One lucky gamer recently won 40 years of free Xbox Game Pass, but turned it down for a surprisingly understandable reason. Xbox Game Pass is a monthly subscription service that offers users unlimited access to a vast library of Xbox games for a small fee, along with occasional additional services like Funimation or Disney Plus. Every month, new games are added to the Xbox Game Pass library, and some titles are brought to the service as soon as they release.
As part of Microsoft’s commitment to promoting Xbox Game Pass, “lifetime” subscriptions are sometimes offered by Microsoft Rewards, a program that allows players to earn and redeem virtual points by buying and playing Xbox games, completing weekly activities, or participating in online quizzes and surveys. The “lifetime” Xbox Game Pass subscriptions offered by Microsoft Rewards last up to 40 years and come with a commemorative Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership card marked with the winner's gamertag. While this prize may seem like a dream come true to the die-hard Xbox faithful, one recent winner presented a possible downside to a lifetime supply of Xbox Game Pass.
Earlier this week, a Reddit user by the handle of Elvite won the Microsoft Rewards Xbox Game Pass Lifetime Membership prize, as reported by Pure Xbox. However, they were ultimately forced to turn it down due to tax reasons. In a post on r/MicrosoftRewards, Elvite explained that had they accepted the prize, they would have $7,300 of added taxable income to their 2023 taxes, which would have required them to pay about $1,752 more on their federal tax bill on top of state income tax.
Many of the other Reddit users in the comment section of Elvite’s post have been understanding of their situation, with some commending them for taking the time to read the fine print of the free Xbox Game Pass membership that many would have taken without a second thought. Others took a moment to note how “eye-opening” the idea of such a prize being more trouble than it would be worth due to taxes, as well as describe how places like the UK don’t tax prizes like the US does.
Indeed, it may seem odd for someone who won a lifetime of free Xbox Game Pass to turn down this prize, but as Elvite’s recent dilemma reveals, these types of giveaways don’t always come with a happy ending. Luckily they took the time to look into how this Xbox Game Pass prize would financially affect them in the long run before wholeheartedly accepting it.