The best gifts you can buy for gamers

It’s a big gift, but for most gamers, there couldn’t be a much better present than a brand new PlayStation 5.

This version, the Disc Edition Slim, is the most reasonably priced PS5 you can get.

An excellent little present for gamers who have an original, Lite or OLED Nintendo Switch, these Super Mario themed caps pop onto the top of the console’s analogue sticks on the two controllers. The under£10 price point makes it a great budget choice, and there’s also a Legend of Zeldathemed option, too.

Mobile gaming is more popular than console gaming these days, and many gamers who play mostly on their phone could really benefit from a few upgrades.

This mobile gaming controller from Backbone would be a great place to start. It connects to the phone’s USB port and slots around the sides of the handset, so mobile users can play mobile games with greater control and comfort.

External storage devices tend to be a grudge purchase for gamers, so you’ll be doing someone a big favour if you buy them this HDD Game Drive as a gift.

Games often require enormous amounts of data these days, so it can be hard to store them digitally on a console without needing to constantly delete and redownload them.

That’s where external storage comes in! This officially licensed Seagate device has 2 TB of storage to bolster the memory of a PS5 (or PS4). Simply plug into your console and play with greater freedom.

The Audeze Maxwell is one of the bestsounding gaming headsets, so it’s an ideal gift for someone who loves music just as much as they love playing PC or console games with lowlatency wireless support. The Maxwell has an enormous battery life, super comfortable ear cups, and excellent connectivity with multiple wired adapters and lagfree wireless support via a USBC dongle.

This retro device is a great way to keep a nostalgic gamer occupied and playing Space Invaders for hours on end. It’ll put their favourite arcade classics in their pocket, and if they get through the 18 builtin titles, it works with Evercade’s Cartridges for building out a throwback gaming collection.

An ideal gift for Harry Potter fans, this is an open world adventure game that lets you fully explore the world from the movies, including Hogwarts castle and its surrounding areas. The player can customise how they look in the game and upgrade their wizard’s magical abilities as they play. While we’ve highlighted the PS5 version here, it’s also available for the Xbox and the Nintendo Switch.

The Nintendo Switch Lite is the handheldonly version of Nintendo’s joyous Switch console, with a compact design and lower pricing than the base version.

This exceptional bundle deal gets you the Switch Lite, plus one of the platform’s best games – Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Any serious PC gamer is going to want a topnotch gaming mouse with very low lag, great battery life and perhaps a little flair.

This wireless model from Glorious ticks all the right boxes, with excellent performance and customisable RGB lightup details. The honeycomb design on the enclosure makes this a particularly lightweight option for games where every millisecond counts.

Only certain models of earbuds are compatible with games consoles, so you need to choose this accessory carefully. The SteelSeries Arctic GameBuds are a great choice for most gamers, compatible with the PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch, as well as with PCs.

These buds have plenty of great features to enhance the gaming experience, including 360degree spatial audio, PS5 audio presets and active noise cancellation.

It might not look all that exciting, but this Anker charging accessory could prove very useful to the gamer in your life.

The cable effectively works as two USB chargers as one, so you can use it to charge two compatible devices – including some leading models of gaming controller – at the same time.

A retro gift to delight the more seasoned gamer in your life, this offical Atari Cartridge Console crams in three classic Atari games: Pong Sports, Asteroids and Missile Command. It’s so tiny, you can use it as a keyring.

A soundbar can transform the gaming experience, especially for console gamers who use a monitor that’s slightly (or entirely) lacking in the audio department.

This Bose model boasts some highend features, including Dolby Atmos surround sound, Bluetooth connectivity and builtin Alexa voice control.

An ideal gift for Zelda fans, this Nintendo Switch OLED bundle has a special design from the game on the front of the docking station, while the controllers have a green and gold colour scheme which makes a nice change from the original’s red and blue. The display is sharper than the original model too, but it still plugs into a TV via a docking station so you can also play games on the bigscreen.

Most gamers use a headset to play online, especially if they’re chatting with friends on multiplayer titles, so this stand gives them a safe spot to store their headsets when not in use.

The base is metal, so it remains stable on a desk, while the silicone top adds lots of extra grip. The circular stand has walled edges, so it’s ideal for keeping any headphone wires contained, or it could be used to store some wireless earbuds.

PS5 controllers use rechargeable batteries but they’ll quickly run out after a few hours of heavy use. This docking station makes sure up to two controllers are always ready to go.

SteelSeries is a reliable brand for PC audio and accessories – and the Arctis Nova 1 is a brilliant headset for the money. It supports immersive spatial audio (which makes sound seem like it’s coming from specific directions) and the earcups use memory foam so they’re comfortable to wear.

This model is wired with a 3.5mm cable, so it connects to all consoles and PCs, including PS5, Xbox and Switch.

No gamer wants their keyboard and mouse to be shifting around their desk while trying to concentrate on playing, and this massive pad solves that problem. The soft surface (90 x 90 x 3 cm) adds plenty of extra grip for the peripherals, and the mat uses a nonslip rubber base on the underside for stability.

This is the Switch to buy if your giftee prefers a console to use while catching a flight, commuting to work or relaxing on the sofa in the evenings. Unlike the standard model, it’s handheld only. There’s no dock, and the display is smaller, but it’s lighter and generally more comfortable to hold. While you can’t swap the controllers, we love the travelfriendly design – and it plays nearly all of the same games.

Nintendo Switch consoles come with some builtin storage for games, but if the player wants to create a larger collection – additional space is needed. That’s exactly what this gamethemed memory card is for. We love the 128GB card, as it keeps the price under £40 (that’s enough room for around 19 different titles), but there are other options available: including 64GB, 256GB, 512GB and 400GB.