How To Earn Microsoft Reward Points While Playing Your Xbox Series X|S

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By Brittany Roston/Feb. 2, 2023 7:37 pm EST

Microsoft has a program called Microsoft Rewards, and it's exactly what it sounds like: a way for the company's users to earn rewards like gift cards, entries into sweepstakes, digital codes to redeem goods in popular games, and similar. The rewards program is woven into Microsoft's wider ecosystem, meaning you can earn points toward those rewards through your Microsoft account across various services and products — and yes, the Xbox consoles are included among them.

Because the rewards program is linked to each individual Microsoft account, the points you accumulate for various activities and tasks will build up, as long as you perform those actions on devices that are all signed into the same account. In the case of the Xbox Series X|S, Microsoft says there are a couple of different ways to earn points, including by playing some titles from the Xbox Game Pass library and buying certain games through the store on the consoles.

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If you have an Xbox Series X or S, that means you already have a Microsoft account, and, presumably, you've linked the account to your console. If you haven't, you'll need to sign into the Microsoft account you want to use for earning rewards, so that when you play games and make purchases, the points go toward that particular email address. You can check out the points you've already earned, as well as various ways to earn more points, by heading over to the Microsoft Rewards user portal on the Bing website. You can also use the Microsoft Rewards app on Xbox.

If you want to grow your points by playing Xbox games, you'll need to sign up for the Xbox Game Pass subscription, which provides customers with a large library of games they can play, as well as some other perks. Points are earned by completing quests in games that are available in the Game Pass library. Microsoft says you can view these quests in the Rewards app under the Xbox Games Pass section. If you haven't yet downloaded the app, you can get a snapshot look at how the rewards process works on the Xbox Games Pass Quests web page.

According to Microsoft, it adds new quests to this section of the Rewards app on a daily basis. Keep in mind that you'll need to manually head over to that part of the app when you finish a quest in order to redeem the points. Once those points have been applied to your account, however, you'll be able to redeem them for rewards within the same app.

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In addition to earning points by completing Xbox Game Pass quests, Xbox Series X|S owners will also earn points when they buy certain games — but only if those purchases are conducted through the Xbox console itself, using the Microsoft Store, or through the Xbox.com or Microsoft.com websites. According to Microsoft, eligible games and other types of "digital content" will earn you up to 20 points per dollar spent. Given the tight link between Xbox and PC gaming, it's no surprise that the same rewards policy also applies to the purchase of (eligible) content through Windows, too, using the Microsoft Store.

On a separate web page, Microsoft breaks down the earning potential for gamers, though it's all a tad complicated. If you're only a Level 1 user, you'll get a single point per dollar spent, while Level 2 users will get 10 points per dollar. The exception is if you're a Level 2 user with an active subscription — either Xbox Live Gold or Game Pass. In that case, you'll get 20 points per dollar spent. Don't start buying a bunch of content right after you sign up for either plan, though, as the fine print on Microsoft's rewards website shows it'll take 48 hours before you earn at that rate — Microsoft considers those 10 extra points the "bonus rate."

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Microsoft offers some other ways that Xbox console owners can earn points, too, though you'll need to regularly consume content on the platform for it to have any real impact on your Rewards account. The Xbox is a media device as much as it is for gaming, and it can be used as a portal to stream and purchase movies and TV shows, not to mention the access to different apps and game-related content like add-ons and season passes. Microsoft says all of those things are eligible to earn the Xbox owner rewards points, which are issued based on the user's level as detailed above. If you purchase a full TV season, for example, you'll get points, but be sure to read the fine print.

For example, a Microsoft Movies & TV Season Pass isn't eligible for the points. You also won't get points on the fees you pay for Game Pass itself nor for EA Access if you have it. Microsoft says that you'll see special offers at times that may come with a side dish of rewards points, plus you may be able to perform other non-gaming activities at times to get some additional points. For example, Microsoft says that exploring its Mixer platform may be one way that a user boosts their Rewards figure.

Though it's impossible to say the exact activities you'll be able to perform to get points (because the tasks are always changing), Microsoft explains that these random opportunities can range from things like downloading and using new apps to responding to polls in the Bing app on Xbox.