Microsoft Rewards + GamePass = No Money Spent on Games

[AppleBlade]

Everyone loves to talk about the value of GamePass but I just wanted to remind anyone who is thinking of checking out the Xbox ecosystem that Microsoft Rewards is a vital piece to that value equation.

In 5-10 minutes a day you can earn enough points to completely pay for GamePass Ultimate AND make an additional $120 a year or so in Xbox Credit which you can use on any games that do not reach the Game Pass service.

Sorry to post what I now many of you know but it completely went over my head when I was primarily a Playstation guy and I think it bears repeating for anyone who is trying to game on a budget. I literally have not spent a dollar on games since I purchased my Xbox Series X and yet I'm playing more games than ever. I'm also using those Rewards bucks during each sale and I'm loading up my backlog the way I used to back in my more frivolous spending days but I'm not actually spending any money.

Points Breakdown
1 year of GamePass Ultimate - 140,000 Reward Points - (4 3month memberships at 35,000 points each)
$120 of Xbox Account Money - 105,000 - (Monthly Auto Redeem option of $10 of credit for 8750 in the Xbox App)

Total Points needed is 245,000 points and that averages out to 20,416 a month which is not too difficult to average. If you go crazy with the GamePass Quests you can average more.

*I edited the amount of $200 a month to $120 as I think that is a more realistic goal.

 

[Jaded Alyx]

Microsoft Rewards is currently only available in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Republic of Ireland, Brazil, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Belgium, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Mexico and Taiwan.

 

[adj_noun]

shhhhhh

don't tell anyone

I'm so paranoid that I'll wake up one day and the whole system will be so much worse because everybody suddenly wakes up to this stuff*

I like my free ultimate gamepass :(






*j/k kinda

 

[ThatsMyTrunks]

I keep hearin' about people doing this, and it sounds pretty rad, but if you're saying you make $320 a year by spending 5 minutes a day doin' some bullshit, that's like working 30 hours a year for $320, so you're making $10.66 an hour. It's a good deal, but not such an incredible one.

 

[Deleted member 39144]

Yep. I've 'bought' Yakuza LAD, Star Wars Squadrons, Dirt 5, Hitman 3 and have nearly enough reward points for Mass Effect Trilogy and Resi: Village. All for free. It really is worth the 5 minutes a day.

 

[Meg Cherry]

Yep. I've claimed at least $300 in free product off Microsoft Rewards - usually just from doing daily Bing searches & playing random Game Pass games for quick achievements. Absolutely wild deal that anyone should hop on.

 

[DJtal]

"We" don't talk about it because it's not available worldwide.

 

[AppleBlade]

I keep hearin' about people doing this, and it sounds pretty rad, but if you're saying you make $320 a year by spending 5 minutes a day doin' some bullshit, that's like working 30 hours a year for $320, so you're making $10.66 an hour. It's a good deal, but not such an incredible one.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, except I do most of that B/S in the middle of my workday while I'm waiting for a zoom meeting to start. The rest is in the Rewards app and literally is as simple as clicking submit or turn in and takes 1 minute.

 

[Lemony1984]

My time is more valuable than that.

 

[smocaine]

Is there any guides, add-ons to automate the process, etc.?

 

[AppleBlade]

Is there any guides, add-ons to automate the process, etc.?

Click to shrink...

It's not a guide but for the bing searches, I just have a folder on my favorites tab with 50 searches saved and I just click on it and select open in tabs. I have the same thing on my phone where I just click on the folder and do open all in tabs. The rest of it requires no automation.

 

[ThatsMyTrunks]

Yeah, except I do most of that B/S in the middle of my workday while I'm waiting for a zoom meeting to start. The rest is in the Rewards app and literally is as simple as clicking submit or turn in and takes 1 minute.

Click to shrink...

That seems entirely reasonable. I'm just saying that it's not some insanely good deal or anything -- you're performing tasks and engaging with advertisements.

The gamepass rewards app thing is a different story though, that's an insanely good deal.

 

[Dr. Mario]

My time is more valuable than that.

Click to shrink...

Same here, not going to spend what little leisure time I have working. I guess if you're already super into achievements, it could slot in well, but I consider those extraneous as well.

 

[AppleBlade]

My time is more valuable than that.

Click to shrink...

Like I said I do these searches in the middle of the work day so I'm already getting paid (heck I'm working right now).

 

[JJD]

This is all nice, but as someone new to Xbox, what the hell do I need to do?

 

[VeePs]

My time is more valuable than that.

Click to shrink...

Literally takes less than 5 minutes per day and you can just hit next next next but hey, fair enough. I usually just do this in between Warzone matches.

 

[Karlinel]

Idk how, I have...3200 points? And it's not a 1/4 of ONE month of gamepass. Unless EU prices are whack.

 

[crazillo]

I guess Microsoft makes enough money with Bing search advertisement money back so it's not really that much of a steal :P

I've set Microsoft Rewards as my start page on the browser. I do the little activities there when I have a coffee break or during lunch time at work. It's always pretty quick.

There's even more points from the Rewards app on the console. Sometimes it's just a click of a trailer for 5 points, but at other times all Gamerscore you make counts towards a 10000 point quest. Quite regularly you will find 6000 point punch card for big release purchases as well, effectively giving you a nice cashback. I just check it casually without stress.

Then, there are Game Pass quests. Daily quests are really easy to fill just from playing stuff, and you can always see if there is something game-specific on the weekly list that sounds interesting and worth your time. In this case, you can earn more points.

Lastly, you also earn Rewards points from digital purchases. Similar to Nintendo gold coins.

I just treat MS Rewards as a nice extra. It's become part of my habit to check it without getting stressful. For example, I never do those tedious quizzes or bing searches. They reap up quite a lot of points, but I find that a bit of a waste of my time. Those other things above are just a quick changeup though, and I will often be able to snatch a 3 months Game Pass voucher or something. Assuming the program stays the same, I don't think I will ever have to pay for Game Pass again if I keep my current purchase habits and Rewards activities. Pretty nice.

It's not a guide but for the bing searches, I just have a folder on my favorites tab with 50 searches saved and I just click on it and select open in tabs. I have the same thing on my phone where I just click on the folder and do open all in tabs. The rest of it requires no automation.

Click to shrink...

Interesting, I did it with numbers for a while.
1
11
111
etc.
But even found that to be too monotonous.

 

[SpottieO]

Microsoft Rewards is the MVP of the Xbox ecosystem.

 

[AppleBlade]

Same here, not going to spend what little leisure time I have working. I guess if you're already super into achievements, it could slot in well, but I consider those extraneous as well.

Click to shrink...

This right here is the big misconception. You know everything I mentioned I'm getting above? I get all of that without changing the way I play my games. I don't do any of the GamePass quests. I could be making more but I rather play what I want to play but even that is enough to get me GamePass Ultimate for free and about $200 a year.

 

[ElNino]

Same here, not going to spend what little leisure time I have working. I guess if you're already super into achievements, it could slot in well, but I consider those extraneous as well.

Click to shrink...

I think most (and know I do) get it done while they are already working. I certainly don't take any of my leisure time away... as if I have that anyways as it's taken up by the kids/dog.

 

[bounchfx]

what are you doing then to earn the points? i looked at the rewards list stuff after signing up and it seemed like I needed 5000 points to get a slice of cheese and playing a game for a while only gave me like... 5-10. tell us your secrets

 

[The Lord of Cereal]

Damn it don't tell people about it, I'm worried they will hike up the price of the MS giftcards, and I have 464,000 points sitting in my account waiting for the Series X to be in stock longer than 6 minutes at a time on the MS store to buy one

Also it's been funding my Gamepass as well as any games my brother and I want for the past year or so (Doom Eternal, COD Cold War, Immortals, Resident Evil) so double shush

Don't kill the dreams of a broke college student

 

[spacer]

showmethereceipts.jpg

You're guaranteed, on average, 300 points a day (PC searches + mobile searches + edge bonuse + the 3 dailies) with some extra points here and there whenever there is an extra quiz or whatever. If you are "Level 2" that makes the 3 month GPU reward 35,000 points. If you did your searches and dailies every day, it would take about 116 days to get enough points to pay for 3 months of GPU. How are you earning enough points to pay for a full year's subscription and $200 Xbox Live credit?

 

[ShapeGSX]

How is there not a browser extension to automate this?

 

[digitalrelic]

Correct. I've earned a little over $700 from Microsoft Awards.

It's insane.

 

[Soul Lab]

not available in my region

 

[jakoo]

I without fail get 10 dollars a month from this with barely altering my activity from a searching or gaming perspective. I fail to see how Microsoft wins out of this bargain but I'm not going to complain about it!

 

[ElNino]

How is there not a browser extension to automate this?

Click to shrink...

There is, but I don't use it. I just have a folder of bookmarked searches in my browser so all I need to do is right-click and select Open All and all of my daily PC searches are done in one shot. For mobile I usually just tap in the daily hot topics section for a minute, but I think you can do that in your browser as well if you wanted.

 

[biglo25]

Is there any guides, add-ons to automate the process, etc.?

Click to shrink...

if you have chrome or edge use this extension
ABS - Chrome Web Store (google.com)

 

[Chief Malik]

I have the app, that automatically does the bing searching. Shit incredible

 

[digitalrelic]

showmethereceipts.jpg

You're guaranteed, on average, 300 points a day (PC searches + mobile searches + edge bonuse + the 3 dailies) with some extra points here and there whenever there is an extra quiz or whatever. If you are "Level 2" that makes the 3 month GPU reward 35,000 points. If you did your searches and dailies every day, it would take about 116 days to get enough points to pay for 3 months of GPU. How are you earning enough points to pay for a full year's subscription and $200 Xbox Live credit?

Click to shrink...

You're missing out on all of those bonuses you get on the Xbox itself, as well as the constant free promotional points they give out.

I average around 15,000 points a month on average, and often hit 20k+.

 

[biglo25]

How is there not a browser extension to automate this?

Click to shrink...

There is on chrome and you can use this on edge too.
ABS - Chrome Web Store (google.com)

 

[Raigor]

I guess I am some weirdo who pays for XGS games and have a GAMEPASS sub until 2022.

 

[AlexBasch]

It's such a shame that you can only score a very minimal amount of points in Mexico, compared to the stuff I see in other countries.

But hey, the 10,000 points thing helped me get Resident Evil Zero for free and some Rock Band songs, so no complaints.

 

[ghostcrew]

I cash all of mine out for Xbox credit (instead of paying for Game Pass with it) and legit get ~£15 a month from it.

Almost every big game will have a 'buy it between this date and this date and get £5 back in points' deal which, as someone who is all digital, is amazing.

 

[spacer]

You're missing out on all of those bonuses you get on the Xbox itself, as well as the constant free promotional points they give out.

I average around 15,000 points a month on average, and often hit 20k+.

Click to shrink...

I have the rewards app on my xbox. I have never gotten anywhere close to 15000/month.

 

[Fiksi]

It's cool but I have a feeling Norwegian rewards aren't as good as for example US. I just use it to get some small discounts when I do buy stuff.

I've been very proactive and made just under 4000 points this month.

 

[Loud Wrong]

I keep hearin' about people doing this, and it sounds pretty rad, but if you're saying you make $320 a year by spending 5 minutes a day doin' some bullshit, that's like working 30 hours a year for $320, so you're making $10.66 an hour. It's a good deal, but not such an incredible one.

Click to shrink...

I have a plugin that does all the work for me, so it's more like 5 seconds a day

 

[jokkir]

It kinda sucks there's differences in points gained in different countries. I don't think I can fund my Game Pass with Microsoft Rewards like others in the US.

But with that said, I already made like $53 in Rewards Points so I can't complain

 

[tiebreaker]

It's just another to do that I'd rather not do.

 

[SpottieO]

It also kind of highly depends on the month like February has had black history month features that gets you an extra 1,000 points each time.

 

[Vinc]

Well, "you are the product" and all that. You didn't find a loophole, you're using services like Bing, which Microsoft is ok with as a replacement for you purchasing Game Pass out of pocket.

All that said, I wish Microsoft Rewards was as robust in Canada as it appears to be in the US. I've been subbed to it for years and using Edge + Bing, and after all this time I still don't have enough for 3 months of GPU :P

 

[Katana_Strikes]

I'm not sure Id sub to GP every month or much if it wasn't for this. The fact I can do rewards and get GP for free which in turns gets me more rewards. It's a vicious cycle.

 

[digitalrelic]

I have the rewards app on my xbox. I have never gotten anywhere close to 15000/month.

Click to shrink...

Are you doing Game Pass rewards as well? There's the points you get from the browser, the Rewards app, and Game Pass rewards.

Shouldn't be hard at all to get 15k with those combined. I mean just this week in the Rewards app they gave an extra 2,000 points away for free, just for getting 2 achievements.

 

[ManNR]

showmethereceipts.jpg

You're guaranteed, on average, 300 points a day (PC searches + mobile searches + edge bonuse + the 3 dailies) with some extra points here and there whenever there is an extra quiz or whatever. If you are "Level 2" that makes the 3 month GPU reward 35,000 points. If you did your searches and dailies every day, it would take about 116 days to get enough points to pay for 3 months of GPU. How are you earning enough points to pay for a full year's subscription and $200 Xbox Live credit?

Click to shrink...

Yeah. I feel like I'm missing something here. I don't have an Xbox currently so I guess I don't get points for achievements (?) but I do the daily tasks and am slowly building up my points. However, it would take me forever to get enough to pay for a full year of Ultimate.

 

[Dunlop]

The combo has me way more involved in the ecosystem that I was with my PS4.

 

[ShapeGSX]

There is on chrome and you can use this on edge too.
ABS - Chrome Web Store (google.com)

Click to shrink...

I have switched 100% to Edge. It's way better than Chrome. And I just tried it. Works perfectly!

 

[Ojli]

Worth noting is that Rewards is not global, as mentioned above. Furthermore, it's not the same in every region. Rewards exist in Sweden, but basically only what you can get through Game Pass. Nothing from daily searches and the likes.

 

[Edge]

I know about this OP, I'm reading the dedicated OT for that occasionally, but personally, I find it quite ridiculous to literally work for this daily to save some laughable 12-15 bucks a month.

Don't get me wrong, Microsoft rewards are cool and I use it whenever I have time for this and don't forget it. But forcing myself to do it daily, check the console, click through that app and all the "check this game out" sections, get an achievement each day for the 50 points, do the searches each day on the phone, feeling like a spambot just tipping random things, do the 3-5 quizzes each day and whatever I forgot. All that shit, daily, would give me a burnout so quickly, just like certain Battle Passes already do. Just for saving 12-15 bucks a month. Nah, that's not worth the hassle.