Xbox Live Rewards Review: Is It worth It (Even with the Free Points Glitch?)

Even Starbucks has a reward program.

And the Xbox brand is no different.

If you often spend your time playing games, watching TV shows or streaming movies through your Xbox, then you should definitely consider joining Xbox Live Rewards.

It’s a loyalty program sponsored by Microsoft.

Below we have a full review of the program.

Let’s delve into how it works, and what you can get from being a member.

What is Xbox Rewards?

As with pretty much all loyalty programs, you get access to benefits and bonuses.

With this one, you get:

• Access to exclusive offers and promotions.
• The opportunity to earn Rewards Credits. You can redeem these credits towards purchases of digital items at the Microsoft Store.
• The chance to earn MyVIP Gems.

Can anyone join?

Here’s the deal…

Pretty much anyone with an Xbox and an Xbox Live Account can participate.

But here’s the kicker…

Only certain countries are eligible.

This means that you can only join if you live in one of these countries:

• United States
• United Kingdom
• Germany
• Italy
• The Netherlands
• Ireland
• Belgium
• France
• Spain
• Sweden
• Japan
• Mexico
• New Zealand
• Singapore
• Taiwan
• Hong Kong

But don’t worry if you don’t live in one of those places…

The company does state that it’s always trying to add new countries to the list. So check back often.

How Xbox Rewards Works

Now you know what the program is, you’re probably wondering, how exactly does it work?

Well, compared to some other loyalty programs, Live Rewards is pretty complex.

It offers quite a few different types of rewards, and multiple ways to earn them.

This can be a bit overwhelming to decipher if you’re a newcomer!

But don’t worry – we’ve got you covered.

Below, we’ve broken down the program to show you exactly how it works, and how to get the most out of it!

1. Getting started

To become a member of this rewards program, you need to have an Xbox Live account.

If you use your Xbox gaming console to watch movies online or play games, then you’ll probably already have one of these.

If you’ve just gotten your device so you don’t have a Live account yet, or you just haven’t gotten around to creating one, then you’ll need to sign up for an account.

It’s easy to do.

You can set one up through your device by following the onscreen instructions.

Or you can sign up through the website here.

When you have an Xbox Live account, you can join the program.

It’s really simple to join:

1. Visit the official website.
2. Click on the “Join Xbox Live Rewards” button.
3. Join the program. Make sure that you use the Microsoft account that is associated with your Xbox Live Gamertag.

That’s it.

Once you’ve created your account, it takes around 96 hours for Microsoft to confirm your eligibility and set up your account. So leave it a few days and then check the website again to view your account status.

2. Enjoy the benefits of the program

Once you’re a member of the loyalty program you can enjoy a number of benefits simply for playing games, watching movies and TV shows, and just by participating in the program.

Here’s what you can expect to enjoy from it:

1. You can get access to the brand’s special events and offers. These are exclusive to members of the rewards program.
2. Earn Rewards Credits. The best part is that you can earn rewards credits – and you can use these credits to buy stuff at the online Microsoft Store!
3. You’ll also get the chance to earn stars through MyVIP. MyVIP is a feature of the program. Essentially, you earn stars and get access to additional bonuses and benefits. The main benefit of the MyVIP Star Rank is that it gives you a percentage of what you spend at the Microsoft Store back in rewards credits.
4. Finally, aside from being able to earn rewards credits, you can also earn MyVIP Gems. These gems can be redeemed for prizes.

We discuss ways to earn Rewards Credits and gems through the rewards program in more detail below.

3. Redeem your rewards credits

You can check how many credits you have by viewing the progress bar. This can be found at the top of your MyRewards page.

Once you accumulate 5,000 Reward Credits or more they are converted into your country’s local currency.

Then, they’re deposited into your Microsoft account.

You can use your credit in the Microsoft Store on your gaming console or on Windows to purchase digital:

• Games
• TV shows
• Movies and more.

Rewards Credits are automatically deposited into your account by the 15^th and 30^th of each month when you reach 5,000 credits.

But, if you don’t have 5,000 credits, you can still get them deposited into your account.

If you have 1,000 credits or more then you can request a deposit.

A “Request Deposit” button will appear on your MyRewards page.

Click on this button if you want to have them deposited into your account.

Once you’ve done that, you will receive a deposit by the next scheduled deposit date.

Xbox Rewards Credits to Dollars

The math is simple, really…

1,000 Rewards Credits equates to one dollar.

Earning Rewards Credits and Gems

Above, we mentioned that aside from getting access to benefits and bonuses, the main benefit of this rewards program is that you can earn:

• Rewards credits
• Gems

And that you can redeem these for cash to spend at the Microsoft store or prizes.

Below, we’ve outlined tips on how to earn them.

How to earn rewards credits

There are two main ways that you can earn store credit:

• Complete missions or special offers.
• Get a percentage of your spending back by with a MyVIP Star Rank.

That’s the simplified version.

As we said above, the program is fairly complex in that it gives you such a wide variety of ways to earn rewards (store credit).

So here’s a more detailed overview of how to earn credits and use the rewards program.

1. Complete missions

As a member of the program, you can earn Rewards Credits for completing missions.

You can view current missions available on the MyMissions page.

Missions are specific tasks that you have to complete within a certain time-frame.

By completing ongoing ‘missions’, which are specific tasks that need to be completed within a set time-period, you earn Rewards Credits.

At the time of writing, here are a few examples of available missions:

YOLO Rewards

YOLO Rewards is a multi-tiered offer. Depending on what level you’re at, you can earn up to 15,000 rewards credits and 5 MyVIP Gems (more about those later).

Here’s what you can earn at each level:

• Level 1: Earn 5,000 Rewards Credits when you spend at least $40 before tax on eligible digital games, movies and TV shows.
• Level 2: Earn 1,000 Rewards Credits when you spend at least $2 before tax on featured ‘ride or die’ #YOLO avatar items from the Microsoft Store.
• Level 3: Earn 4,000 Rewards Credits when you complete five achievements on games that you purchased as part of Level 1.
• Level 4: When you complete levels one to three, you unlock level 4. At this level, you earn 5,000 Rewards Credits for completing the entire #YOLO Rewards offer.

This offer applies to digital purchases that you make in the Microsoft Store.

Game of Thrones Offer

With this offer, you can earn 5,000 Rewards Credits when you purchase Season 7 of Game of Thrones in HD from the Microsoft Store.

Games on Demand Pre-Order Punchcard

With this offer, you get 15,000 Rewards Credits and 5 MyVIP Gems if you pre-order three eligible digital Games on Demand titles in the Microsoft Store.

Completing missions does allow you to earn points quickly. But, for the missions that reward you for making purchases, make sure that you only buy stuff that you normally would.

Otherwise, you’re just buying stuff for the sake of it, and it defeats the point of earning credits from the program.

2. Earn a MyVIP Star Rank

All members of the Xbox loyalty program get access to the benefits of the MyVIP program.

Through MyVIP, you have the chance to earn a Star Rank. This gives you a percentage of what you spend on digital purchases in the Microsoft Store on your device or on Windows back.

You can get up to 5% back, depending on your Star Rank.

Here’s a quick overview of each tier:

• One Star: 1% back
• Two Stars: 2% back
• Three Stars: 3% back
• Four Stars: 4% back
• Five Stars: 5% back

To unlock your first star and earn 1% back, you need to spend at least $300 on eligible content.

3. Take a survey

You can also earn rewards by taking surveys.

They run numerous surveys. They’re pretty easy to complete and don’t take too long either.

At the time of writing, you can earn 250 Rewards Credits for completing a monthly survey.

Check out what surveys are on offer by visiting this page.

How to earn MyVIP Gems

The main benefit of the program is that you get Rewards Credits that you can spend on purchases at the Microsoft Store.

But Microsoft Store Credit isn’t the only benefit on offer.

The program also rewards you with MyVIP Gems.

You can use these gems to get prizes from the MyVIP Vault.

Here’s how to earn them:

1. MyAchievements

What’s great about the program is that it actually rewards you for building your Gamerscore.

So you essentially get rewards just for playing games!

When you build your Gamerscore, you move up MyAchievements tiers.

Each time you reach a new tier, you earn MyVIP Gems.

The tier you start at is determined by your current Gamerscore.

2. MyChallenges

With MyChallenges, you earn rewards when you complete specific tasks, such as:

• Having an active Live Gold Subscription
• Pre-ordering digital games from the Microsoft store.

When you complete challenges, you’ll earn MyVIP Gems (more about those below).

You can see the current missions on the MyMissions page.

3. MyVIP Perks

MyVIP Perks are bonuses that you get at certain milestones or occasions, like:

• Your Birthday.
• Your rewards anniversary.
• Reaching a new MyAchievements tier.
• Increasing your GamerScore.
• Completing a new MyChallenge.

The MyVIP Perk that you receive varies. It might be a personalized offer, or it could be a reward like MyVIP Gems.

When you have a perk, the company will send you an email to let you know.

And you’ll also get a special alert on the MyRewards page.

There are a few other simple ways that you can earn gems, like completing an offer or clicking on an email.

Redeeming MyVIP Gems

Check out what’s on offer in the MyVIP Vault here.

You can choose to use your gems as soon as you have enough of them to unlock a prize. Or you can save them up to put them towards something larger.

How can I earn more rewards credits faster?

Above, we outlined every way that you can earn Rewards Credits and MyVIP Gems with the program.

But, you’re probably wondering whether or not there is a hack that lets you earn points faster or for free.

Well, not really.

Sure, there may be a glitch from time to time that gets you a few free points (for example, a glitch known as Xbox Live Rewards glitch allegedly enabled users to get points for free,) but they won’t last. After all, these are system glitch and errors that will be fixed.

Like with most rewards programs, there’s no way to really HACK your way to points faster.

But there are things you can do to speed it up.

For example, a person who does the following will earn rewards credits and gems faster:

• Frequently completes missions.
• Participates in challenges.
• Takes surveys.
• Builds their Gamerscore
• Often purchases games, TV shows and movies at the Microsoft store.

On the other hand, if you don’t often purchase things from Microsoft, then it’s going to take a while for you to build up your rewards.

Xbox Live Rewards hack

However, there is one thing that you can do to earn more credits faster…

Get an Xbox Live Gold account!

Here’s the deal…

To earn credits, you have to spend cash.

Most of the earnings opportunities require you to purchase stuff from the Microsoft Store.

So the program is definitely suited to people that use their device frequently and often purchase new games, movies or TV shows.

Plus, the fact that you’re rewarded for increasing your Gamerscore is just another factor that makes this program so well-suited to heavier users.

If you’re one of those people who spends a lot of time on their gaming console, then we’d recommend you get a Gold account.

Benefits of getting Xbox Live Gold

Having a Gold account offers a number of benefits on its own:

• Multiplayer gaming
• Free games
• Game discounts

But if you’re a part of the loyalty program too, then it’s even more beneficial.

We mentioned above that one of the main ways you can earn rewards credits is by getting a MyVIP Star Rank.

At tier one, you get 1% of your spending back in rewards credits.

At tier two you get 2% back and so on up until level five.

So the highest cashback you can get is 5%.

But if you have a Gold account, you get double cash back.

So at level one, you’ll get 2% cash back rather than 1%.

Here’s what you’ll get:

• One Star: 2% back
• Two Stars: 4% back
• Three Stars: 6% back
• Four Stars: 8% back
• Five Stars: 10% back

But, that’s not the only benefit to having a Gold account.

You also get access to VIP Exclusives. These are special offers and exclusive rewards

Is it worthwhile?

Okay, so now you know what it is, how it works and what the benefits of using it are.

Now, you’re probably wondering, is the rewards program from Xbox worthwhile?

Here’s the deal…

Rewards programs are not going to make you rich. They’re not designed to do that.

But, they do give you access to benefits and bonuses just for using a product or service that you already use anyway.

So they are definitely worth joining.

Here on Money Pantry, we talk a lot about rewards programs, because they really are worthwhile.

If you’re already buying movies and games, and just using your Xbox in general then you may as well participate in this loyalty program.

With it, you get access to numerous benefits and even free cash to spend at the Microsoft store.

So why not join?

It’s entirely free, and like we said if you’re already using Xbox’s services it’s really a no brainer.

If you don’t participate in the program, then you’re missing out on some pretty sweet bonuses, and free cash to spend – who doesn’t love free spending money!

And, the amount you can earn is more than you would think.

In this Reddit thread, one user mentions that they have made $20 from the loyalty program.

That’s a pretty impressive amount just for playing games and watching movies!

And another user in the same thread states that they’ve made $250.

But we would say that this loyalty program isn’t worth it for everyone.

So why might it not be worthwhile for everyone?

This program probably isn’t worth your time if you don’t purchase stuff often.

Sure you can complete surveys and offers.

But most of the earnings opportunities require you to either purchase something or increase your GamerScore.

Now, you might think “well I can still earn credits for the purchases that I do make, even if they are few and far between and these credits will add up over time.”

But, there’s a big caveat to the program.

Rewards credits reset to zero after a certain time period.

So there’s no way to let them build up over a long period of time.

We definitely think that this rewards program from Xbox is most suited to people that purchase stuff at the Microsoft store frequently.

Closing thoughts

As you can see from this review, there are definitely benefits to joining this program.

If you love getting achievements in games to boost your Gamerscore or you enjoy buying new games and other stuff at the Microsoft store, then this program is definitely for you.

However, if you only buy stuff every now and then, or you don’t play on it often, then give Xbox Live Rewards a pass.