PSA: Digital gifting in the Microsoft Store is region-locked

Earlier this week, Microsoft rolled out digital game gifting from the Microsoft Store, which was one of the most requested features from Xbox One gamers. The new feature is a great addition that arrives just in time for the holiday season, but unfortunately for gamers it currently has several limitations.

🎁 🎁 Gifting is here ! Gift select Xbox One games & downloadable game content +Xbox Live Gold & Xbox Game Pass subscriptions, right from the Microsoft Store on your Xbox console, on Windows, or online. 🎁 🎁 pic.twitter.com/NACHdO3dY1

— Larry Hryb #XboxOneX (@majornelson) November 14, 2017

First of all, digital gifting is available from both Xbox One consoles and Windows 10 PCs via the Microsoft Store, but it only works for Xbox One games as of today. From a Windows 10 PC, it’s not possible to use the feature to gift Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition or any other Microsoft Store game.

Moreover, digital gifting is currently region-locked. “Gifts can only be purchased and redeemed by users in the same country/region, and only at Participating Stores,” Microsoft says on its gifts terms and condition page. In other words, if you live in the US and want to gift games to your friends in Canada, you can’t do it for now. It’s a bit of a bummer, and the Xbox team should probably make it more explicit to prevent many users from being disappointed.

Despite this big restriction at launch, bringing digital game gifting to the Microsoft Store is definitely consumer-friendly move. We hope that it will be extended to Windows 10 games, apps and more in the future.