Does anyone else here just sub when there is a code or discount, try a bunch of games, then cancel (i.e this time in Feb 22) and buy any games they liked (if they have replay value) on steam etc?

Is this part of microsoft's strategy? They probably make more money from me this way and I still get to "own" games.

I wish more releases still had demos...

I bought 2 years of gold and upgraded it to ultimate back in 2018 and haven't paid a penny since. Just use various offers and Microsoft reward points to get ultimate completely free.

I share my subscription with a family member and between us both we easily get enough reward points to keep the subscription going indefinitely without paying.

I didn't even know microsoft reward points were a thing, that must be a niche strat to keep up a sub or they would never make any money!

Yeah you can get points by using bing, edge browser and completing little quizzes/polls each day. Then there's also a rewards app on xbox you can get points for earning a game achievement each day, weekly objectives (which is usually just booting the app 3 days and earning 3 achievements that week) and once a month they usually have a list of 10 games and you get more points for getting any achievement in one of those games.

Sounds like a lot when you write it down but it's very little effort.

Same. The €1 upgrade for my Game Pass Ultimate subscription still runs until May 2022. At that point I will just use my reward points to keep it going.

Currently, I've accumulated 341.000 reward points, that's roughly €367, already enough for another 2 years of Game Pass Ultimate.

Earlier this year, I got the €100 Xbox wireless headset by using reward points "for free" as well.

So far I spent ~130 Euros for almost five years of GamePass (most months GamePass Ultimate):

The subscription ends in May 2024.

I don't chase reward points with boring quizzes or Bing searches, for me that's a waste of time.

I may have done a promotional for the first month or so, but have been a $10 PC subscriber since. I don't mind paying a tiny amount of money for all that content. It's gotten to the point where I don't have the time to play all the games I install, so I have to prioritize games that aren't owned by them but have been on a while because they could go away, and even then I can't get through them all. It's a revolving door of nonstop action and I love it!

Though right now that strategy is being ruined by AE4 (which is great) and soon to be Halo Infinite. Curse you MS for overwhelming options!!!

Teach me your ways…..

Best way is to do the daily Bing searches. Kinda depends on your country but I can get 160 points per day by doing searches.
There are ways to automize them like using scripts on Windows or apps on smartphones.

That's already 160*365 = 58,400 points or about 60 USD/EUR a year.

On the rewards page there are a couple of things you can click on each day and get a few points. These vary but usually range from 50 to 90 points. If you keep doing these every day you'll get a streak that will give you bonus points every week or so (75 to 105-ish if I remember correctly). There's only one type of quiz that requires a minute or two and thus is quite annoying. The rest can be done by clicking once.

70 daily points*365 + 90 weekly bonus points *52 =30,230 points or about 30 USD/EUR a year.

Next up are the points you can get on Xbox.

Doing one achievement per day gives you 50 points. 50*365 = 18,250 points or about 20 USD/EUR by just playing games.

There's a weekly challenge with three activities that are extremely easy to complete. Most of them will come natural, you just have to remember to click on them. Those will give you 100 points a week plus a generous bonus 2,500 points for every 10 weeks you keep the streak going.

100 weekly points *52 + 2,500 ten week streak points *10 = 30,200 points or about 30 USD/EUR a year.

Another way to earn a few points in the Xbox Rewards app are related to new releases. You'll usually find an activity that gives you 250 points for getting an achievement in a recently released game. Since a lot of them launch on Game Pass on day one you can pretty easily get those 250 points.

Also for every bigger new release there will be an activity where you get 10% of your money spent right back as reward point.
For every bigger sale there will also be a cash back activity. Something like spent 40 USD/EUR on games from sale x and get back 5,000 points.
Obviously for both of these cases you'd have to spend money but it's a nice extra if you planned on buying these games anyway.

Lastly there are quests exclusively for Game Pass members. I'm not following these too much but they can give you a few hundred points each month.

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Looking at the above, 100 USD/EUR a year is very possible with very little effort.

150 USD/EUR and above will take an extra minute or two each day.

And that's only for one account....

Can't you just keep making new accounts? Same way people sell on digital games, create account, put a game on it, play it, sell account with game.