The Best Christmas Gifts For Gamers: 2019 Edition

With Halloween behind us, I guess that means it’s now time for nearly two months of Christmas. While two months is a lot of time, it can creep up on you quick, especially when you need to find a perfect gift for someone. Luckily, My Dpad is here with an easy guide to the best gifts for gamers for Christmas 2019.

One note to keep in mind: Try to verify with someone who knows whether the person you’re shopping for can use the gift you got them (for example, if they have the right console, if they already have enough controllers, etc.). When in doubt, you can always go with gift cards.

Gamer Gift Ideas Under $25

If you’re on a budget, here are some Christmas gift ideas under $25.

8Bitdo Controllers

If the person you’re shopping for plays a lot of games on their phone, or if they play a lot of retro games on their Nintendo Switch, gaming PC, or Raspberry Pi retro gaming station, an 8Bitdo controller is a great choice. These are controllers made for retro gaming and phone gaming with the quality guaranteed by the 8Bitdo brand. You can find a lot of smartphone bluetooth gamepads or retro controllers out there, but the 8Bitdo brand is one of the best. Whether you want a wireless SNES-style controller that uses a USB receiver, a wired SNES-style controller, or a rectangular bluetooth controller (which would be the gift for someone who is going to be playing on their phone), 8Bitdo has you covered for just under $25.

Buy 8Bitdo SF30 2.4G Wireless Gamepad for $23.44 at Amazon

Buy 8Bitdo SN30 Pro USB Gamepad for $24.99 at Amazon

Buy 8Bitdo Lite Bluetooth Gamepad for $24.99 at Amazon

$20 Gift Cards For Online Gaming Subscriptions

If you know the person you’re shopping for has a console but does not have one of these subscriptions, these are great ways to give them an instant library of games (for a few months, at least). The easiest way to give these as gifts is to just send the recipient $20 gift cards for their preferred service, and then the recipient can buy it themselves.

Nintendo Switch Online

Since Nintendo Switch Online costs $19.99 for a year, you can buy the recipient a $20 Nintendo eShop gift card to buy them a year of the service. This gives them access to a number of classic NES and SNES games, as well as games like Tetris 99.

Xbox Game Pass

Since Xbox Game Pass costs $9.99 for a month, you can buy the recipient a $20 Xbox gift card to buy them two months of the service. This gives them access to hundreds of Xbox games in a variety of genres that they can download.

PC Game Pass

Since PC Game pass costs $4.99 for a month, you can buy the recipient a $20 Xbox gift card (since it’s all still run through Microsoft) to buy them four months of the service. This gives them access to over a hundred PC games in a variety of genres that they can download.

PS Now

Since PS Now costs $9.99 for a month, you can buy the recipient a $20 PlayStation gift card to buy them two months of the service. This gives them access to hundreds of PlayStation games in a variety of genres that they can either stream or download.

Gamer Gift Ideas Under $100

If you’re ready to spend a little more money, here are some nice Christmas gift ideas for under $100.

$60 Gift Cards For New Video Games

One thing you can always do is give someone a $60 digital or physical gift card to their favorite gaming store. Since the most expensive new games retail for $60, this ensures they can buy pretty much whichever game they want. For example, if they play games on their computer, they might want a Steam gift card (getting these online is more complicated than other store cards, but you can always walk into Best Buy or GameStop to make it easier). If they play games on their Switch, they might want a Nintendo eShop gift card (a $50 card and a $10 card). If they play games on their PS4, they might want a $60 PlayStation store gift card. Finally, if they play games on their Xbox One, they might want a $60 Xbox gift card.

A New Controller

Another good idea would be getting someone an extra controller, since controllers occasionally break, and since many people could use extra controllers for when their friends come over. If the person you’re shopping for only has one controller, you can also get them a second controller so that you can start playing co-op games together. If your friend has a Switch, they might be experiencing joy-con drift, so a new pair of joy-cons would probably be a welcome gift too.

Gamer Gift Ideas Under $500

If you’re ready to spend a lot of money, or if you reeeaaally love the person you’re shopping for, here are some excellent gift ideas under $500.

Gaming Console Gifts

If you want to be the favorite uncle/aunt/grandma/grandpa this Christmas, you can go all the way with a new gaming console or gaming laptop. If someone does not have a console yet, they would also surely appreciate add-on gifts of another controller or a gift card for an online subscription, as described above.

Gaming Laptop

We recently wrote about the best gaming laptops you can buy for under $500, but if you want our favorite choice it would probably be the HP Touch 15z.

Buy HP Touch 15z gaming laptop for $419.99 at Amazon

PS4 Pro Bundle Or PS4 Slim

This PS4 Pro bundle comes with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, which just released, so it will definitely be a relevant game come Christmastime.

Buy PS4 Pro 1TB Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Bundle for $399.99 at Amazon

If you want to spend a little less, you can get the less-powerful PS4 Slim, and the recipient will still be able to play every game (though some with slightly reduced graphics and performance).

Buy PS4 Slim 1TB for $282.94 at Amazon

Switch Or Switch Lite

If you know someone who loves Nintendo games, you can buy them a Switch.

Buy Nintendo Switch for $299.99 at Amazon

If you want to spend a little less, you can buy them a Switch Lite. Keep in mind that this is a dedicated handheld and you cannot remove the joy-cons. In other words, you should not buy an extra pair of joy-cons if you get someone the Switch Lite, since they cannot replace them.

Buy Nintendo Switch lite for $199.99 at Amazon

Xbox One X Bundle Or Xbox One S All-Digital Bundle

Finally, this Xbox One X bundle comes with Gears 5, which is one of the most popular Xbox games right now, as well as the first four games in the series, and a cool custom design for the console and the controller.

Buy Xbox One X Gears 5 Bundle for $399.99 at Amazon

If you want to spend a little less, you can get this Xbox One S All-Digital bundle that comes with Minecraft, Sea of Thieves, and Fortnite (though Fortnite is free anyways). It seems that there is a price cut at the time of this writing, making it possibly the best deal on this entire list.

Buy Xbox One S 1 TB All-Digital for $199.99 at Amazon (normally $249.99)

We Hope These Gamer Gift Ideas Inspired You

At the end of the day, we hope that at least one of these Christmas gift ideas is right for the video game lover you’re shopping for. Even if you only have $25 to spend, you can still make someone smile this Christmas. If you have any questions, feel free to drop them down below. Happy shopping!