Xbox Rewards is receiving a brand-new update that allows players to use Rewards points as currency to purchase games. In its current form, the Xbox Rewards program allows players to use points towards electronic devices, gift cards, contests, and even donations to charities around the world. Xbox has consistently made changes to its Rewards program since its launch in 2010, including several new updates introduced in the first few months of 2026 alone.
Xbox’s new Rewards change comes at a time of noteworthy changes for Xbox, as Microsoft has recently announced a price drop for its Xbox Game Pass service. As Microsoft looks ahead to the next Xbox console, currently codenamed Project Helix, newly appointed CEO Asha Sharma looks to make some sweeping changes as part of her objective to “return to Xbox.” This improvement to the Rewards program indicates that, big or small, Sharma will be looking through the Xbox ecosystem for positive changes to help the brand stand tall among its contemporaries at Sony and Nintendo.
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Xbox Rewards Change Allows Players to Purchase Games with Points
Xbox Rewards points are getting a convenient update that turns them into a proper currency in the Xbox store. Previously, if players wanted to buy games on Xbox with Rewards points, they had to use available points to redeem gift cards for store currency in the Rewards dashboard. Now, Xbox is circumventing this by allowing gamers to purchase titles directly on the Xbox Storefront without first redeeming a gift card.
While the feature is currently advertised as “coming soon,” Pure Xbox has reported that several Xbox players already have access to it on their Xbox Series X/S consoles. It’s worth pointing out, though, that this new feature applies only to single-item purchases such as individual software and DLC. As a result, players will likely not be able to use Xbox Rewards points toward bundles, and will definitely not be able to use them toward subscription services such as Xbox Game Pass.
Xbox’s new Rewards feature is a small change, but it’s still a convenient way for gamers to use their points on games. With this update, gamers will no longer have to frequently navigate to the Rewards dashboard and redeem multiple gift cards to buy games on the system. The ability to buy games directly from the digital store using Reward points also serves as a great motivator for players to earn more points in a day, even if the controversial upcoming changes to Xbox Rewards could lower the daily earning cap.
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It is slightly disappointing that this change to Rewards points will not be applied to subscriptions, as gamers previously lost the ability to use Rewards points for Xbox Game Pass late last year. With Xbox looking for new ways to make Xbox Game Pass more valuable and affordable for gamers, the ability to use Rewards points could have helped attract more subscribers. Still, this new Xbox Rewards feature is a nice, convenient update that hopefully serves as just one of several improvements to the service in the future.
