Amazon Prime Day 2023 Dates Have Been Announced

Amazon Prime Day 2023 is July 11-12, Amazon has announced. Like usual, Prime Day 2023 will run for a full 48 hours. You'll have to stay up late to start shopping right when the sale begins. The sale kicks off at midnight PT and 3 AM ET.

Prime Day 2023 is the ninth annual iteration of the sale, which has evolved from a one-day sales event to a two-day version celebrating all things Amazon Prime and its millions of subscribers. This year's event is keeping with tradition by running on a Tuesday/Wednesday in mid-July, which has always been the Prime Day slot outside of a couple of outlier years.

The sales event is technically exclusive to Prime members. It's worth noting that while most of the best deals require an Amazon Prime membership, there are usually some solid deals that can be purchased without a subscription. That said, all of the timed Lightning Deals are only for Prime members.

Since we're within 30 days of the sale, it makes sense to sign up for a one-month Prime membership to shop all of the deals. The $15/month (or $139/year) membership will almost certainly pay for itself simply by picking up a couple things during the sale. And if you've never subscribed to Prime before, you can get a free 30-day trial and take advantage of the deals.

Your one-month membership will allow you to grab a bunch of free games, too. Not only can you snag the June and yet-to-be-announced July monthly freebies, but you can also secure some games in celebration of Prime Day. Amazon is giving away some great games every week leading up to Prime Day, including Prey, Baldur's Gate II, Shovel Knight: Showdown, and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

You'll also want to prepare your wallet for sales at competing retailers. Prime Day has effectively turned into a mini-Black Friday sale, with deals at all major retailers. Plus, other retailers tend to host promotions prior to the official start of Prime Day. Expect to see some anti-Prime Day deals in the coming weeks.

As always, GameSpot will be tracking the best Prime Day deals across gaming, tech, and entertainment. Bookmark our Amazon Prime Day hub to follow all of our coverage.