Skip to main content

Sony offering major discounts on multiple platforms in the PlayStation Essentials sale

sony playstation essentials sale 4 connect
Image used with permission by copyright holder
It doesn’t matter if you ended up with a new PlayStation 4 over the holidays or are still getting the most out of your trusty PlayStation 3 — either way, this might be a great week to pick up something new. Sony is kicking off 2016 with its week-long PlayStation Essentials sale, offering up to 75 percent off games and movies. If you’re a PlayStation Plus member, you save up to 80 percent.

Looking at the PS4, Grand Theft Auto V is down to $45, while if you want to take a look at the series’ history, Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas can be had for just over $10. Dragon Age: Inquisition Deluxe Edition is down to $18, while the console exclusive Infamous: Second Son and Infamous: First Light are down to $12 and $9, respectively.

Moving on to the PS3, the Call of Duty Black Ops & Black Ops II Bundle is on sale for $40, down from a retail price of $110. The Devil May Cry HD collection is on sale for $7.50, while DMC Devil May Cry can be had for $15. While not quite as visually impressive as the PS4 version, the PS3 version of Dragon Age: Inquisition Deluxe Edition is cheaper at $12.50.

The selection isn’t quite as broad for Vita owners, but there are some great games on sale. Persona 4: Golden is down to $12 from its usual $30, while OlliOlli is available as a 3-Way Cross-Buy for just $5.20. If you’d prefer to go old-school, a number of PSOne Classics including Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy Tactics, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and Xenogears are on sale for $4, with others like Suikoden selling for $1.50.

As for movies, the HD versions of Kingsman: The Secret Service and Interstellar are on sale for $10, while a number of films including Friday, Into The Storm, Jupiter Ascending, Gravity and Argo: Declassified Edition Extended can be had for $7.

The sale runs until Monday, January 18, and there is a whole lot more on sale than is mentioned here. For the full list of games, head over to the PlayStation Blog.

Kris Wouk
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kris Wouk is a tech writer, gadget reviewer, blogger, and whatever it's called when someone makes videos for the web. In his…
Astro Bot will reference one of PlayStation’s oldest memes
Astro Bot and its PlayStation character cameos, which include Aloy and Nathan Drake on the right.

The Astro Bot series is known for showcasing PlayStation history, with some incredible deep cuts and cameos. For the upcoming Astro Bot, which was officially announced during Sony's latest State of Play this week, that apparently comes in the form of a nearly 20-year-old meme.

In an interview with EW, Team Asobi head Nicolas Doucet mentioned some of the characters that players will encounter spread throughout the game's 80 planets. This includes some obvious inclusions, like Nathan Drake from the Uncharted franchise and Aloy from the Horizon games, but snuck into one of the paragraphs is mention of an island in the shape of a giant crab.

Read more
Hey PlayStation, I’ll take more games like Astro Bot, please
A robot flies on a controller in Astro Bot.

Sony kicked off a marathon of gaming reveals this week with an exciting State of Play stream. The 30-minute broadcast shed some light on what's coming to the PlayStation 5 in the back half of 2024 and beyond. We saw an extended look at Concord, got a release date for Bloober Team's Silent Hill 2 remake, and learned more about Supermassive's Until Dawn remake. But the most exciting announcement of the show wasn't a live-service shooter or a game pushing photorealistic visuals. It was a cute little robot who stole the show.

Astro Bot got the final slot during the State of Play stream -- and for good reason. Sony revealed a delightful trailer for its upcoming platformer that had social media buzzing. Even this morning, you'll find "GOTY" (game of the year) trending on X (formerly Twitter) and posts preemptively crowning Astro Bot as 2024's best game.

Read more
PlayStation Days of Play sale: the best deals that you don’t want to miss
Cloud,. Aerith, and Tifa stand together in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

It's summer, which means it's time to stock up on video games. Thankfully, you'll have a lot of chances to do that without breaking the bank this year as June tends to be a big month for game sales. Sony is kicking off that trend a few days early with its annual Days of Play sale, which offers some major discounts on everything from recent hits to new releases.

This year's sale includes over 900 games, and there are a lot of great options. Of course, who wants to spend time scrolling through 39 pages of discounts? I'm here to help save you the trouble so you can spend more time gaming. I combed through every deal and picked out eight in particular that stand out. These range from fairly new releases to under-the-radar games that are a steal. If you don't already own these games, consider picking them all up. It'll cost you less than $200 to do so!
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth -- $53

Read more