Well, it’s official. After reducing the pre-order discount on games from 20% to 10% only last spring, and further limiting it afterward by removing limited editions and then collected editions afterwards, Twitch Prime (aka Amazon Prime) has reduced the discount to physical pre-orders to a whopping 0%! In addition, they’re adding advertising to Prime to make it more…profitable. Swell. Not that this wasn’t an anticipated move by Amazon as the discounts slowly became more and more limited, but it’s still a bit of a shot to the pocketbook of most gamers. Way to stamp out those dissident buyers, Amazon!
The following is Twitch Prime’s official statement mailed out to members (minus all the proud preening about how great Twitch Prime is for people:
As we have continued to add value to Twitch Prime, we have also re-evaluated some of the existing Prime benefits. As a result, we are announcing two changes.
First, universal ad-free viewing will no longer be part of Twitch Prime for new members, starting on September 14. Members with monthly subscriptions will continue to get ad-free viewing until October 15. If you already have an annual subscription, or if you upgrade to an annual subscription before September 14, you will continue with ad-free viewing until your next renewal date.
Advertising is an important source of support for the creators who make Twitch possible. This change will strengthen and expand that advertising opportunity for creators so they can get more support from their viewers for doing what they love. You can read more details on this change in our recent blog post.
Second, beginning on August 28th, 2018, Prime members will no longer receive a 10% discount on physical video game pre-orders. All eligible pre-orders placed before August 28th, will still receive the 10% discount under the existing benefit once the game is released. For more on this update, click right here.
That’s right, no more discounts for pre-ordering games. In this ear of rampant cost-cutting, this will probably cost Amazon a fair number of pre-orders, but it’s likely they expect that people are so used to the convenience and have so few alternatives now that they can eat the loss. Ouch. For most gamers though, this is likely one less reason to pay an increasingly more exorbitant fee for Amazon Prime as the perks slowly fade away. Think carefully about where you spend your money, as it seems Amazon is thinking carefully about how much more money they can make from you tomorrow.