You can start counting down the hours until Friday's launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops III. The game marks a return to Treyarch, a return to the Black Ops story-line, a return to zombies, and as expected, the standard $59.99 we're use to paying for a COD game. That said, this year there are also some hot pre-order bonuses and discounts on Black Ops III for those who dare to live dangerously and buy before reading in-depth reviews.

We've hunted down the best discounts and bonuses offered by mainline retailers. The short version is you should at least get a $10 gift card bonus if you pre-order, no matter the platform. Xbox One gamers who don't want to bother picking up a copy in store should consider pre-ordering from the Microsoft Store by 10am PST on Wednesday. This gets you free release day delivery by this Friday. Instead of bonuses, PC gamers get discounts of as much as $20 off Steam copies of Black Ops III through Friday's release. (Update: the release day delivery deal is now expired at Microsoft Store, while Black Ops III on PC ).

PC Black Ops 3 Deals

All pre-order copies of Call of Duty: Black Ops III come with a bonus "Nuk3town map" except on select digital retailers.

Steam Store and Funstock Digital pre-orders of Call of Duty: Black Ops III comes with the bonus "Nuk3town map", while other retailers are simply providing a straight up discount. If you don't think you need the map, GMG, and DLGamer are all popular, large digital retailers with good discounts - with 33% off at GMG being the best deal we've seen yet.

The expiration date on the deals for PC is a bit fuzzy. While the coupon at FunStock is known to expire after Nov 6th (ignore the OCT lettering), DLGamer and GMG could continue their discounts after the game is released. From what we've seen in the past, if a price increase DOES happen, it'll be slightly after launch, and prices will drop back down again a month after launch.

Xbox One / PS4 Black Ops 3 Bonuses

  • Microsoft Store: $10 Xbox Gift Card & Free release day delivery
  • Amazon: Free Release Day shipping for Prime Members
  • Best Buy: $10 My Best Buy Rewards & 20% off for GCU members
  • Dell Home: $25 Dell eGift Card

All the console game bonus offerings are pre-order only deals. Once the game goes live on Friday the 6th, you can kiss most deals goodbye - that is, unless you're a Best Buy GCU member. Free release day delivery is an option for Prime Members and Microsoft Store shoppers if you pre-order at least two days in advance.

Best Buy's $10 bonus in "My Best Buy Rewards" is a solid offering, but what about the aforementioned 20% off? To get a discount to $47.99, you'll need to be a Gamers Club Unlocked member. (A 2-year membership is currently $30.) GCU will pay for itself if you pre-order at least 3 games in the 2 year membership span. If you don't, we'd skip plopping down the cash.

Dell Home's eGift card is probably the largest overall bonus at $25 and requires a Dell Advantage membership that auto adds to cart when you're at checkout. The Dell eGift card is then sent via email 10-20 days after your game is shipped. This is only a good deal if you plan to buy another title at Dell in the near future, as the promo eGift card from Dell expires 90 days after you've received the code.