How to redeem an Xbox gift card and Game Pass

Xbox codes are 25 characters and redeem to your Microsoft account, not to a console. Any of the methods below puts the credit or subscription in the same place.

On an Xbox console

1. Press the Xbox button to open the guide.
2. Go to Store, then select Redeem (or Search and type "redeem").
3. Enter the 25-character code.
4. Confirm. Wallet credit is added, or the subscription starts, immediately.

On PC or in a browser

Go to redeem.microsoft.com, sign in with the Microsoft account you want credited, enter the code and confirm. You can also do it in the Xbox app on Windows through the account menu.

Whichever route you use, double-check which Microsoft account you are signed in to first. Codes attach to the account that redeems them and cannot be moved afterwards.

Gift card or Game Pass — they behave differently

A gift card adds currency to your Microsoft account balance, which you then spend on anything in the store. A Game Pass code starts or extends a subscription directly and cannot be converted into balance.

Both are region-sensitive: the code must match the region of your Microsoft account. A card from one region will not redeem on an account from another.

What the Game Pass tiers include

As of September 2026 there are four:

• Essential — the entry tier, successor to Xbox Live Gold and the former Game Pass Core. Online multiplayer plus a small curated library. No day-one releases.
• Premium — formerly Game Pass Standard. A much larger console and PC library. Xbox-published games arrive here roughly a year after launch rather than on release day.
• PC Game Pass — PC only, with day-one releases and EA Play included.
• Ultimate — the flagship. The broadest library, day-one Xbox-published releases, EA Play, cloud gaming and Ubisoft+ Classics.

Two things worth knowing before you choose. Only Ultimate and PC Game Pass get first-party games on release day. And new Call of Duty titles no longer arrive on any tier at launch — they come roughly a year later.

Microsoft has also announced that from November 2026 cloud gaming moves from unlimited to monthly hour caps by tier, with capped cloud access added to Essential for the first time.

Stacking and upgrading

Game Pass time generally stacks: redeeming a code while a subscription is active extends it. Conversions between tiers follow Microsoft''s own rules and are not always one-for-one, so if you are on one tier and redeeming a code for another, check what it will convert to before entering it.

If a code fails

Usually region mismatch, a typo, or a code already redeemed on a different Microsoft account. Check your Microsoft account order history first. If none of that explains it, contact our support team with a screenshot of the error and your redemption history and we will look into it.

Tiers, pricing and included content change regularly — this was checked in September 2026. Confirm anything time-sensitive on Xbox''s official pages, or ask us on 16280.