Xbox’s Black Friday sale this year is shaping up to be… complicated. Microsoft has spent much of 2025 raising prices across the board, with consoles, controllers, games, and even Game Pass Ultimate all getting more expensive.
We’ll definitely still see discounts for Xbox fans during the big sale season; it’s just unfortunate that almost everything is starting from a considerably higher baseline than before.
That said, I’m also predicting that we’ll still be able to score some worthwhile discounts come Black Friday. While Xbox’s official “Black Friday” offerings rarely deliver great savings, in my experience, you just need to know where and when to look for bargains, and which “deals” to avoid altogether.
To help with this, I’ve put together my predictions for what will be discounted this year, alongside some expert advice on the best places to find Xbox deals once the sales properly kick off.
Xbox Game Pass
Let’s kick off with the most obvious starting point: Xbox Game Pass. Unfortunately, Game Pass Ultimate recently saw another major price hike, jumping a massive 50% in the US, so I probably wouldn’t expect Microsoft to discount it directly this Black Friday.
But, not all hope is lost, as I’m certain you’ll still be able to find good offers from other retailers, and dodge the new $29.99 per month standard rate. Amazon, for instance, is already selling three-month codes for $54.99, down from $89.99.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
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That’s a great deal if you want to lock in coverage through the holidays. The max you can fill out your account with is 12 lots of three months (totalling 36 months), and currently costs $659.88, or $219.96 per year.
By comparison, at the new $29.99 monthly rate, three years of Game Pass Ultimate now costs $1,079.64. So there are already big savings to be had. It’s just a question of whether we’ll potentially see anything even better in the coming weeks.
Now that’s where things get interesting. For the best deal possible in the final months of the year, my advice is to keep an eye on Amazon-owned Woot. Last year, Woot dropped three months of Game Pass Ultimate to just $28.99 during Black Friday, over 50% off at the time.
It was a great deal, but considering it now costs $90 for three months of Ultimate today, this now looks like an absolute juggernaut of a discount.
It’s purely speculative that this offer could reappear, and I doubt we’ll see anything quite that generous in 2025, but anything even close to it would be worth shouting about again.
Woot is one of the best retailers for limited-time, doorbuster-style discounts, and since it’s backed by Amazon, it’s a safe bet. The only downside is that these deals sell out fast, so to avoid missing out, I’d suggest following @IGNDeals on Twitter/X for the latest updates.
Xbox Controllers
Predictably, I’m very much expecting Microsoft to once again roll out its usual $10 off Black Friday offer for Xbox controllers. This wasn’t a good deal last year, and won’t be a good deal this year either, especially since the MSRP is now $64.99.
Last year, controllers dropped as low as $35 at multiple retailers during Black Friday, and we’ve already seen them hit that again recently at Lenovo before a promo expired. This is the sort of pricing I’d try and hold out for if you’re looking for the best deal possible.
Xbox Wireless Controller with USB Cable
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Even now, the Carbon Black controller is $39.99 at Amazon ahead of Black Friday, which is likely better than anything Microsoft itself will offer once the sale begins. If you want to pick up one of the best PC gaming controllers at that price now, I wouldn’t judge you.
That said, I still expect we’ll see every color scheme go on sale closer to Black Friday, so it could be worth waiting to see if you can grab something a little bolder, and potentially at an even better price.
When it comes to deals to skip, I’d avoid paying anything over $45 for the core controllers during the sale season.
The only other Xbox controllers I’d be excited about this Black Friday are the new special edition models, such as the “Breaker” series, as long as they get deeper discounts.
I’m also watching to see whether we’ll get another significant price drop on the Xbox Elite 2 Controllers. Ideally, the Core Elite model would fall around $90, while the full Elite 2 package would drop to somewhere between $110 and $120.
Xbox Games
When it comes to games, this should be a solid year for discounts, especially on third-party titles. Xbox hasn’t pushed physical releases much lately, given how deep it’s gone into its digital-first, Game Pass-heavy ecosystem, but that doesn’t mean deals will be scarce.
First-party games will probably get modest 10-20% discounts, usually digital only. Expect to see The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, The Outer Worlds 2, Doom: The Dark Ages, Avowed, Indiana Jones (and its DLC), and Gears of War Reloaded included. I wouldn’t hold my breath for Call of Duty Black Ops 7, but anything’s possible.
Third-party games are where the best savings will be, particularly for physical copies. Expect discounts in line with PlayStation’s across big releases like Borderlands 4 (already down to $55 recently), Sonic Racing: Crossworlds (Sega loves a Black Friday sale), and EA Sports FC 26, which reliably drops every year without fail.
Other top 2025 games likely to see further cuts include Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, Split Fiction, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Civilization 7, and Elden Ring Nightreign. Each has already been discounted in other sales this year, so expect them to dip again.
What game would you like to see in the Black Friday sales? Let us know in the comments.
Xbox Consoles
Last year, one of the better offers for Xbox was the Xbox Series X All-Digital 1TB going for just under $400 at Amazon. That was decent, but not mindblowing.
Yet, considering this exact console now costs nearly $600 after this year’s price hikes, I doubt we’ll see anything close to sub $400 any time again soon. I’d expect maybe a $50-100 discount across the board on Xbox consoles this year, but don’t expect a miracle.
Still, if you’re hunting for the best deal, keep an eye on Lenovo. It tends to offer surprise Xbox console discount codes during Black Friday that quietly end up being the best prices around.
A proper great deal, at least by 2025 standards, would be around $250 for a Series S or $400 for a Series X. It’s also worth watching Amazon’s “Used – Like New” listings. They’ve been running excellent resale discounts on almost-new hardware lately, just with open packaging.
For example, Amazon sold a PS5 Pro for $500 during Prime Day, a PS Portal for $125, and a PS VR2 Headset bundle for just under $190.
If similar offers show up for Xbox consoles during Black Friday, that could end up being the best way to save big this year. That goes the same for Xbox controllers, and even the pricey Xbox ROG Ally X as well.
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Robert Anderson is Senior Commerce Editor and IGN’s resident deals expert on games, collectibles, trading card games, and more. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter/X or Bluesky.
