Xbox gift guide - the best Xbox gifts you can buy
This is a selection of the best Xbox gaming gifts you can get right now
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When looking to treat a gaming fan, honing in on their platform of choice is often the best way to narrow down your options - and that’s where the bet Xbox gifts and this guide comes in. From thebest Xbox controllersand thebest Xbox Series X and Series S accessoriesto even some fun novelties, there’s something out there for all Xbox fans.
At TechRadar Gaming, we’ve been giving gaming and Xbox-focused gifts to friends and family for years now, so we know exactly what to suggest to make gifting more straightforward while still keeping things exciting. If you’re looking for any kind of Xbox gift, be it budget-friendly or instant, or something more premium and experience-enhancing, you’ll find our simple guide has it all.
We’ve broken our Xbox gift guide down into three broad categories to keep it simple and pulled out some of our favorite games, accessories, and peripherals to give you the best chance of finding the perfect gift. Let’s get into it.
Xbox gift guide - our favorites
Best controller
Customize further with Xbox Design Lab
Whether you’re picking one up as a spare of making something more bespoke via Xbox Design Lab, the Xbox Wireless Controller is a stalwart gift.
Best headset
Affordable immersive audio
The Xbox Wireless Headset is a fantastic choice of gift for folks after more immersive audio in their games.
Essential pick
An essential gift for any Xbox player
The Xbox Rechargeable Battery gives players a means to charge their controllers directly via the console without relying on swappable batteries.
Best for storage
More Xbox storage for less
Offering up to 1TB of extra storage space, the WD Black C50 is your cheapest internal storage option for Xbox Series consoles.
Most versatile
A versatile gift for digital Xbox games
Not really sure which Xbox gifts to buy? A gift card is a very safe bet, and they’re available at several price points.
Best novelty
Keep your drinks cool while you game
Definitely one of the more fun Xbox gifts out there, the Xbox Series X Replica Mini Fridge is fully functional and brightens up any gamer’s space.
Xbox gift guide - Gift Cards
Often, the simplest gift ideas are the best ones, and that is absolutely the case with Xbox gift cards. These can be used in a multitude of ways and simply offer the best route for an Xbox gift if you are unsure or want to give the gift of choice (it’s a cliche, but it is true).
Broadly speaking, gift cards can be used for online subscriptions such asXbox Game Pass(that gives access to a massive game library, and gets players online to play with friends), or allow folks to purchase games digitally. In particular, a gift card is a really great fit for players with anXbox Series S, since games can only be purchased digitally.
You could also take this principle further and purchase games digitally as their own kind of ‘gift cards’ for people. The recipient will get a notification of something being bought for them but don’t know until they ‘open’ it, so there can be a genuine gifting feel to the process. However, the safest bet is often to go with store credit or a gift card to take the pressure off if you’re not too clued up on the games themselves.
Xbox gift guide - games
2023 has been a superb year for Xbox games, and blockbuster first-party exclusives have dominated the scene, along with some absolutely brilliant cross-platform games.
FromMicrosoftexclusives such asStarfieldandForza Motorsportto other smash hits likeBaldur’s Gate 3,Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, andLords of the Fallen, all the way to ‘smaller’ games that snuck up on us out of nowhere likeLies of P,Trepang2, andRemnant 2, the year has been stacked with plenty, and all of these would make for perfect gifts.
It’s important to remember that, a lot ofXbox Onegames are still highly relevant too, both for those rocking the old-gen console still and in terms of being compatible with the current-gen machines - some even offer free upgrades from Xbox One toXbox Series X. This applies to many games from Ubisoft, for example, such asAssassin’s Creed Mirageso it’s well worth bearing in mind while you shop.
You can find a whole host of the latest prices on some brilliant games below, with each link also taking you to where you need to be to search for more.
Xbox gift guide - Accessories
When it comes to Xbox accessories, you can mainly approach them as three different subcategories: headsets, controllers, and storage. These can all be incredibly beneficial and experience-altering Xbox gifts, too, so if you have a decent budget, these are the items to consider.
Thebest Xbox Series X headsetscome in many forms and various prices, but there are some absolute crackers available on the market right now. If you’re shopping on a sub-$50 gift budget, then theRazerKaira X is one of our favorite picks. In the middle of the field and taking things wireless, we’re a big fan of theTurtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 2, too, and if you really want to push the boat out, then the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro adds even more bells and whistles to the offering.
InXbox controllerterritory, an extra official wireless Xbox controller is always a great hit since players can almost never have too many of these. But for something a bit more feature-rich but without busting the bank, you could look at theTurtle Beach Recon Controller, and for something excellently premium, there’s theThrustmaster eSwap X Proor the officialXbox Elite Series 2pads.
Elsewhere, with games getting bigger and bigger, the bestXbox Series X hard drives and SSDsprovide solid options for Xbox gifts, too, despite seeming a little bland on the surface. The pinnacle of a gift of this kind would come in the form of either of the officialSeagate Xbox Storage Expansion CardorWD BLACK C50, but don’t discount awesome external hard drives like SanDisk’s robust portable SSDs or Toshiba’s budget-friendly Canvio Basics external hard drives that will ensure a player’s games are within arms reach and safely stored.
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Rob is the Managing Editor of TechRadar Gaming, a video games journalist, critic, editor, and writer, and has years of experience gained from multiple publications. Prior to being TechRadar Gaming’s Managing Editor, he was TRG’s Deputy Editor, and a longstanding member of GamesRadar+, being the Commissioning Editor for Hardware there for years, while also squeezing in a short stint as Gaming Editor at WePC just before joining TechRadar Gaming. He is also a writer on tech, gaming hardware, and video games but also gardens and landscapes, combining the two areas in an upcomingbook on video game landscapesthat you can back and pre-order now.
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