Let me guess: you’ve got a gamer that’s near and dear to your heart and you’re happy that they find joy in their favorite pastime (or you do a good job of hiding just how much you loathe games). You have no clue as to what you should get for your loved one that’s related to their hobby and you’d like some help. Lucky for you, we at Newzertainment understand your situation and are here to aid you in putting a smile on your gamer’s face with your list of the best gift for gamers.
Table of Contents
The top 10 best gifts for gamers
Artbooks
There’s plenty more to making video games than just sitting at a computer and typing some code. Developers need concept artists to whip up character designs and game world illustrations to tell the story they want to tell, as well as design concept art for levels players will need to traverse through. Chances are, your gamer has one or more franchises that are near and dear to their heart.
You can ask them about their favorite game and (if they don’t already own it) purchase them an artbook for them to learn how said favorite game was created. In some cases, you can also substitute this with lore books, which explain more of a game’s world than the actual game did.
Novels and comics
Transmedia storytelling applies to video games too, since many games have various novels and comic series featuring characters going on adventures before, during, or after the events of the game. For example, the Mass Effect Redemption comic series explains how Commander Shepard’s body was recovered by teammate Liara T’Soni after Shepard died in Mass Effect 2’s prologue.
Your gamer already loves a certain game series, so why not let them read about more tales involving the characters they like? Just make sure to look up a reading order or the publication history regarding the video game comics/novels you plan on buying. You don’t want to accidentally purchase volume 3 of a series or you’ll just be dropping them into the middle of a story and not the beginning.
Figures/statues
There are plenty of recognizable characters in the world of gaming, from the likes of Sonic the Hedgehog and Geralt the Witcher to the Big Daddy from Bioshock and Adam Jensen from Deus Ex. They have awesome designs and are beloved because they starred in equally awesome video games.
Given their popularity, it’s only natural for companies to put out figures or statues that gamers can put on display. Funko Pops, Youtooz, Neca figures, and Dark Horse figures are all great choices if you want to give someone a video game character. The former two have cutesy designs, while the latter two sell figures that resemble their on-screen counterparts. There are other sellers who make high-quality statues too. See what exactly your gift recipient prefers and go from there.
Posters
When it comes to room decor, try giving your loved one posters of games they enjoy to hang up in their bedroom or gaming room. Given who they are, their personality and personal interests (one of them, at least) will be made apparent to anyone who looks at said posters while also making their room look good in the process.
Displate is a website where you can buy metal posters that can be placed on your walls with wall magnets. You’ve also got Pixel Empire, who make snazzy posters featuring a wide variety of game characters, but with those snazzy posters come one hell of a price tag. Seriously, some of those posters cost more than $2,000, while Displate has much more affordable products. If money is no object, the Pixel Empire will provide high-quality posters. If money is an object, go with Displate.
Controllers/keyboards
Gaming without a controller or a keyboard can be pretty difficult, if not downright impossible. A good, responsive controller/keyboard will be appreciated by pretty much every gamer in existence, especially when their old one breaks. There’s a wide variety of gaming keyboards that you can choose from, so it’s best to check with your loved one as to which one they’d like (hey, they’re the gamer here, not you).
The same goes for controllers. If your gamer doesn’t have a preference regarding who manufactures a controller, you can just buy them the basic models that Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo put out. Alternatively, the Xbox Design lab lets you personalize Xbox Series controllers, so maybe you can make a controller with the recipient’s favorite colors in mind. There are also controllers themed around games, like a PS5 Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 controller or an Xbox Series Starfield controller.
Storage space
Games these days (usually AAA releases) tend to hog a lot of space in the hard drives of PCs and consoles. Some games (cough Call of Duty cough) take up more than 100 gigabytes of space and consoles usually come with around 500 GB of space and that will not be enough given the vast library of titles a gamer has. To that end, additional storage space will let your loved one install more games and play them without needing to delete other games.
It would be ideal to buy a 500GB or 1 terabyte gaming hard drive to let the recipient store a large number of games. Alternatively, you could also buy an M.2 SSD if your gamer plays on a PS5 or PC. If they’ve got a PS5, check if the SSD you’re buying fits with the requirements Sony has outlined for their console. Otherwise, let your loved one take point on this one.
Gaming subscriptions
So many games, so little money. Unless there’s a steep discount, video games are pricey purchases. Thankfully, gaming subscriptions like Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus exist to allow subscribers to download a whole bunch of titles they want to play at a set cost. These subscriptions both have tiers, with more benefits included with the higher tiers. You’ll be able to choose how much money to fork over once you’ve looked at the price of each tier.
Physical video games
We’re putting this on the list because companies can delist their games from digital storefronts for any number of reasons, meaning people can no longer buy them. Physical video games will allow your beloved to play their favorite titles no matter what (as long as the CD isn’t scratched up). Websites like Amazon and physical video game stores will be your go-to places to buy games. Limited Run Games also sells physical copies of games for a limited time for Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo consoles.
Money
If you’ve got no clue as to what to get your gamer, just give them some cash (honestly, who doesn’t love cash?). They’ll likely spend it on games they want. This way, you control how much cash you give them and they get what they want (and if they regret buying a game, the blame won’t fall on you).
Another method is buying gift cards for whatever platform they play on. Gift cards are available for Steam, Nintendo, PlayStation, and Xbox and are redeemed and usable on their respective digital storefronts. This is the easiest way to make the recipient happy without thinking about whether they’ll like your gift or not. No muss, no fuss.
Other merchandise
This entry includes literally any and every product that wasn’t included in the previous entries. Things like water bottles with a video game character on them, shirts with logos originating from games, and video game pins all fit this category. Even things like video game tarot cards, jigsaw puzzles, and that Xbox Series X mini-fridge all go here. Who knows, maybe the gamer in your life would like to do tarot readings with cards themed around Fallout or Skyrim characters or need something Xbox-themed to store their snacks and drinks in? They’ll have you to thank for that.
