a lot Xbox Users were recently surprised when fresh gift cards were added to their accounts after a related promotion back in December 2025. This unexpected bonus isn't actually the first of its kind, as Xbox has been developing an interesting reputation for sending out these freebies to its customers.
For example, in December 2024 several Xbox users reported receiving unexpected messages from an official Xbox account in the platform's Messages app, informing them that they could redeem a $5 gift card in honor of The Countdown Sale. A few months later, Xbox did almost exactly the same thing, issuing $5 gift cards, seemingly at random during the 2025 spring sale last April. This amount was doubled during a similar promotion in December 2025, when again, apparently random Xbox players received $10 gift cards in the midst of expected holiday sales. It's worth noting that these freebies aren't limited to Xbox console users: regular users of Xbox's PC client have reported receiving digital gift cards as well.
Unfortunately, all of these gift cards had a strict redemption deadline: if someone missed the gift card message of December 2025, they would no longer be able to redeem it.
The history of Xbox Game Pass price increases explained
Much to the chagrin of customers, Xbox Game Pass is raising its cost once again, and this is far from the first time the service has seen a price increase.
How are people getting free Xbox gift cards in January 2026?
As pointed out by Pure Xbox, Microsoft users may be subject to another generous digital promotion this January, though not for the reasons listed above. Instead of being tied to sales or in-store promotions, many Xbox users received $5 virtual gift cards when they purchased EA Sports or 2K Sports games in December 2025. This is not a huge shock, as the terms of this special offer were communicated during the Xbox Countdown sale, when this special promotion started.
But interestingly, according to Pure Xbox, Xbox gamers are likely to get these gift cards without the required purchase of a 2K or EA game title. In fact, Pure Xbox claims they were the lucky recipients of this $5 promo even though they didn't purchase the aforementioned titles in December.
What's the best way to get free Xbox gift cards?
Pure Xbox speculates that the $5 gift card they recently received could be the result of their Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership, a sort of “thank you” from Microsoft for their patronage. This is not the most unreasonable theory. After all, Xbox Game Pass is becoming a perks-based service, branching out beyond its core games-on-demand offerings into other selling points. Maybe these random surprise gifts are meant to further incentivize Game Pass or Game Pass Ultimate memberships.
Unfortunately, Xbox has not been transparent about this process. Again, sales-related gift cards seem to be handed out randomly, with little or no official word about them from Xbox itself. Because almost all reports of free gift card messages are anecdotal, they are difficult to analyze: variables such as Game Pass membership, playing time, and buying habits could potentially influence who gets these gift cards, but it's impossible to know for sure at this point. However, these reports have come from around the world, indicating that Xbox is casting a wide net with its generosity. Therefore, avid Xbox users would be wise to constantly monitor their inboxes, and keep their ears to the ground.
Source: Pure Xbox
