PlayStation Summer Sale, Xbox Ultimate Sale Roll On as Balatro Hits eShop
Console shoppers still have a full week to work with, as both of the year’s marquee digital sales roll into another round. PlayStation’s Summer Sale and Xbox’s Ultimate Game Sale remain active through the weekend of July 24-26, while Nintendo Switch owners can grab LocalThunk’s addictive poker roguelike Balatro at a discount on the eShop.
PlayStation Summer Sale 2026 Runs Through August 12 With Up to 75% Off
Sony confirmed on the official PlayStation Blog that the Summer Sale began Wednesday, July 15, offering up to 75% off across multiple PS5, PS4 and PS VR2 games, add-ons and more, with many hundreds of titles included in the promotion. PlayStation Plus subscribers were given a head start, as Sony unlocked early access to a selection of deals for PS Plus members ahead of the event’s official launch, letting subscribers across all membership tiers save on more than 200 titles before the wider sale even opened.
According to Shacknews’ weekend roundup of console deals, published by Ozzie Mejia, there’s still another week left in July, meaning there’s still time to get in on the summer sale bonanza, as PlayStation continues its Summer Sale while Xbox keeps its Ultimate Game Sale running, with both remaining active for another week. The outlet also noted that shoppers should come back next week when PlayStation shifts over to its second round with a new set of Summer Sale deals, suggesting Sony is set to refresh the lineup rather than simply let the current promotion expire on August 12.
Xbox Ultimate Game Sale 2026 Discounts Over 2,000 Titles Until July 29
Over on Microsoft’s storefront, Pure Xbox reported that this year’s Xbox Summer Sale, officially branded the Xbox Ultimate Game Sale, includes a list of over 2,000 discounted games. Digital Citizen further detailed that the promotion offers discounts across a large selection of Xbox Series X and Series S, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and Windows PC games, running until July 29 and including major releases, independent games, older backwards-compatible titles and several games that support Xbox Play Anywhere, with discounts reaching as high as 90 percent on selected titles.
The catalogue’s breadth has impressed even seasoned deal-hunters. Windows Central highlighted that the lineup spans everything from Little Nightmares 3, the entire Final Fantasy franchise, Resident Evil games, Xbox first party titles, indie heroes like Darkest Dungeon and Mutant Year Zero, heavy hitters like Death Stranding, Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader, Cronos: The New Dawn. NeoGAF’s community tracker, which splits the promotion into separate game, bundle and DLC listings, confirmed the same closing date, noting the Xbox’s massive summer sale, the Ultimate Game Sale 2026, has arrived, slashing the prices of all sorts of big-name games, including Final Fantasy VII Remake, Resident Evil Requiem, and Assassin’s Creed Shadows, running for two weeks and ending on July 29.
Balatro’s Switch 2 Version Sits at $11.99 on the Nintendo eShop
Nintendo’s own seasonal Summer Sale wrapped up in early July, but Shacknews flagged that individual eShop deals are still worth a look this weekend, pointing to a deal on the Nintendo Switch 2 version of Balatro, in case you want to watch numbers go up in astronomically astonishing ways. Price-tracking site NT Deals lists the Switch 2 edition of Balatro at a 20% discount, priced at $11.99 down from its regular $14.99, with the offer set to run into early August.
That discount lines up with pricing first spotted when the Switch 2 edition launched back in February. Publisher Playstack and developer LocalThunk confirmed at the time that a Switch 2 version of poker roguelike game Balatro was made available via Nintendo eShop at a launch discount price of $11.99, as a free upgrade from the Switch version. Anyone who already owns the original Switch release can still claim the Switch 2 build for free rather than paying for the discounted standalone version.
What Australian and New Zealand Shoppers Should Check Before Buying
All of the prices cited above reflect US storefronts, and PlayStation itself has cautioned that discounts vary depending on the game and region. NZ and AU players browsing the PlayStation Store or Microsoft Store should check local AUD/NZD pricing on the storefront directly, since discount percentages can differ by market even when the promotional window lines up. The same applies to the Balatro eShop deal, which historically has been more generous in some regions than the US listing.
With PlayStation’s promotion running until August 12 and Xbox’s Ultimate Game Sale closing out July 29, shoppers on both platforms still have a solid window to fill out their libraries before the next seasonal rotation begins. Nintendo’s eShop, meanwhile, continues to see smaller rotating discounts even outside its dedicated sale periods, so Switch and Switch 2 owners are best served checking individual game listings for the latest cuts.
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