This might sound rich coming from someone who bought a three-year-old game at full price once, but there’s a need for us gamers to keep ourselves informed of the trends, price drops, and other happenings. It’s crucial, regardless if you’re a mobile-only or someone who lives and breathes on a console and PC. Why though?

There are few reasons, and being aware will help you save time, money, and make solid purchasing decisions.

It’ll keep you informed of sales, price drops, and discounts

Keeping yourself updated will keep you informed of the sales, price drops, and cash-saving discounts. In turn, it will help you save money and, yes, buy more games in the long run. As of writing, Steam is currently holding a Summer Sale, treating players to massive price drops on hundreds of games. Though you can hardly miss this, just imagine missing this window on a game you’ve wanted to try out for a long time.

In addition, this would also help you recognize permanent price drops and trends. For example, Arma III is relatively expensive at full price, but it frequently goes on sale and is usually costs a quarter of its original tag. There’s also recognizing how quickly single-player games become cheaper. For example, God of War costs $20 today on the PlayStation Store, a far cry from its $60 tag years ago. Finally, there’s also the issue of digital vs. physical copies. The former’s value goes down quickly, but physical ones retain their value for quite a long time.

New releases and hidden gems

You can never run out of games to play, but the games that fit your preferences are far and few in between. Not keeping yourself updated and scouring the digital storefronts won’t treat you to underrated gems and newly-released games, particularly those on early access.

We’ve always heard of big-budget franchises like GTA, Resident Evil, and Civilization. However, certain “niche” titles don’t get enough attention. For example, strategy games like Europa Universalis IV and Galactic Civilizations are relatively unknown outside its niche, while hidden gems like Suzerain and Pathfinder Kingmaker deserve nothing but praise. Keeping yourself in the dark will make you miss some of the best under-the-radar games, so be sure to illuminate the path ahead.

Community recommendations

We all have our tastes, but at the same time, it would be a smart idea to hear what others, especially those who play the same games you do, think. By visiting community message boards and forums, you’ll be able to read and listen to community opinions, which, in turn, will enlighten and give you advice. You’ll be able to learn about various games, their upsides, and if they’re worth investing in.

To find out if a game you’re eyeing is worth buying

Let’s say you have complete trust in a gaming developer, and in fairness, it’s based on solid foundations since they’ve created fantastic games before. However, their recent game isn’t exactly the most polished experience.

To understand the entire fiasco, you’ll have to check what the community, not the pundits, is saying about it. With that said, you’ll have to keep yourself informed about what people say about it to make an informed purchase and finally decide if you can buy now or simply hold off until the devs make fixes.

5 ways to keep yourself updated

Ok, we’ve discussed how important it is to keep yourself updated. However, we haven’t talked about how to get this done, but thankfully, there are several ways for you to get this done.

Visit the storefronts regularly
I’m referring to Steam and Epic Games. Whenever you start the launcher, you’ll immediately see which games are on sale and what is upcoming. In the case of Steam, there are also curated and personalized listings, giving you an overview of which of the games you like are on sale.

Check the reviews
We recommend visiting review aggregators like Metacritic and Opencritic to be updated about reviews of older games as well as newly-released ones. After all, you would not want to buy a game at the lower end of the review score spectrum, right?

Visit social media accounts, community boards, and forums
If you’re looking for news about a particular game, it’s best to get it straight from the horse’s mouth: the social media accounts of their developers. We recommend Twitter since it’s where most developers and publishing companies post updates. For example, if you’re a Genshin Impact player, check out Paimon’s account or follow us here since we usually create Genshin Impact-related content.

Meanwhile, community boards include the game’s official forums, Reddit threads, and Steam Community.

Check out publishing websites
Websites like IGN, Game Informer, and Gamespot regularly publish gaming industry-related news and updates. They also post, along with Kotaku and Destructoid, opinions and column which sometimes becomes controversial.

Niche content on the web
Unfortunately, these publishing companies only cover mainstream content. If you’re looking for something a little more niche, you need to dig deeper. For example, if you want news about JRPGs, we recommend following (and supporting) RPGsite.

So, in your case, what do you think? Is there are a need for us gamers to keep ourselves updated or does this seem a little extreme?