Player Two Co

How to Gift Xbox Game Pass

You can — two different ways, and Microsoft documents both. The hard part isn't sending it. It's picking the right plan, and knowing what happens to your code if they already subscribe.

By Stephen V.Last updated How we pick

Someone in your life has an Xbox, and you’ve heard Game Pass is the thing they actually want. Good instinct — it’s hundreds of games instead of one, so there’s no chance of buying something they already own.

Then you go looking for the gift button and the internet gives you four different answers, half of them about plan names that no longer exist. So here is the short version, and then the detail.

Yes, you can gift Game Pass. Microsoft’s own gifting walkthrough says games, add-ons and subscriptions — naming Game Pass Ultimate specifically — can all be sent with its Buy as gift option. And separately, retailers sell prepaid plan codes you buy like any other product and hand over yourself. Microsoft supports that route too: its own support page says some Xbox subscriptions can be extended by redeeming digital codes or gift cards.

There is one rule that decides whether your money lands, though, and it has nothing to do with how you send it. If the person already subscribes to a higher plan than the one you bought, Microsoft doesn’t add your code’s face value to their account — it converts it, at a published ratio, and the ratio is brutal. We’ll get to the exact numbers, because Microsoft publishes them and almost nobody quotes them.

First: which Game Pass are you buying?

Start here, because the plan names changed and most of what’s written about gifting Game Pass predates the change. There is no single “Game Pass” to buy. Microsoft’s own page lists four plans at four prices, and they are different products rather than sizes of the same one:

  • Essential — $9.99 a month. Microsoft lists 50-plus games playable on console, PC and more devices, five hours of cloud playtime a month, in-game benefits, online console multiplayer and Rewards points. This is the entry plan. No day-one releases.
  • Premium — $14.99 a month. 200-plus games, and — this is the line that matters — “New XBOX-published games within 1yr of launch”. Ten hours of cloud playtime, double Rewards points. So they get Microsoft’s big releases, just not on the day.
  • Ultimate — $22.99 a month. 500-plus games, new games on day one, and EA Play, Fortnite Crew and Ubisoft+ Classics bundled in. Fifteen hours of cloud playtime, quadruple Rewards points. The expensive one, and the one people mean when they say they want Game Pass.
  • PC only — $13.99 a month. 300-plus games on PC and nothing else, with day-one releases and EA Play. Microsoft notes cloud gaming is not included with this plan. Irrelevant if the gift is for a console player — and a wasted gift if you buy it by mistake.

Two footnotes from Microsoft’s own page, since they affect what you can honestly promise. “New games on day one” is marked “Select games. Excludes Call of Duty titles” — so if the recipient is a Call of Duty player, day one is not the selling point. And the cheap introductory offers you’ll see advertised (“first 14 days for $1” on Essential and Premium) are for the subscriber to take, not for you: Microsoft says a credit card is required and the subscription continues automatically at the regular price afterwards. That is not a gift, that’s a trial with a trap in it.

If none of this is landing, it may be the wrong gift rather than the wrong plan. Our gaming subscriptions explained guide lines Game Pass up against PlayStation Plus and Nintendo Switch Online, and Game Pass vs buying games argues the other side: sometimes one game they get to keep is the better present.

Route 1: Buy as gift, straight from Microsoft

This is the one most people are hunting for, and it does exist. Microsoft’s own walkthrough covers four places you can do it from, and the flow is near-identical in each:

  1. On an Xbox console. Go to the Microsoft Store, find the plan, and look for the gift-wrap icon. Microsoft says selecting it opens the Buy as gift options, where you can either choose someone from your friends list or type in an email address. Pick a payment method and buy.
  2. In the Xbox app on PC. Search for what you want to send, press the three-dot button, and pick Buy as Gift from the dropdown. Microsoft says the process is identical in the Store tab of the full-screen experience on a ROG Xbox Ally handheld.
  3. In a web browser. Find the product in the Xbox Store or Microsoft Store online and use Buy as a gift in the three-dot menu beside the buy button. Microsoft notes you’ll only get the email option here, not the friends list.
  4. In the Microsoft Store on Windows. Same again, with the gift icon sitting to the right of the buy button. Email only.

The recipient gets a message on their console and an email to the address on their Xbox account, and selects Redeem code. Microsoft says that’s it — they’re ready to play.

Four limits on this route, all from Microsoft’s own help page. None of them are obvious until you hit one:

  • Not everything can be gifted. Microsoft says digital products that can be sent as a gift include the Buy as gift option — so the product page is the test. If the option isn’t there, that product can’t be sent, and you’re on Route 2.
  • There’s a cap on how many gifts you can send. Microsoft says you may have reached the limit for the number of digital gifts that can be sent, that the policy exists to protect the gaming community, and that you may have to wait up to 30 days before trying again. Worth knowing in December.
  • Same country or region, both ends. Microsoft states it twice: make sure the recipient is in the same country as you, and givers and recipients must always be in the same country or region.
  • Fourteen days to change your mind, and only if it’s unredeemed. Microsoft says you must request a refund for an unredeemed code within 14 days of purchase, and that once the code has been redeemed it can’t be refunded even inside those 14 days.

If it doesn’t arrive, don’t panic and re-buy. Microsoft says the gift might still be processing and to contact Microsoft Store Support if it hasn’t arrived after 12 hours — and the first thing to check is the recipient’s junk folder. You can also pull the code yourself: Microsoft says to find the item in your order history, select View gift code, copy it, and email it over.

Route 2: A prepaid plan code from a retailer

Buy a Game Pass code the way you’d buy anything else, and the gift is yours to hand over however you like. This is the route we point most gift buyers at, for three unglamorous reasons: you can print it, put it in a card or wrap it; you aren’t typing an email address and hoping; and for one plan, it’s cheaper.

Microsoft’s subscription-extension page confirms this is a supported route, not a workaround — it says some Xbox subscriptions can be extended by redeeming digital codes or gift cards, and publishes the ceilings for doing so.

How they redeem it. Xbox codes are 25 characters, formatted XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX. Microsoft lists four places to enter one:

  • At xbox.com/redeem in any browser — the simplest route, and the one to use if they’re away from the console.
  • On a console: press the Xbox button to open the guide and select Store, press the View button to open the side menu and select Redeem, then enter the code.
  • In the Xbox app for Windows: select the gamerpic, then Settings, then Redeem under “Redeem a code”.
  • In the Xbox mobile app: profile picture, gear icon, Redeem code.

One warning from Microsoft deserves to be in bold, because it is the mistake that can’t be undone: make sure they’re signed in to the correct Microsoft account before redeeming. Microsoft says that once a code has been redeemed it cannot be transferred to another Microsoft account by Xbox Support. If a household has a parent account and a child account, the code has to go onto the one that plays.

Microsoft’s other pre-flight notes: the region on the account has to match their physical location; a suspended account or one with a balance due may not be able to redeem at all; and — the one that causes the most unnecessary worry — you may be required to provide payment option info before you can redeem a code, but you will not accrue additional charges when the code is redeemed.

A real difference between the routes, worth knowing before you buy: Microsoft’s subscription refund policy says explicitly that it doesn’t apply to prepaid retail subscription codes, which are subject to the return policies of the retailer you bought from. So a retailer code is the retailer’s problem if something goes wrong, not Microsoft’s.

The conversion trap: check what they already have

This is the section to read even if you skip everything else, and it’s the reason this page exists.

Microsoft says that if you hold Ultimate or Premium, you can still redeem codes for subscriptions included as benefits of your current plan — but those codes “will automatically convert to your existing subscription at a ratio”. Microsoft publishes the table. These are its own numbers, not an estimate:

If they’re already on Ultimate:

  • 1 month of Essential → 14 days of Ultimate
  • 6 months of Essential → 53 days of Ultimate
  • 12 months of Essential → 105 days of Ultimate
  • 1 month of Premium → 20 days of Ultimate
  • 3 months of Premium → 59 days of Ultimate
  • 1 month of PC Game Pass → 18 days of Ultimate
  • 1 month of EA Play → 8 days of Ultimate

If they’re already on Premium:

  • 1 month of Essential → 23 days of Premium
  • 6 months of Essential → 108 days of Premium
  • 12 months of Essential → 183 days of Premium

Sit with the third line of the first list for a second. You buy a year of Essential as a generous present. They’re on Ultimate. They get three and a half months. Microsoft adds that prepaid time conversion is final and non-refundable and that the ratios are subject to change, so there’s no appeal and no guarantee today’s numbers hold tomorrow.

The same logic runs the other way if they upgrade using prepaid time they already hold: Microsoft converts remaining Essential time to Ultimate at 45%, PC Game Pass at 60%, Premium at 65% and EA Play at 25%, each rounded up to the next full day.

So the rule for a gift buyer is simple, and it is the opposite of “buy the cheapest plan with the longest term”:

  • They don’t subscribe at all. Buy whatever plan and term suits your budget. Nothing converts; they get the full face value.
  • They’re on Ultimate. Buy Ultimate, or buy a gift card. A cheaper plan’s code is money thrown away.
  • They’re on Essential or Premium and you want to spoil them. Buy Ultimate — redeeming it upgrades them rather than converting down.
  • You have no idea. Gift card. Every time.

The other ceiling: extension limits

A smaller trap, but it produces a confusing error rather than a quiet loss, so it’s worth recognizing. Microsoft caps how far ahead a subscription can be extended: Ultimate to a maximum of 36 months, Essential and PC Game Pass also to 36 months in most countries, and Premium to a maximum of 13 months.

If a code would push them past the limit, Microsoft says they’ll see a “Hold off extending this right now” error and will need to wait until the limit won’t be exceeded. Nothing is lost — the code is still good, it just can’t go on yet. Mostly this only bites someone who has been stacking years of codes already, but it’s the reason a 12-month Premium code can be refused on an account that already runs 11 months out.

So is a code actually cheaper than subscribing?

For one plan, yes. For the rest, no — and we’d rather tell you that than let you assume a retail code is automatically a deal.

Hold the live prices on the buy rows below against Microsoft’s own published monthly rates. The multi-month Essential codes land clearly under $9.99 a month — roughly a third less across a year, which is a genuine saving and the single best-value Game Pass gift sold. The Premium and Ultimate codes don’t do that. They’re priced to land within pennies of what Microsoft charges for the same number of months.

That doesn’t make them bad gifts. It makes them gifts rather than bargains: you’re buying something you can hand to a person, on a plan they’d have paid for anyway, without putting your card on their account. Just don’t buy a three-month Ultimate code believing you beat the system — you paid the list price and got a code, which is exactly the right reason to do it and the wrong reason to brag about it.

One more comparison worth making before you commit. An Xbox gift card can be spent on Game Pass too, at whatever plan and term they choose, and it can’t be converted down or refused by an extension limit. Our Xbox gift card vs Game Pass comparison takes that choice apart properly.

If you’re buying for someone else’s child

Two things to sort out first, both of which Microsoft flags itself.

The account, not the console. A redeemed code attaches to a Microsoft account for good — Microsoft says Xbox Support can’t move it afterwards. In a household with a parent account and child accounts, that means the code has to be entered on the child’s account, by someone who knows which one that is. Hand the code to the parent and say what it’s for.

Content settings can block what the plan unlocks. Microsoft says that if the recipient is a child or teen, the maturity level on their account might be blocking the download, and that a parent changes this in the Family account settings page. A Game Pass library is full of games rated well above the child in front of it, so a plan with 500 games does not mean 500 games they can open. That’s a feature, not a fault — but it’s a reason to check with the parent rather than surprise them. Our guide to game age ratings covers what the labels actually mean.

And tell whoever redeems it to check the Subscriptions page in their Microsoft account afterwards. Microsoft says turning off recurring billing stops future charges while still granting the benefits until the expiration date — so a prepaid gift stays prepaid, with no card quietly attached at the end of it.

Five mistakes to avoid

  1. Buying a cheaper plan for someone on Ultimate. The expensive one. A 12-month Essential code becomes 105 days of Ultimate, per Microsoft’s own table, and the conversion is final.
  2. Buying the PC-only plan for a console player. Microsoft’s PC plan is PC games only and doesn’t include cloud gaming. It’s a perfectly good plan pointed at the wrong machine.
  3. Buying across regions. Microsoft requires the giver and recipient to be in the same country or region. A cross-region code produces an error telling the recipient to contact the seller.
  4. Redeeming on the wrong account. Not reversible. Microsoft says a redeemed code can’t be transferred to another Microsoft account.
  5. Buying a code from a marketplace reseller to save a few dollars. Microsoft’s refund policy doesn’t cover prepaid retail codes at all — it points you at the retailer’s own return policy. With a real retailer that’s a safety net. With an anonymous reseller it’s nothing.

Still not sure which tier to send?

This guide covers how to send a subscription and what happens when it is redeemed. The other half of the decision is which of Microsoft’s plans to buy in the first place, and the names are actively misleading — “Premium” is the middle tier, not the top one. Our Essential versus Premium versus Ultimate comparison puts all three side by side on Microsoft’s own published numbers — library size, day-one releases, cloud hours and the bundled extras — and says which one to give.

How this is funded: Player Two Co earns a commission if you buy through our links, at no extra cost to you. It never changes which gift we recommend, and we’ll tell you when we’d skip one. Full disclosure.

Which code to buy

Five options, ranked for a gift buyer rather than for a subscriber. The order assumes the recipient isn’talready subscribed — if they are, jump to whichever row matches their current plan or take the gift card at the bottom. Prices on each row are the live retail price; Microsoft’s own monthly rates are in the plan section above, so you can see which one is a saving and which one isn’t.

Best value per month

Xbox Game Pass Essential (12-month)

A full year of the entry plan, and the one Game Pass code that genuinely undercuts paying Microsoft month to month — the rest are priced to match. Microsoft lists Essential at $9.99 a month; a 12-month code works out well under that. Essential is the small library (Microsoft says 50-plus games) rather than the day-one one, so this is a year of something to play, not a year of every new release.

Great because

  • The only plan whose multi-month code beats Microsoft's own monthly price
  • A year is long enough to feel like a real present, not a trial
  • Includes online console multiplayer, which plenty of games need

Keep in mind

  • Essential is the smallest library — no day-one releases, no EA Play or Fortnite Crew
  • If they already subscribe to Premium or Ultimate, Microsoft converts this to a fraction of its face value — check before you buy
  • Cloud streaming is capped at 5 hours a month on this plan
Platform
Xbox
Type
Gift card
Works with
Xbox consoles, Windows PC and cloud gaming devices
Good for
All ages

Skip it if: Skip if they already pay for Premium or Ultimate — Microsoft's own conversion table turns a 12-month Essential code into 105 days of Ultimate.

Details read from the product listing on October 3, 2026. Price is live from Amazon.

Best all-in gift

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (3-month)

Three months of the subscription that unlocks hundreds of games at once, including brand-new Xbox releases on day one. For most Xbox owners this is a better gift than any single game — it's the thing they'd renew themselves.

Great because

  • Hundreds of games instead of one — no duplicate risk at all
  • Includes new Xbox releases the day they launch
  • Arrives as a code, so it can be sent instantly

Keep in mind

  • If they already subscribe, it extends their plan rather than feeling like a new thing
Platform
Xbox
Type
Gift card
Works with
Xbox consoles, Windows PC and cloud devices
Good for
All ages

Skip it if: Skip if you want them to have something physical to unwrap.

Details read from the product listing on August 11, 2026. Price is live from Amazon.

Best middle ground

Xbox Game Pass Premium (3-month)

The middle plan, and the sensible one if Ultimate feels like too much money for a gift. Microsoft's own page puts Premium at 200-plus games and says new Xbox-published games join it within a year of launch — so they get the big first-party titles, just not on release day. Note that the code is priced almost exactly in line with Microsoft's $14.99 a month, so you're buying convenience and a thing to give, not a discount.

Great because

  • 200-plus games, and Xbox's own big releases arrive within a year
  • Noticeably cheaper per month than Ultimate
  • A code, so it can be emailed the same day

Keep in mind

  • No day-one releases, and no EA Play, Fortnite Crew or Ubisoft+ Classics
  • Costs about the same per month as just paying Microsoft directly
  • Premium can only be extended to 13 months, so a code can bounce if their plan already runs long
Platform
Xbox
Type
Gift card
Works with
Xbox consoles, Windows PC and cloud gaming devices
Good for
All ages

Skip it if: Skip if the whole point is that they play new releases the week they come out — that's Ultimate only.

Details read from the product listing on October 3, 2026. Price is live from Amazon.

Best small gift

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (1-month)

One month of the top plan — the cheapest way to put a real Game Pass gift in a card. Ultimate is the version with everything Microsoft attaches to it: 500-plus games, new releases on day one, and EA Play, Fortnite Crew and Ubisoft+ Classics bundled in. A month is short, but it's the plan people actually want, and it won't quietly commit them to anything.

Great because

  • The full Ultimate feature set, including day-one releases and Fortnite Crew
  • Cheap enough to pair with a game or a controller
  • No card details needed from you beyond the purchase itself

Keep in mind

  • A month goes fast, and the renewal price is Microsoft's full monthly rate
  • Same price as paying Microsoft for a month — no saving
  • On an existing Ultimate plan this stacks as a month; on Premium or Essential it is an upgrade, which converts at Microsoft's ratio
Platform
Xbox
Type
Gift card
Works with
Xbox consoles, Windows PC and cloud gaming devices
Good for
All ages

Skip it if: Skip if you want the gift to still be going at the end of the month — step up to the 3-month code or a year of Essential.

Details read from the product listing on October 3, 2026. Price is live from Amazon.

Best if you don't know what they have

Xbox Gift Card

The flexible choice for an Xbox player. It covers games, add-ons and — crucially — Game Pass, the subscription most Xbox owners actually want topped up.

Great because

  • Works toward games and Game Pass
  • Zero risk of a duplicate
  • Any budget amount

Keep in mind

  • Not a physical thing to unwrap
Platform
Xbox
Type
Gift card
Works with
Any Xbox account
Good for
All ages

Skip it if: Skip if you'd rather give a specific game.

Details read from the product listing on July 22, 2026. Price is live from Amazon.

Frequently asked questions

Can you gift Xbox Game Pass?

Yes, and in two different ways. Microsoft's own gifting walkthrough says games, add-ons and subscriptions such as Game Pass Ultimate can all be sent with the Buy as gift option, from a console, the Xbox app on PC, the Microsoft Store on Windows, or a browser. Separately, retailers sell prepaid Game Pass plan codes you buy like any other product and hand over yourself. Microsoft's support pages confirm the second route works too: its subscription-extension page says plainly that some Xbox subscriptions can be extended by redeeming digital codes or gift cards.

How do you gift Game Pass on Xbox?

On a console, open the Microsoft Store, find the Game Pass plan you want to send, and look for the gift-wrap icon. Microsoft says selecting it opens the Buy as gift options, where you can either pick someone from your friends list or type in an email address. Choose a payment method and buy. Microsoft adds one condition worth reading twice: make sure the person receiving the gift is in the same country as you. The recipient gets a message on their console and an email, and only has to select Redeem code.

How do you gift Game Pass on PC?

In the Xbox app on Windows, Microsoft says to search for what you want to send, press the three-dot button, and pick Buy as Gift from the dropdown — the same process as on a console, and identical in the Store tab on a ROG Xbox Ally handheld. In the Microsoft Store on Windows the gift icon sits to the right of the buy button, and in a browser Buy as a gift is in the three-dot menu beside it. Microsoft notes that on the web and in the Microsoft Store on Windows you only get the email option, not the friends list.

Can you gift Game Pass Ultimate specifically?

Yes. Ultimate is the plan Microsoft names by example in its own gifting walkthrough, and prepaid Ultimate codes are sold at retail in one-month and three-month terms. Ultimate is also the plan with everything attached: Microsoft's page lists 500-plus games, new games on day one (footnoted as select games, excluding Call of Duty titles), EA Play, Fortnite Crew and Ubisoft+ Classics included, and 15 hours of cloud playtime a month.

Can you gift one month of Game Pass?

Yes — a one-month code is the smallest Game Pass gift sold, and it exists for both Ultimate and Premium. It's the right pick for a card, a stocking or an add-on next to a bigger present. Two honest caveats: a month of Ultimate costs the same at retail as paying Microsoft for a month, so you aren't saving anything, and at the end of the month the price they'd see to continue is Microsoft's full monthly rate.

What happens if they already have Game Pass?

This is the part worth knowing before you spend anything. Microsoft says a code for a subscription that's already included in their current plan converts automatically, at a published ratio, rather than adding its face value. From Microsoft's own table: for someone on Ultimate, one month of Essential becomes 14 days of Ultimate, 12 months of Essential becomes 105 days, and three months of Premium becomes 59 days. For someone on Premium, 12 months of Essential becomes 183 days. Microsoft also says the conversion is final and non-refundable and that the ratios can change. If they're on Ultimate, buy Ultimate — or buy a gift card instead.

Can you gift Game Pass to someone in another country?

No. Microsoft is unambiguous about this in two places: its gifting walkthrough tells you to make sure the recipient is in the same country as you, and its gifting help page says givers and recipients must always be in the same country or region. If a code crosses regions the recipient sees an error telling them to contact the seller for a code that works in their region. Microsoft says you can then return the item for a refund from your order history — which is the one advantage the Buy-as-gift route has over a retailer code here.

Will they get charged when the gift runs out?

A prepaid code is prepaid — Microsoft says you will not accrue additional charges when the code is redeemed. What it also says is that you may be required to provide payment option info before you can redeem a code, which is where the worry comes from. The safe habit, for a gift to a young person especially, is to tell the recipient to check the Subscriptions page in their Microsoft account after redeeming and turn recurring billing off if it's on. Microsoft says turning off recurring billing stops future charges while still granting the benefits until the expiration date, so there's no downside to doing it immediately.

Which Game Pass plan should you gift?

If they aren't subscribed and you want the gift to last, a year of Essential is the best value of the lot — it's the only plan whose multi-month code meaningfully undercuts Microsoft's own monthly price. If they're the kind of player who talks about new releases, Ultimate is the only plan that gets them on day one, so a shorter Ultimate code beats a longer Essential one. Premium sits in between: Microsoft's own page says new Xbox-published games join it within a year of launch. And if you genuinely don't know what they have, an Xbox gift card sidesteps the conversion problem entirely.

Is a Game Pass code cheaper than subscribing?

Only for one plan, which is not the answer most gift articles give. Comparing the live retail prices on the buy rows below against Microsoft's own published monthly rates: the multi-month Essential codes come in clearly under $9.99 a month, around a third less over a year. The Premium and Ultimate codes don't — they're priced to land within pennies of paying Microsoft for the same number of months. So buy an Essential code for the discount, and buy a Premium or Ultimate code because it's a gift you can hand over, not because it saves money.

Can you gift an Xbox gift card toward Game Pass instead?

Yes, and it's the better move whenever you're unsure. An Xbox gift card adds balance to their Microsoft account that works toward games, add-ons and Game Pass alike, so they choose the plan and the term themselves. It can't be converted down the way a plan code can, it can't be blocked by an extension limit, and it can't be the wrong plan. The trade is that it's less of a gift in the sense of having picked something — a card says "here is money", where a Game Pass code says "I know what you play".

What if the gift code doesn't work?

Work through Microsoft's own list. Check the code hasn't already been redeemed — the giver can see this under View gift code in their order history, and re-send the code from there. Check the recipient is signed in to the right Microsoft account, because Microsoft says a redeemed code can't be transferred to another account afterwards. Check the account region matches their physical location. If the recipient is a child or teen, Microsoft says the maturity level on the account may be blocking the download, which a parent changes in Family account settings. And if the code pushes an existing subscription past its extension limit, Microsoft returns a "Hold off extending this right now" error — the code is fine, it just has to wait.

Sources

  • Xbox — Game Pass — Microsoft's own Game Pass page: “Plans start at $9.99/month.” Four plans, each with its own price and contents — Essential, “then $9.99/month”, “50+ games playable on console, PC, & more devices”, “Cloud playtime (5 hours/month)”, online console multiplayer, “Earn Rewards points”; Premium, “then $14.99/month”, “200+ games”, “New XBOX-published games within 1yr of launch”, “Cloud playtime (10 hours/month)”, “Earn 2x Rewards points”; Ultimate, “$22.99/month”, “500+ games”, “New games on day one”, “EA Play, Fortnite Crew, & Ubisoft+ Classics”, “Cloud playtime (15 hours/month)”, “Earn 4x Rewards points”; and PC only, “$13.99/month”, “300+ games playable on PC only”, day one, EA Play, “Earn 2x Rewards points”. Day-one access is footnoted “Select games. Excludes Call of Duty titles.”, cloud gaming is “Not included with PC Game Pass”, Essential and Premium carry a “first 14 days for $1” promotional offer for which “Credit card required”, and the page states “Subscription continues automatically at the regular monthly price unless canceled through your Microsoft Account” (accessed October 3, 2026)
  • Microsoft Store — Xbox Game Pass Ultimate — Microsoft's own store listing for Ultimate, read for the plan contents and the price shown to a signed-out US visitor: “$22.99/month”, “New games on day one*” footnoted “*Select games. Excludes Call of Duty titles.”, “Get 500+ games”, “EA Play, Fortnite Crew, and Ubisoft+ Classics”, “Get V-Bucks each month and access to Passes with Fortnite Crew”, “Discover 50+ iconic games … with Ubisoft+ Classics”, “With Ultimate you get our highest quality with the shortest wait times”, “15 hours of cloud gaming each month”, and “up to 4x more points” on Rewards. The same page lists Premium at “$14.99/month” with a “$1.00 for 14 days” offer and PC Game Pass at “$13.99/month”. The listing's own buttons are JOIN and ADD TO WISHLIST — the Buy-as-gift option lives in the “…” menu described on Microsoft's gifting pages, not on the page body (accessed October 3, 2026)
  • Xbox Wire — How to Buy a Digital Game as a Gift — Xbox's own walkthrough of digital gifting: find the game in the Microsoft Store, use the gift-wrap icon (or 'Buy as a Gift' from the … menu in the Xbox app, Microsoft Store on Windows, or a browser), then send it to a friend or an email address — the recipient must be in the same country as the sender, and games, add-ons and subscriptions such as Game Pass Ultimate can all be gifted (accessed August 11, 2026)
  • Xbox Support — Help with giving digital games or subscriptions as gifts — Microsoft's own troubleshooting page for gifted digital products, and the source of every limit on the Buy-as-gift route: “Digital products that can be sent as a gift include the Buy as gift option” (so the product page is the check); “You reached the limit for the number of digital gifts that can be sent. This policy is in place to protect our gaming community. You may have to wait up to 30 days before you try again”; a gift that has not arrived “might still be processing. If it hasn't arrived after 12 hours, contact Microsoft Store Support”; the giver can re-send a code from order history with “View gift code” and “Copy”; “The recipient can give the code to someone else to redeem … The recipient can't return or exchange the gift code”; “You must request a refund for an unredeemed code within 14 days of making the purchase. If the code has been redeemed, we're unable to process a refund, even if it's within 14 days of purchase”; “If the recipient is a child or teen, the maturity level on their account might be blocking the download. They'll need to ask a parent or other adult to change the Family account settings”; and on region, “givers and recipients must always be in the same country or region”. Also: “Fortnite V-Bucks, FC Points, and other virtual currencies can't be sent as gifts.” (accessed October 3, 2026)
  • Xbox Support — All about Xbox Game Pass Conversions — Microsoft's own conversion rules — the single most important fact for a gift buyer, because a code redeemed onto an existing higher plan does NOT add its face value. “With Game Pass Ultimate or Game Pass Premium, you can still redeem codes for other subscriptions that are included as benefits of your current subscription. These codes will automatically convert to your existing subscription at a ratio based on the following tables. Conversion ratios are subject to change.” For an Ultimate subscriber: 1 month of Game Pass Core or Essential becomes “14 days of Ultimate”, 3 months becomes “33 days”, 6 months becomes “53 days”, 12 months becomes “105 days of Ultimate (3+ months)” and 24 months becomes “209 days”; 1 month of Game Pass Standard or Premium becomes “20 days”, 2 months “39 days”, 3 months “59 days”; 1 month of Gold becomes 14 days and 12 months of Gold becomes 105 days; 1 month of PC Game Pass becomes “18 days of Ultimate” and 6 months becomes “108 days”; 1 month of EA Play becomes “8 days of Ultimate”. For a Premium subscriber: 1 month of Core or Essential becomes “23 days of Premium”, 3 months “60 days”, 6 months “108 days”, 12 months “183 days of Premium (6 months)” and 24 months “365 days of Premium (1 year)”. The same page covers upgrade conversions of prepaid time — Essential converts to Ultimate at “45% of your remaining time”, PC Game Pass at 60%, Premium at 65%, Game Pass for Console at 50% and EA Play at 25%, each “rounded up to the next full day”, up to “a maximum of 36 months”; upgrading Essential to Premium converts “at a ratio of 3:2” up to “a maximum of 13 months”. “Maximum extension limits vary by plan and country. Prepaid time conversion is final and non-refundable, and ratios are subject to change.” (accessed October 3, 2026)
  • Xbox Support — Xbox subscription extension limits — Microsoft's own page confirming a prepaid code is a legitimate way to extend a subscription, and the ceiling on it: “Some XBOX subscriptions can be extended by redeeming digital codes or gift cards”; “Game Pass Ultimate can be extended to a maximum of 36 months in all countries where it's available”; “Game Pass Essential and PC Game Pass can be extended to a maximum of 36 months” except in eight listed countries where the limit is 13 months; “Game Pass Premium and Game Pass for Console can be extended to a maximum of 13 months in all countries where they're available”; and “If you're attempting to redeem a code or gift card that will extend a subscription beyond its limit, you'll receive a “Hold off extending this right now” error message and will need to wait until the limit won't be exceeded” (accessed October 3, 2026)
  • Xbox Support — How to redeem gift cards, codes, and offers — Microsoft's current redemption instructions, re-read because the guide walks the recipient through them. Codes are “25-character alphanumeric strings” formatted “XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX”, redeemable at xbox.com/redeem or: on a console, “Press the XBOX button to open the guide, and then select Store”, “Press the View button to open the side menu, and then select Redeem”, enter the code; in the Xbox app for Windows, gamerpic → Settings → “Select Redeem under Redeem a code”; in the Xbox mobile app, profile picture → gear icon → “Select Redeem code”. Before redeeming: “Make sure that you're signed in to the correct Microsoft account before redeeming. If the code was purchased through a different account (for instance, as a gift), be sure to sign in to the account for the person who received the gift”; “Once a code has been redeemed, it cannot be transferred to another Microsoft account by XBOX Support”; “Make sure that the region on your Microsoft account matches your physical location”; “You may be required to provide payment option info before you can redeem a code. You will not accrue additional charges when the code is redeemed”; and “Some codes can't be redeemed if your Microsoft account is suspended or has a balance due” (accessed October 3, 2026)
  • Xbox Support — Xbox subscription cancellations and refunds — Microsoft's own subscription refund policy, and the line that separates a retailer code from a Microsoft purchase: “You can cancel an XBOX subscription at any time. Turning off recurring billing will stop future charges for a subscription and grant you its benefits until its expiration date”; “You can receive a refund within 30 days of your initial purchase or before your first recurring billing date (whichever is sooner) by canceling your subscription”; and “This refund policy doesn't affect any additional rights you may have under applicable law and doesn't apply to prepaid retail subscription codes, which are subject to the return policies of the retailer from which you purchased the code” (accessed October 3, 2026)
  • Xbox — Xbox Gift Cards — Microsoft's own page: an Xbox gift card adds balance toward games, add-ons and Game Pass on an Xbox account (accessed July 22, 2026)

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