I've spoken about this program in other threads, but decided for ease of education, to make a thread about it.
I've been using microsoft rewards since I got my Xbox in 2016, but hadn't really paid attention to it until earlier this year, when I figured out how it could benefit me.
The long and short of it is that by joining the Rewards program, you can get points for every dollar you spend through the microsoft store, and also through doing searches with Bing, as well as some on console goals. Simple things like watching trailers, checking out game pages, or doing some simple quizzes through bing. These points can then be cashed in for Xbox Live time, Gamepass subscriptions, Xbox stor giftcards, sweepstakes entries, and other stuff.
To handle the daily search points, which is where the bulk of my points come from, I use this. Run it on my laptop every morning when I'm getting the kid ready for school, and an easy 300 points gets added to my account.
Through the microsoft rewards app on the xbox, they give you some "quests" to complete like get X achievements in a game, rent X movies, buy and complete this game, but this is also where watching trailers and checking out game pages comes in to add up some smaller points.
Onto the microsoft rewards website. The website is a subsection of Microsofts basic site. I go there through my console browser so it logs me in automatically and brings up the home page that has some daily quizzes and polls on it. Simple stuff, takes a few minutes, and helps build up your daily streak which grants bonus points. This is also where you can redeem your points for stuff.
Now, why do I bring all this up?
Just this morning, I was scrolling through the rewards page, and scored 3 months of free game pass. This usually runs 18,000 points, but was a freebie today for some reason. 3 months of Xbox Live is also 18,000 points, for those curious.
36,000 points sounds like a lot doesn't it? Well, month to date, I'm at 13,470 and I still haven't had purchases turned into points yet.
It has been working out for me that every other month, I can get 3 free months of Live or GamePass. This puts me at a net gain of about a month of each for taking 10 minutes a day to run a program and check out an app on my console.
Rewards points can also be turned into giftcards. According to their thing, 23,000 points can turn into a $25 MS gift card, and spending that giftcard, you'll get about 2,300 points back from purchase.
It's a nice system. I may not be explaining it completely clearly, but the gist of it is this: I'm saving $180/year(minimum) on my gaming hobby by running an app and taking a shower or going to work. After redeeming my points for Live and or Gamepass, I'm still "earning" a $5 gift card every 2 to 3 months. It's like getting paid to game.
I just wanted to get this all into one place so maybe some other people can start saving money for doing things they enjoy.
Edit: I just checked my subscriptions. Thanks to the rewards program, my Xbox Live has gone from being billed in January to March, and my gamepass which I pay monthly for, is paid up until April.
