rest of the year from the recent-release dips and the sale pages. It keeps my backlog full and my card mostly un-traumatised. Sort the recent releases by price here and build yourself a summer’s worth of games for the cost of one full-price splurge.
The honest verdict
Is it perfect? No. The one flaw I’ll own up to: the very hottest launch stock can sell out fast, so the “add to basket next week” approach will occasionally burn you. That’s the trade-off for the low prices – demand is real. The fix is just to decide and act rather than dither, which is a habit worth having anyway.
Beyond that, I struggle to argue with it. Lower prices on the games I was buying regardless, free UK delivery, same-day dispatch, and a preorder guarantee that removes the usual gamble – it’s just a smarter default than paying RRP out of habit. Do the one thing that saves you money this year and check the offers at The Game Collection before your next purchase.
