How do I buy a game from Xbox store for my son to play using his own sign-in/profile?

T. Lewis Ash · Oct 13, 2017

Hi,

I have an Xbox One S with my own sign-in account plus its linked to a microsoft account for my personal laptop.

My 5 year old son has his own sign-in/gmertag/etc for the Xbox, and as part of setting this up I also had to create a MS account for him as well (and Outlook email- though he is too young to use a computer/email so its essentially an account I hold the details
for).

I want my son to be able to boot up the Xbox and sign-in using his own account by himself, and play his games.

Most of his games are boxed retail versions that I bought from actual shops, so he can put the disc in, sign-in and play without any help and without any concern that he could use his account to make accidental purchases.

However, I recently bought a digital copy of lego star wars from the microsoft/xbox on-line store. I used my own xbox/MS account to make the purchase (linked to my PayPal account). I didn't have any problems with the purchase or subsequent download/install
onto the Xbox, however the console wont let my son play the game when he is signed-in. I guess it thinks he doesn't own the required license to play the game which seems a bit OTT given its the same console and i'm clearly his father. But anyway.... so it
means he can only play the game when signed-in as me (because I purchased the game), which kinda defeats the point of him having his own profile. It also runs the risk of him being able to make accidental purchases (although there is a passkey set on my profile),
and it also means that I can't really leave him to play unsupervised because he will have access to some of my own games (GTA, Witcher 3, Doom, etc) which clearly aren't suitable for a 5 year old!

My question is: What is the best way (is there a way?) for me to buy games from the on-line xbox store and then somehow install them or otherwise link them to my sons xbox profile so that he can play them signed-in under his own account rather than mine?

:)

macy517 · Oct 13, 2017

Xbox Live Gold membership

We have recently got an Xbox One. Never had an Xbox before. I am curious how Xbox Live Gold works. I see that you can buy 12 month membership. If I buy one, is it only me (under my sign in) that can use it or can my son use it too, with his sign in?
Or do you get a separate Xbox Live account that anyone in the family can use from the one Xbox One?? My son will have his own games that he will want to use Live for.

TrophicFern3556 · Oct 13, 2017

How do I play my Battlefield 1 game on 2 Xboxes

Battlefield 1 is on my sons account at my home on his xbox, I have an account also on this xbox. We both have xbox live gold. When my son is at his mums, we cannot play Battlefield 1 together as when I go on it states the owner of the game has to sign in
which if I do signs my son out at his mums. How do we get around this? Do the settings need changing?

Smwutches · Oct 13, 2017

You would have to sign into his account and then purchase the games in order for them to be tied to his account. Nothing can be transferred between accounts. Otherwise, you can set the console as your Home console and he can access the games without you
being signed in first. However, the Home setting will share all games, not just ones you choose. My Home Xbox Setting on Xbox One | Share Your Xbox One

T. Lewis Ash · Nov 1, 2018

You would have to sign into his account and then purchase the games in order for them to be tied to his account. Nothing can be transferred between accounts. Otherwise, you can set the console as your Home console and he can access the games without you
being signed in first. However, the Home setting will share all games, not just ones you choose. My Home Xbox Setting on Xbox One | Share Your Xbox One
Click to expand...

OK many thanks. That does seem to be the case, after a couple of days of trying to find a way I think you're right.

What I am doing is topping his account up with money using the MS gift card facility, so that I can then go into his account/profile on xbox and buy the games essentially using pre-paid vouchers. This seems to be the only way I can get the games on his profile
but without giving him unfettered access to my wallet!

Smwutches

You would have to sign into his account and then purchase the games in order for them to be tied to his account. Nothing can be transferred between accounts. Otherwise, you can set the console as your Home console and he can access the games without you
being signed in first. However, the Home setting will share all games, not just ones you choose. https://support.xbox.com/en-US/games/game-setup/my-home-xbox

T. Lewis Ash

You would have to sign into his account and then purchase the games in order for them to be tied to his account. Nothing can be transferred between accounts. Otherwise, you can set the console as your Home console and he can access the games without you
being signed in first. However, the Home setting will share all games, not just ones you choose. https://support.xbox.com/en-US/games/game-setup/my-home-xbox

OK many thanks. That does seem to be the case, after a couple of days of trying to find a way I think you're right.

What I am doing is topping his account up with money using the MS gift card facility, so that I can then go into his account/profile on xbox and buy the games essentially using pre-paid vouchers. This seems to be the only way I can get the games on his profile
but without giving him unfettered access to my wallet!

72westy

1. Sons console is set as 'My Home' console with my profile (not sons).

2. Using sons profile he has access to my 'Owned games' but Game Pass games he does not. He only has access to them if I sign his profile out then sign in with my profile. Once he turns his console off or restarts it he only has access to my 'Owned games'.

maxen

On the profile you set as your Home Xbox (whether that's son 1 or 2), ANY profile can play the games that your profile owns. On any other console, the profile that owns the content (yours, in this case) needs to be signed into Xbox Live in order to play
- however, it CAN be a passive player two while someone else is actually playing, but bear in mind your profile can only be actively signed into one console at a time (even if it's downloaded in multiple locations.

Scenario:

Son 1's Xbox is your Home. He, and any other profile, can play your games on this Xbox. Son 2 can NOT play your games, unless you are signed in on that console. So for Son 2, when you are not playing on your own console, sign in on his console and he can
now play all your games too. But as soon as you sign in on your own console, you get signed out from Son 2's Xbox and Son 2 can no longer play your games. Son 1 can always play them.

Also, you seem to have changed Home Xbox at least a couple times already. Bear in mind you can only change it three times in a calendar year.

I hope this makes sense. Let us know if you still have any questions.

ArminatorX

No, the game should detect the existing installation. However, the other account needs to "install" the game once for their own account, so the license is also added to that user profile.

By the way: You can save money by only buying Game Pass Ultimate for yourself, and share that to your son's console (or vice versa). So you only need to pay for one membership, which gets shared to one console you designate as your (or the subscription owner's)
Home Console. Everyone playing on that Home Console will benefit from the shared Gold and Game Pass Membership.

So if your son doesn't have his own Game Pass, and you are just sharing your Game Pass to your son's Xbox Console, you need to do the following on the PC under your son's account:

Have your son sign in with his own account on the PC. Start the Xbox Beta App, and sign your son out, and sign yourself in. Install the game again from your account under his profile. The game should just install a license, and not need to download the full
game.

After that, sign out of the Xbox Beta App, and let your son play the game under his account.

How do I buy a game from Xbox store for my son to play using his own sign-in/profile?