How to gift Xbox games from PC

If you want to gift or buy Xbox games for your friends without revealing details of your payment method, you should know that both Xbox One has native integration which allows you to send gifts instantly to anybody in your friend list or an email address. It is also a great way to buy for your kids instead of transferring amount to Kids account which Windows 10 Family Safety options offer. This was one of the most requested features for both Xbox One, and Windows 10. So here is to give someone a digital game on Xbox One.

Before you begin, make sure you have some payment method added to your Microsoft Account. If not, you will be asked to do so during checkout.

Gift someone a game on Xbox One

Using Gamertag is probably the easiest way to send the gift, even if the person is not on your friend list, but if you know the exact gamertag, you can search, and then send.

Find the Game: When on the Home Screen, press the right bumper to navigate to the Store section. If you are anywhere else, press the Guide button on your controller, and hit “A” to go Home.

Next, you need to search the game you plan to gift. You can search (press “Y”) or manually look for it. Once you find it, open it to see the store listing.

Buy the Gift: The game listing will have many options including “Install”, “Buy to own”, and “Buy as gift”. Select the last option. In case you don’t see this option, it’s possible that it is not available for the same.

Once you select “Buy as gift”, you will have two options here. First, will offer you to choose someone from the list, and second will ask you to enter an email address.

Whatever you choose, post the selection, the steps will remain the same.

Customize with Message: In this step, you can change the name from your default gamertag to something that will make the person smile. You can also add a small message which suits perfectly, especially during holiday season.

Make Payment: Once you have completed the payment using your preferred method which could be a card or redeeming a code, an instant message or email is sent to the recipient. He will receive a 25-character key for redemption. If you have selected a gamertag, the code will also be sent as a message which he or she can redeem instantly.

Pro Tip: Ask the person to redeem the code from redeem.xbox.com if he is away from the console. This way, the game will start downloading automatically if his settings allow it.

Do note that even though it was you who bought the game, the ownership of the game is passed to the person who redeems the code, and downloads it.

Give a digital game as a gift on Windows PC

The process majorly remains the same, so I am not going to repeat it. In short, find the game, look for the option “Buy as gift”, and follow the steps. There is one small difference though. You will not be able to select any gamertag but can only use an email ID.

Limitations of Game Gifting on Xbox One

• Restricted to Games only: For now, you cannot gift Extensions, Pre-Order, Season Pass, DLC for games, etc. I hope Microsoft enables this as they are cheaper – and some might want to send gifts which cost less as well.
• Not Available for all titles in Windows:  As of now, Microsoft has enabled game gifting option only for Xbox Play Anywhere games, or titles. So titles like Forza Horizon which is available both on the console, and PC, can be sent as a gift.

Keeping in mind that PC gamers have a huge percentage when it comes to gaming, Microsoft should enable Game Gifting for all the games. As a matter of fact, the option should integrate with the Xbox App to pickup gamertag allowing anybody who is only a PC gamer to get an option to get a gift.

Microsoft's Xbox gifting feature was a big hit with players last fall. Now, the company has expanded digital gifting to include PC games and PC downloadable content (so things like map packs and skins). It's also made all Xbox One games eligible for gifting. It's a pretty straightforward process. Head to the Microsoft Store, find your game and select 'buy as gift'. Just enter the recipient's email address -- or choose their Gamertag if you're gifting via Xbox One -- and they'll get a redemption code. Then you can sit back and wait for the gratitude to roll in.

Of course, there are some restrictions. You can only gift two discounted products every 14 days (although there are no limits on full price gift purchases). Xbox 360 and Xbox original games are still off the table, as are pre-orders, free products and downloadable consumable content, such as virtual currency. And finally, recipients can only redeem gift codes in the country or region where they were purchased. Navigate all that and you're guaranteed to be someone's favorite person.

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