Giving away digital games to friends has been a key feature on Steam and other PC gaming clients for years, but console gaming has lagged behind that trend. Fortunately, Microsoft now offers the ability to gift games through Xbox Live. To make your next gift shopping spree quick and painless, here’s how to gift Xbox One games without leaving the comfort of your couch.
Further reading
Step 1: Select a game
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You must be signed in to an Xbox One account and connected to the Internet to access the store. Go to the store from the dashboard (menu on the far right). We recommend using the search function to quickly find your upcoming gift.
Step 2: Buy as a gift
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Once you’ve decided on a game, you’ll notice several options on the right side of the purchase screen, each with its own icon. Select the gift card icon named Buy as a gift (not the shopping cart icon, which buys for itself). If you accidentally buy the game for yourself, you can return it and fix the mistake (provided you don’t make a mistake and play your friend’s gift for more than two hours), but the process is a little time-consuming.
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You will now see two methods for sending a game to a friend on Xbox One: Gifting an Xbox Live to a friend and sending to an email address.
Sending Xbox Live to a friend
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The simplest and most accurate method, this option above opens a sidebar with your Xbox Live friends list. Scroll down and select a lucky friend to win the game. If you’re not friends with the intended recipient on Xbox Live, but you know their gamertag, you can select the “enter gamertag” option above your friends list in the sidebar.
However, we recommend that you double check that you have selected the correct player tag before submitting.
You will be prompted to enter a sender name and gift message after selecting a player tag. The default nickname is your gamertag, but you can change it to your real name if you want.
The final screen asks you to confirm your purchase. Here you can update the payment information or change the recipient if necessary.
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When you are satisfied, press Buy as a gift. The recipient will receive an Xbox message on their Live account with your message and all related details, including the option to redeem their code immediately.
Sending to an email address
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If you don’t know the recipient’s toy tag, but you do know their email address, you can choose “Enter email address” on the send gift page instead. The process is almost the same as submitting to a specific game tag, but comes with a little risk.
Make sure you’re sending the game to the email address associated with the recipient’s Microsoft account and that the address is spelled correctly. Xbox Live does not verify that the email address you entered is associated with an account, nor does it sniff out fake addresses.
Giving away an Xbox One game on PC
Step 1: If you find the Xbox Live store cumbersome to navigate, you can buy and gift Xbox One games on your PC as well. Switch to Xbox. Click the magnifying glass in the upper right corner of the web page to display the search bar.
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Step 2: Once you find the game, select the dotted icon on the right Buy and select Buy as a gift. Log in if necessary.
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Step 3: You can only send games to an email address on your computer. Enter the address carefully and then fill in the sender field.
Step 4: You can modify your payment information and gift information on the confirmation page before confirming your purchase.
Xbox Series X compatibility
In general, the Xbox has excellent compatibility between console generations, although it’s always a good idea to check that the game is supported on the platform your recipient is using.
According to Microsoft, games gifted from Xbox One to Xbox Series X should still work, although if it’s a game that requires other accessories, like Kinect, it may not be compatible. In other words, it’s unlikely to be a problem. Also, if a 360-degree game works on Xbox One, it will work on Series X, so there’s nothing to worry about.
Many new releases will have a note that says Optimized for Xbox Series X/S, so you know that not only will it be compatible, but it will look even better on the Series X console.
If you get a gift…
First of all, good luck! When a friend gives you a game, simply go to Microsoft’s download website and enter the 25-digit code. If you have an Xbox One, you can go to the store and select the “Use Code” option to redeem the gift directly from the console.
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Categories: GAMING
Source: newstars.edu.vn