Microsoft announced today that its retail stores will be rolling out a new promotion focused on Xbox game pre-orders. Usually, the pre-order bonus at Microsoft Store is a $10 gift card to the store, but with a new Xbox Live Rewards incentive, you"ll now get 15,000 rewards credits ($15) when you pre-order any Xbox 360 or Xbox One game from its stores this holiday season. These credits are on top of the $10 gift card you already would get for purchasing your pre-order.
To make the deal even sweeter, certain games like Halo: Master Chief Collection and Sunset Overdrive will get exclusive in-game content bonuses and swag when gamers choose the Microsoft Store for their pre-orders. Microsoft used Halo as an example of an in-game content bonus by announcing that Microsoft Store pre-order shoppers will get the "Boom Skull" in Halo 2 Anniversary, which gives players twice the explosion physics when playing a campaign mission.
To take advantage of the pre-order bonuses, you"ll need to sign up for the Xbox Live Rewards program using your Microsoft/Xbox account and put your preorders in through a physical Microsoft Store location or Microsoftstore.com. You must use the same email you use for your Xbox Live account to receive the credits when purchasing from the store website.
UPDATE: Online pre-orders will not stack the $10 gift card and the 15,000 XBL Rewards credits. In-store pre-orders are still capable of stacking the gift card and credits when you pick up your pre-order.
Source: Xbox Wire | Image: Microsoft