The Xbox user interface is handily unified across all its consoles, from the newer Series X and Series S through the older Xbox One models, meaning the Xbox Store feels the same to browse on all of them.
With untold numbers of games to choose from, it's always a live possibility that you'll buy one and then realise it isn't what you actually wanted - whether you've started playing or not. If you're hoping to pick up a refund on such a purchase, check out these steps.
When can I get a refund on Xbox?
The first thing to know is that while you can ask for refunds for games that you bought on your Xbox console, you can only do so on a browser, not on the console itself.
Before we get to that, though, you should know that there are two requirements set out by Microsoft that dictate whether you can get a refund:
- Requests are made within 14 days of the purchase date
- Requests are for games in which you haven’t accumulated a significant amount of play time
While that first one is very clear, the second is obviously a little vague, since it doesn't have a finite amount of time defined, so you won't know for sure if your refund request will work depending on how much you've played.
How to get a refund on Xbox
Still, if you've bought a game in the last two weeks and want to try for a refund, follow these steps.
- First, head to this page on the Xbox website
- Sign into your Microsoft account
- Select the relevant title from the list
- Follow the steps to complete your refund request
This will submit the request and submit it, and you'll get a result fairly quickly - although sometimes this can take a little longer, so you might have to wait for an email to let you know the result.
If the game you were aiming to refund isn't on the list, that probably means either the purchase date or the playtime counter has ruled it out of contention, so you may have to get in touch with Xbox customer services if you still intend to pursue a refund.