The Case for Reinventing Xbox’s Loyalty Program: Four Critical Upgrades

Microsoft Reward Points are supposed to be an added bonus if you decide to buy an Xbox console. And while the reward system is free, you might encounter a few frustrations when attempting to use the service on Xbox Series X|S.

And as time has passed, Microsoft Reward Points have worsened. However, if Microsoft was to address these issues, it could be a viable facet of your Xbox experience. But what issues with Microsoft Reward Points need addressing? Let’s take a look.

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1. Earning Microsoft Reward Points Is Painstakingly Slow on Xbox

A vital flaw with Microsoft Reward Points is how the system progresses you towards a desired reward at a snail’s pace, especially on Xbox Series X|S.

Nearly all the ways you can earn Microsoft Reward Points on Xbox will only give you a couple of Reward Points. Even if you focus onquickly earning Microsoft Reward Points , methods like completing activities usually only give you five or 15 Reward Points.

And even if you complete the more substantial weekly and monthly activities on Xbox that can earn you 100 or 1000 Rewards Points, you’re capped at only being able to earn the points once every week or month. Take this into account with a single month of Xbox Live Gold costing 7000 points, and that’s a lot of weeks.

So while there may be ways to quickly earn Microsoft Reward Points, readily available rewards earn few points, while heavy-earners are time-capped. This combination creates a timely and frustrating cycle for the service where you can only redeem a reward after months and months of earning.

2. Xbox Monthly and Weekly Rewards Are Getting Worse

While the monthly and weekly reward activities provide a substantial amount of points for you to earn, it’s not only the time restraints of these activities that hold back the service as a whole.

Historically, the monthly bonus activities for Microsoft Reward Points would provide you with 2000 points. This represented the best way for you to etch closer to being able toredeem your Reward Points on Xbox for a substantial reward. But from theJuly monthly bonus round in 2023, the rewarded points dropped to 1000.

The biggest issue associated with the monthly bonus activities was its capped time frame, forcing you to earn the associated points once a month. But now, with the rewarded points literally slashed in half, the feature becomes even more frustrating.

And with the slashing of points, existing issues are only exacerbated. Together with the sluggish rate you gather points, the unfortunate changes only give you further cause to ignore the feature altogether.

3. Point Values Are Worth Less When Spending Points on Xbox

Aside from how Microsoft Reward Points have adapted over time, some core features of the service represent glaring ways it could be fairer to gamers.

For instance, Xbox gives you one reward point per dollar you spend on the Xbox Store. If you were to buy a game digitally for $69.99 dollars, you would earn 69 Microsoft Reward Points. But while this system may seem useful at first glance, when compared to the points system as a whole a few problems arise.

The most consistent Xbox rewards through Microsoft Reward Points provide free months of Xbox Live Gold or Xbox Game Pass. But generally, these rewards cost well over 5000 points. So, you would need to purchase over 70 games at retail just to hit the 5000-point requirement.

To put it in plainer terms, if you go off Microsoft’s one-point-per-dollar system, 7000 points for a free month of Xbox Live Gold represents $7000 dollars worth of store purchases. And while this is slightly contrary, it would be ridiculous if points given were equivalent to store purchases, the system seems highly unfair.

If the ratio of earned points to store purchases were more substantial, the method would seem like a legitimate way for you to attain free rewards on Xbox. But as it is, the system seems almost frugal.

4. The Best Ways to Earn Points Involve Purchasing Xbox Games

Even if you look outside the traditional ways you earn Microsoft Reward Points, other methods involving specific titles can act as Xbox Game Pass advertisements or represent a game you may need to purchase.

Disregarding the weekly and monthly activities you can engage in, the section forYour offers on the Microsoft Rewards on Xbox app displays many other ways to earn points. Often this section will provide you with activities linked to a specific game. For these activities, you need to complete tasks within a game to earn points.

This method of incentivizing playing games can be great if you already own the game or can access the title through Xbox Game Pass. But if the required game isn’t available, or you don’t have Game Pass, you have to purchase the game to earn points.

In terms of offering a useful way to earn points, game-specific activities are great on paper but quickly turn into a way for Microsoft Rewards Points to advertise store purchases or Xbox Game Pass. You could even see it as a method of incentivizing the spending of your money.

Microsoft Reward Points Need to Adapt to Remain Functional on Xbox

While Microsoft Reward Points are a free bonus added to the Xbox platform, the more you look into how the service works, the more it starts to resemble more of an issue than a bonus.

And with the service slowly becoming more restrictive and less rewarding, Microsoft Reward Points will likely become a less essential aspect of the Xbox Series X|S unless some of its issues are addressed.

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