Gifts for Gamers

If you don’t play games yourself, shopping for someone who does can feel like reading a menu in a language you don’t speak. The good news: you don’t need to understand any of it. You just need to answer one or two simple questions, and we’ve sorted every gift around them.

Start with who they are. A gamer boyfriend, a kid, a teen and a dad want genuinely different things — so we’ve built a shortlist for each, leading with the safe bets and flagging what to skip. If you know the person, this is the fastest way in.

Or start with their console. This is the one detail that matters most, because games and most accessories only work on the system they own. Not sure which one they have? Peek at the controller: an Xbox pad says Xbox on it, a PlayStation DualSense is white with a light bar, a Nintendo Switch is a handheld tablet with controllers on the sides, and PC gamers play at a computer. Then pick their console below.

Or just start with your budget. You can give a genuinely great gift at any price. Under $25 buys lights, a game or a handy accessory; under $50 covers most games and a solid headset; splurge picks move into premium gear. Every list shows a live, dated price so there are no surprises.

One rule runs through all of it: when you truly aren’t sure, a store gift card for the right console is the can’t-go-wrong answer — they choose, and you can’t buy a duplicate. And if you’d rather give an actual game, our games to gift lists cover the ones even a non-gamer will love. Every pick here is chosen the way we explain on how we pick: real info, real age ratings, live prices, and an honest “skip it if…” on everything.

Shopping for the holidays? Our Black Friday & Cyber Monday deals page explains which kinds of gaming gift actually go on sale in November and which never do, so you know whether to buy now or wait — and the deals get posted there as they go live. Two lists cover the December parties: white elephant gifts for the exchange where gifts get stolen, and Secret Santa gifts for when you’ve drawn a name. And if the person is a child, the age bands are now 8-year-olds, tweens (10 to 12) and teens, each with the real age rating on every game.

Already narrowed it down to one or two things? Our gift reviews take a single product at a time and answer the questions a spec sheet doesn’t — who it suits, what it doesn’t do, and when something cheaper is the better present. And if you’re stuck between two options, the comparison pages give a direct answer in the first paragraph: wired or wireless, physical or digital, this controller or that one. Before you buy anything, the eight most common gaming gift mistakes is a two-minute read that prevents most of the ways this goes wrong.

Two additions this month: funny gifts for gamers, for gag presents that survive the laugh, and anniversary gifts for gamers, which is the one occasion where the present is really for both of you.

Newest: the best LED lights for a gaming setup — the one gift on this site that does not need you to know which console they own, how old they are, or what they already have. Five picks from a $20 strip to a studio panel, split between the lights that make the room look good and the ones that make the person on camera look good.