Soon enough, you will be unable to use or find the auto-redeem feature for Xbox Game Pass Subscriptions through Microsoft Rewards, as it’s being discontinued… The horror is as we now have to manually use our rewards. Lord help us! I’m kidding, of course, but it’s a feature that has been on the program for a while, especially as prices change and fluctuate, but the auto-redeem feature made things far simpler for said Game Pass members. All this comes after some big changes were made to Xbox Game Pass, such as the Cloud Gaming getting a boost and PC games being easier to access!
The changes will be under way on the 30th of September 2025 and Microsoft Reward members are already receiving emails about further changes being made to the program. One of which is that Core, Ultimate and PC Game Pass subs will no longer be auto-redeemable via the auto-redeem feature which is facing the virtual chopping block.
If you were blissfully unaware of the feature which enables members to use an automatic renewal of your Game Pass subscription using reward points accumulated via weekly challenges or daily tasks. This happened as soon as enough points were earned for said subscription – Core (6,800 points), Ultimate (20,000 points) and PC Game Pass (10,500 points). As this was the base level of points to be earned, if you were at a higher Microsoft Rewards level you could see the points lowered.
Game Pass members have been using the auto-redeem feature for a while now, and as the changes roll out, it creates a bit of a jarring moment for the fans. For example, not having to worry about your subscription ending if you earn enough points to be able to earn the auto-redeem benchmark, but now it seems you would have to redeem an Xbox Gift Card and then manually pay for the subscription using the balance on the cards.
As we saw in some emails sent to the loyal members, such as CyberJimbo5 on X (formerly Twitter), where Microsoft said “We are discontinuing Game Pass auto-redeem subscriptions from the Microsoft Rewards catalogue, and your subscription will expire on September 30.” As with this email, one thing has remained a little unclear as it’s up in the air about potential monthly Game Pass reward options being phased out or if they will stay after the 30th of September.
Are you an auto-redeem loyalist? If so, will it bother you that much? Me personally, I am not in this crowd, and to be fair, I don’t make full use of Microsoft Rewards, simply because I either forget or, yeah, that’s it actually, I forget… However, I know some of the fans will be gutted. However, it just means that now you have to work your thumbs a little more to navigate the reward screen to redeem some gift cards instead. Have you followed our Facebook page yet? If not, head over to Everything Xbox where you can hear more about this, and more of your favourite things!
