Just in time for Black Friday and the holidays, Microsoft has rolled out digital gift giving on the Xbox One and Windows Store on Windows 10. Larry Hryb, a.k.a. Major Nelson, made the announcement yesterday via Twitter.
🎁 🎁 Gifting is here ! Gift select Xbox One games & downloadable game content +Xbox Live Gold & Xbox Game Pass subscriptions, right from the Microsoft Store on your Xbox console, on Windows, or online. 🎁 🎁 pic.twitter.com/NACHdO3dY1
— Larry Hryb #XboxOneX (@majornelson) November 14, 2017
As he mentions you can purchase select — not all — games and DLC game content, as well as Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass subscriptions and gift them to a friend or family member. The process seems pretty easy from the Microsoft Store, if you see the “Buy as Gift” button below an item, you can click it, enter your password as if making a purchase for yourself, and then are prompted to enter in the email address of the recipient.
When purchasing a digital gift, the purchaser is charged as soon as they make the purchase. A gift code will be sent to the recipient immediately unless the purchaser specifies a different delivery date. You can schedule the gift to be delivered up to one year after purchasing. There is a refund grace period of 14 days as long as the code hasn’t been redeemed by the recipient. Unfortunately, you can only purchase and redeem gifts if both the sender and recipient are in the same country/region. The recipient needs to have a valid Microsoft account and if they don’t, they’ll be prompted to create one upon code redemption. Microsoft has also posted a Gift Terms and Conditions page which outlines these and other caveats for digital gift purchasing.
What do you think about the new digital game gift giving on the Xbox One and Windows Store? Do you plan on using the new feature to send digital copies of games to your friends or family? Let us know in the comments below or on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.
