Microsoft has finally caught up to Steam when it comes to digital gift-giving. Larry “MajorNelson” Hyrb, Xbox Live Director announced the new update that affects all Windows 10 PC and Xbox One games purchased through the Microsoft Store.
To purchase digital games as gifts, simply add the email address of the recipient on PC, or their Xbox Live Gamertag on Xbox. The recipient must be on your Xbox Live friends list.
There are a few limitations when it comes to buying digital games as gifts:
- Gift purchasers can only buy two discounted products, and a total of 10 discounted products, every 14 days. There are no limits for gift purchases made at full price.
- Gifting of Xbox 360 and Xbox original games, pre-orders, free products, and consumable downloadable game content such as virtual currency is not allowed.
- Gift recipients can only redeem gift tokens in the country or region where they were purchased.
It’s also important to note that you can’t gift games you’ve already purchased. This is not a game-sharing feature. Instead you simply have the ability to purchase a game as a gift instead of (or in addition to) buying it for yourself.
Microsoft had previously rolled out a test version of gift-giving for select Xbox One titles last fall. Gift-purchasing is now available for all Windows 10 PC and Xbox One digital games.
