GTA 6 costs $79.99 for the Standard Edition and $99.99 for the Ultimate Edition — and with no disc version to hunt for deals on, Xbox players are going digital. But here’s a tip that’s been circulating since pre-orders went live: if you’ve been sitting on a stack of Microsoft Rewards points, you can put them directly toward buying GTA 6, potentially slashing the price significantly or wiping it out entirely. Some dedicated Rewards grinders have already pre-ordered GTA 6 without spending a single real dollar.
How Microsoft Rewards Points Work for Game Purchases
Microsoft Rewards is a free loyalty programme tied to your Microsoft account. You earn points by completing daily tasks — Bing searches, daily check-ins, quizzes, playing games on Xbox, and completing quests through the Rewards dashboard. The conversion rate is straightforward: roughly 1,000 points equals $1 USD in redemption value.
As of April 21, 2026, Microsoft rolled out a significant upgrade to how points can be spent: you can now use them directly at Xbox Store checkout as a payment method, without needing to convert them to gift cards first. Just pick the game, hit checkout, and select Microsoft Rewards Points as your payment option. This was a major quality-of-life change that removed the previous friction of having to manually redeem points for gift cards and then apply those separately.
The older method — redeeming points for Xbox gift cards and applying those to your account — still works too. The key caveat with gift cards purchased through Rewards is that they expire 90 days after purchase. So if you’re using the gift card route rather than direct checkout, don’t redeem your points into a gift card too far ahead of GTA 6’s November 19 launch date. Aim to convert closer to release so the card doesn’t expire before you use it.
How Many Points Do You Need for GTA 6?
Using the standard 1,000 points = $1 conversion:
- GTA 6 Standard Edition ($79.99) — approximately 80,000 points to cover the full cost
- GTA 6 Ultimate Edition ($99.99) — approximately 100,000 points to cover the full cost
- $100 Xbox gift card — currently costs 110,000 points through the Rewards catalogue, which covers the Ultimate Edition with a few dollars left over
Getting to 80,000–110,000 points takes dedication, but it’s genuinely achievable for players who’ve been running the daily Rewards routine consistently. A Level 2 Rewards user who completes daily Bing searches, check-ins, and Xbox console activity can realistically earn around $9–$10 per month in points — roughly $108–$120 per year. Game Pass Ultimate members earn faster, with up to 4x more points through exclusive quests and store bonuses. Someone who’s been quietly banking points since January of this year could already be sitting on enough to cover the game.
Several users on the Microsoft Rewards subreddit shared screenshots of pre-ordering GTA 6 entirely with points. One user posted that they’d been saving points all year specifically for GTA 6 and had covered £75 worth of the cost through two minutes of Bing searches per day. The effort ceiling is low — you don’t need to grind aggressively to build a meaningful balance.
How to Check Your Current Points Balance
There are three quick ways to check how many points you have and how close you are to GTA 6 money:
- On Xbox console — open the Guide menu and look for the My Rewards tab
- Xbox mobile app — the Rewards section shows your current balance and available tasks
- Via Bing — head to rewards.bing.com and sign in with your Microsoft account for a full view of your points, streak status, and redemption options
The dashboard also shows which daily tasks are available, how many points each earns, and your streak bonuses for consistent daily activity. If you haven’t checked your balance in a while, it’s worth looking — you may already have more than you think, especially if you’ve been using Edge or Bing casually without actively tracking points.
Points Can Also Go Toward Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy Cards
GTA 6 isn’t the only thing you can spend Rewards points on. Microsoft also lets you redeem points for digital gift cards from Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy, among other retailers. That means if you’d rather buy a physical console or accessories as part of your GTA 6 setup, your Rewards balance can stretch to cover those purchases too. It’s worth noting that Xbox Series X|S prices are going up on August 1, so anyone planning a console purchase before GTA 6 launches should factor that in sooner rather than later.
Is It Worth Starting the Microsoft Rewards Grind Now?
Honestly, yes — especially with five months until GTA 6 launches on November 19. At a realistic earning rate of roughly 8,000–10,000 points per month for a consistent Rewards user, you could add another 40,000–50,000 points between now and launch. That’s $40–$50 off the purchase price just from daily tasks that take minutes, or enough to fully cover the Standard Edition if you’re already partway there.
The daily routine is simple: three Bing searches on PC, three on mobile, complete the Daily Set (three quick tasks on the Rewards dashboard), and do your Weekly Console Bonus by playing on Xbox five days a week. That’s it. Set it as a two-minute morning habit and you’ll be surprised how fast the points stack up by November.
For more gaming news this week, check out our breakdown of GTA 6’s PS5 and PS5 Pro enhanced features that Sony just confirmed. We also covered the Overwatch Season 3 Excavation Initiative — another way to earn free rewards just by playing — and the Pokémon TCG Pocket Everyday Wonders expansion dropping June 29.
