Microsoft Rewards allows users to accumulate points through daily activities like in-game challenges, searches, quizzes, and Microsoft Store purchases. Many members use these points to get an Xbox Game Pass subscription without spending a dollar.

Instead of paying real money for a subscription, they redeem their accumulated points once they meet the threshold for a free subscription. Unfortunately, it looks like the company seems to be increasing the points required to snag a Game Pass for free.

Microsoft Rewards points for Xbox Game Pass are increasing

Instead of manually redeeming points each time, many players opt for the auto-redeem feature within the Microsoft Rewards program. This allows them to select a prize and have it redeemed automatically each month or whenever they have enough points. A

s reported by Pure Xbox and several users on Reddit, some Microsoft Rewards members have started receiving emails stating that existing Microsoft Rewards auto-redeem subscriptions for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, Xbox Game Pass Core, and PC Game Pass will expire on April 20, 2025.

The company mentions that this change is due to an increase in the number of Microsoft Rewards points needed to be eligible for an Xbox Game Pass subscription, which brings us to the next bit of bad news. Currently, if you're a Level 2 member, you need 12,000 points to get one month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Now, that amount has increased by a whopping 5,000 points, meaning you'll need 17,000 points for a single month of the subscription.

Users in this Reddit thread have reported seeing both the 12,000-point and 17,000-point redemption options, but as mentioned in the email, the lower-cost auto-redeem option will disappear by April 20.

As mentioned above, existing auto-redeem subscriptions will automatically expire. After that, you can either redeem your Reward points for other prizes or select one of the new Rewards auto-redeem subscriptions with the updated pricing.

Since such changes are region-dependent, you may be spared depending on where you live. However, given that Microsoft has made price changes on short notice before, it wouldn’t be surprising if this adjustment affects more regions than not.

It’s also worth noting that Level 2 members typically require fewer points than Level 1 members to redeem rewards. If Level 2 pricing is seeing such a steep increase, it’s likely that Level 1 members will be hit with an even bigger hike. Regardless, earning 12,000 points (or more for Level 1 members) alone is no easy feat, so the change is disappointing, to say the least.