Black Friday 2026 PC game deals: what to expect and how to prepare
Black Friday is on 27 November in 2026, with Cyber Monday on 30 November. For PC games it is the busiest week of the year for discounts, and also the week when a big red percentage is easiest to take at face value. Here is what to expect, and how to be ready.
What stores usually do
Steam's autumn sale normally runs across Black Friday week, and most other stores run their own offers around it: the Epic Games Store, GOG, Fanatical, Humble, Green Man Gaming, Gamesplanet and the rest. Some start early in the week, some run only for the weekend, and some carry on through Cyber Monday. Stores announce their dates shortly before, so the exact days differ from shop to shop. The sales calendar follows the dates they have published.
"Black Friday" at a store is therefore often several days, not one, and a few offers are short flash deals that last a day or a few hours. That is one more reason to see the current price somewhere that lists every store, rather than trust the first banner you meet.
What tends to be worth waiting for
- Older games. Games that are a year or more old are the usual candidates for deep discounts. New releases normally get smaller ones.
- Whole catalogues. Publishers often discount many of their games at once, so a series you have been following may be cheaper all together.
- Bundles. Check what is in them and what the first tier costs: the price shown for a tiered bundle is its first tier only.
Whether Black Friday gives a game its lowest price depends on the game, which is exactly what a price history shows. For a game you are going to play now, a good price today is a good price.
How to check that a Black Friday price is real
- Look at the price over time. A discount is measured against the store's own list price, which can be old or generous. Each game page shows a chart from our own daily record of the cheapest store. That record began in October 2026, so this is our first Black Friday and for most games it covers weeks, not years. Where it is too short to say anything, the page says nothing rather than guess.
- Compare every store. The store with the biggest percentage off is not always the cheapest. The game page lists them side by side, cheapest first.
- Check the edition. The cheap listing may be the base game while the "complete" edition costs a little more and includes the expansions.
- Check the region and the platform of a key from a shop other than Steam, as in Steam keys or the Steam store.
The five checks for a good deal go through the same questions in more detail.
Prepare before the week
- Make your list. Write down the few games you actually want and a price you would pay for each. It is much easier to ignore the rest of the week.
- Check your Steam wishlist. Paste your profile link into the wishlist checker and it lists which of your wishlist games are on sale now and where each is cheapest. Your wishlist has to be public.
- Set price alerts. On a game's page, "Tell me if it drops" sends one email when the price falls to the price you set, with no account. "Notify this device" does the same as a browser notification.
- Read the refund rules of the shop you plan to buy from. They differ between stores.
After Black Friday
Cyber Monday is the last day of many of the offers, and some stores carry theirs on through the following days. Steam's winter sale usually comes in the second half of December. If you missed a price, a price alert is how you catch the next one without checking by hand, and skipping a sale you did not need is a saving too.