Xbox 25th anniversary discount: 25 free games with a new PC, no Game Pass cut

In the US, the Xbox 25th anniversary discount isn't a cheaper Game Pass: it is 25 PC games at no extra cost with a new Windows PC. Buy and activate a qualifying PC between November 2 and December 31, 2026, and Microsoft adds the 25 Years of Xbox bundle, with Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Skyrim Special Edition, Gears of War: Reloaded and Doom, to your Microsoft account. Game Pass prices haven't moved: Ultimate costs $22.99 a month in the Microsoft Store on November 12, 2026, and a 12-month plan costs $275.99, 11 cents more than twelve monthly payments.

Xbox turns 25 this week. The company marked the date with a memo to its employees, posted on Xbox Wire on November 12, 2026, and a celebration in Seattle. The memo says Microsoft has built four generations of Xbox consoles "with a fifth on the way", but it announces no price cut. The money-saving parts of the anniversary are the PC bundle, a collector's console that costs more than a standard one, and the Microsoft Store's Black Friday sale a week from now.

Is there a Game Pass discount for the Xbox 25th anniversary?

Microsoft hasn't announced one in the US. The Microsoft Store's own catalog, read on November 12, 2026, lists every Game Pass plan at its regular price. On Ultimate and PC Game Pass, the longer plans cost a few cents more than paying month by month.

Essential's longer plans are the only ones below the monthly rate: twelve months cost $79.99 instead of $119.88. The $1 starter offers are standard promotions for new members, not anniversary pricing, and the plan renews at the full price after the first period.

A 35% cut on three months of Ultimate has been making the rounds this week. Reports trace it to a retailer offer for UK buyers, and Microsoft hasn't posted a matching US price. If a US retailer runs a Game Pass card sale, it sets its own price; the plans Microsoft sells directly are the ones in the table.

What members do get this anniversary week is games rather than a lower bill. Eight older Xbox games, among them Banjo-Kazooie, Perfect Dark and Viva Piñata, join the Game Pass Essential library on November 15, 2026, so even the cheapest plan picks up the classics. Our Game Pass November 2026 guide lists them with everything else arriving and leaving this month, and the new cloud gaming limits explain how the hours in each plan work.

How to get 25 free Xbox games with a new Windows PC

The 25 Years of Xbox bundle is a limited-time Microsoft offer for buyers in the United States. You have to be 13 or older, buy a new qualifying Windows PC from a participating US retailer or PC maker, and activate it with your Microsoft account during the offer period. The bundle isn't sold on its own: its Microsoft Store listing carries no price and no purchase button, only a redeem option for eligible devices.

Microsoft writes the dates in UTC, which shifts every one of them to the evening before or the same evening in US time:

The offer can also end earlier. Microsoft's terms run it until December 31 "or while supply of Eligible PCs remains available through participating retailers", whichever comes first. A PC bought on New Year's Eve after 6:59 p.m. ET misses the window, even if it ships the same night.

The order matters: buying and activating happen inside the offer period, and the claim comes later, any time up to February 12, 2027. If you bought a PC in the first weeks of November and see nothing yet, that is expected. The bundle shows up on eligible devices no later than November 30.

Which Windows PCs qualify for the 25 Years of Xbox bundle

The rule is about the operating system that comes installed. Microsoft's terms cover new desktops, laptops and handhelds that ship with Windows Home, from participating Microsoft and PC-maker lines. Windows Pro machines are out, with one exception: new PCs that run Windows Pro on NVIDIA RTX Spark silicon. RTX Spark is NVIDIA's single chip that joins a Blackwell RTX graphics processor and a Grace processor with up to 128GB of shared memory; the first RTX Spark laptops went on sale on October 16, 2026, from $2,599, from Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Microsoft and MSI.

"New" means bought new during the offer window, not the latest model. Last year's laptop counts if it is new in the box. These purchases don't qualify:

• refurbished and open-box machines, returned stock and store demo units
• PCs from unauthorized resellers, online marketplaces, liquidators or auction sites
• commercial and enterprise purchases

Handhelds are named as eligible when they ship with Windows Home, so check the Windows edition on the spec sheet before buying one, including Asus's ROG Xbox Ally line. The offer is limited to one claim per Microsoft account, however many qualifying PCs you buy, and it can't be combined with other promotions unless Microsoft says so.

A cheap PC can still claim the bundle, but it may not run all of it. Microsoft warns that some eligible PCs don't support every game and tells buyers to check each title's system requirements on its store page. A game your PC can't handle stays in your library for a stronger Windows machine signed in to the same account.

All 25 games in the 25 Years of Xbox bundle

Microsoft's terms list the bundle with each game's rating. The list below follows those terms. The short list in Microsoft's own FAQ on the same page differs in two places: it counts Doom and Doom II as two games and leaves out Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition. Microsoft also keeps the right to swap a game that becomes unavailable for one of equal or greater value.

Play Anywhere means one purchase covers both the Windows and Xbox console versions on the same Microsoft account. For the "PC only" entries, the bundle gives you the Windows version; playing them on an Xbox Series X or S still means owning the console version.

How to claim the 25 Years of Xbox bundle

The claim is one extra step after setup, and it has to happen on the qualifying PC itself:

1. Sign in to the new PC with the Microsoft account that should own the games. An existing account works; you don't need a new one.
2. Open the Microsoft Store app from the taskbar and go to Library.
3. Select Included with device and find the 25 Years of Xbox bundle.
4. Check that the right account is signed in, then select Claim.

All 25 licenses land on that one account together. They can't be split between family members, moved to another account, sold or swapped for cash or store credit. Each game then downloads separately, so a small SSD doesn't have to hold the whole collection at once.

Two conditions follow the games after the claim. Microsoft can check proof of purchase, the retailer, the activation status and the PC's serial number. And if you return or exchange the PC, get a refund or file a chargeback, Microsoft can cancel unclaimed games, remove claimed ones or recover their value. Keep the receipt until the return window has closed.

Xbox Series X25 Limited Edition: price and release date

The anniversary's hardware piece costs more, not less. The Xbox Series X25 Limited Edition launches on November 13, 2026, for $899.99 in the US. It is a 1TB Series X with a disc drive in translucent green, a nod to the original console's colors, with an X on the front that lights up green. Every unit carries its own engraved number.

The box includes the Xbox Wireless Controller X25 Special Edition in the same translucent green and a full-game download of Halo: Campaign Evolved, the remake of the first Halo campaign. Pre-orders opened to the public on August 27, 2026, limited to one per customer while supplies last. The controller alone went on sale on October 20, 2026.

Holiday shoppers weighing Sony's consoles against it can start with our PS5 vs PS5 Pro comparison.

When Xbox Black Friday deals start in 2026

The next chance at lower Xbox prices comes a week after the anniversary. The Microsoft Store's Black Friday sale runs from November 19 to November 28, 2026, and the store says it can include discounts on Xbox consoles, games and accessories, alongside Surface devices. Microsoft hasn't published the Xbox deals themselves yet.

Two store policies make it safe to buy before the sale. Physical products bought from the Microsoft Store between October 1 and December 2, 2026, can be returned through January 31, 2027, though the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X are excluded from that extended window. The same purchases also qualify for a holiday price adjustment, requested by January 31, 2027, if the price drops while the item is in stock.

A Windows PC bought during Black Friday falls inside the bundle's November 2 to December 31 window. Microsoft's terms say the bundle can't be combined with other offers unless it says otherwise, so before paying, ask the retailer whether its Black Friday promotion counts as one.