Game Pass: Xbox Gamer Rejects Lifetime Subscription; Here’s Why

There are three things certain in life: Death, taxes, and taxes ruining your gaming adventures. Well, at least for one unlucky gamer.

The unlucky gamer in question began as probably the luckiest player on the sticks. In a recent post on the r/MicrosoftRewards subreddit (via Pure Xbox), a player revealed that they had won the Microsoft Rewards Sweepstakes for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Access for Life.

The sweepstake allows Microsoft Rewards users to participate for 200 points per entry, with a chance to earn a lifetime subscription of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Players should note that the lifetime subscription lasts for 40 years, which amounts to over $7000 in current value.

However, this was also the reason why the Redditor had to decline the chance to possess a lifetime subscription of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. In their post, the player shared that the reward would be added as $7300 worth of taxable income in 2023. This would result in their federal tax bill to increase by $1725, or nearly a quarter of the reward’s worth.

The player further pointed out that it would require them to use the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription for over 10 years for them to not incur any loss by paying the taxes.

In the end, it’s pretty unfortunate for the Xbox gamer, as fans of the service would kill for a lifetime subscription of the best deal in gaming. However, not many of them would want to have such a subscription at the expense of a hefty tax bill like this.