These days digital games appeal to many different audience groups. And many use gaming as a means to manage stress.

Hence, it’s crucial that gamers take their gaming expenses seriously as many companies are increasingly monetising their games from different aspects.

1. Know your choice of gaming set-up

Choosing and budgeting for your main gaming equipment will depend on the kind of gamer you are and the experience you are looking for.

In general, there are three main types:

• Personal computer (PC)
• Console (Playstation, XBox, Nintendo Switch)
• Portable Handhelds (Playstation Portable, Nintendo DS, Mobile Phones)

If you like building your own gaming set-up, choose the PC route. It enables you to choose your own parts and accessories.

Many publishers have started to port over games designed for consoles to PC, enabling you to play them. PC is ideal also to play first person shooter (FPS) and massively multiplayer online (MMO) games.

If you’re not bothered with complicated set ups or hardware, choose consoles as they come in a fully playable state without much bugs or requirements. You don’t need to fiddle around with the hardware and you can easily fire up your games from the comfort of your couch.

If you like games on-the-go, portable handhelds are for you. Better yet, you can use your current smartphone without having to spend on other portable handhelds.

In terms of cost, console and portable handhelds (excluding the mobile phone) are sold mainly at fixed prices.

PC prices however vary wildly depending on how you build it and the relationship with the PC vendor. The higher quality PC you want, the higher the price you pay.

Narrowing down your choice of gaming set-up is important as you need to ensure that you are not buying multiple set-ups to play your games. While many developers are increasingly creating games for multiple platforms, you need to be aware that some games are exclusive to certain set-ups.

For example, God of War was a Playstation 4 exclusive when it came out so you could only play it on the Playstation 4.

When you are budgeting for your choice of gaming set-up, take note of the exclusivity of some games and also the potential maintenance costs.

In some instances, you need to be aware that the same game might be priced differently for different gaming platforms depending on the sales and discounts offered.

2. Choose games you’ll play consistently

Games are expensive, typically ranging from RM100 to RM400 per game. So only pick those you’ll be playing on a regular basis.

Identify the genres you’re most interested in and pick at least two you’ve consistently enjoyed. Use this data to guide future purchases.

Ask yourself if you’ll spend at least 50 hours playing the game after you buy it. If not, don’t buy it.

There are a multitude of free games out there that you can pick up to play without cost, but be aware of the monetisation of these games as they could prove to be predatory.

3. Regularly check reviews

As gaming set-ups need replacing as newer games are purchased, read the reviews of what’s new in the market to ensure you’re getting the best value.

For gaming set-ups, it is more straightforward to get reviews of consoles and portable handhelds (excluding mobile phone) as they are mostly of the same quality and hardware.

It’s trickier for PCs as you’ll have to read the reviews of PC parts and accessories to get the optimal build.

Hold off on purchasing new games until you’ve read the reviews first. IGN, Gamespot, and Steam are great resources.

As a rule of thumb, games or products rated below three out of five stars are to be considered with caution. Anything above three stars is creditworthy.

4. Wait for discount periods

E-commerce platforms run frequent discounts for electronic and gaming stuff every month or during special occasions. Most are for older products or games but you don’t need the latest to be entertained.

Games in particular have constant special deals. ‘Steam’ runs regular sales on their platform for PC games, same with Playstation and Xbox stores. Furthermore, when a developer or game has an anniversary coming up, they will normally hold a big sale.

Don’t underestimate these sales periods as discounts could shoot as high as 90%.

5. Be careful of predatory practices

Some of the examples of potentially predatory practices include:

• Lootboxes
• Gacha games
• In-app or in-game purchases
• Misleading advertisements

Educate your children on the dangers of some of these practices and also understand the impact of these practices on yourself.

6. Track your spending

Firstly, track past spending on a spreadsheet or any free expense tracker app. Determine how much you’ve been spending monthly.

To set a limit, take a certain percentage of your monthly income and set that as a limit. Ideally, it shouldn’t exceed 5% of your income. Think of it as your entertainment expenses.

Any higher and you would be cheating your future self of money better spent in securing future financial stability.

There are new games released every month, so imposing a limit on your spending makes you choose which games you’ll enjoy more over others.

This article first appeared in MyPF. Follow MyPF to simplify and grow your personal finances on Facebook and Instagram.