When did Microsoft require a sign in for purchased games?

virtually all games on Xbox require you to be signed into a profile, which can be done off-line as well at least on your home Xbox. your profile is where all your saved games and other data are stored

I've had this Xbox for years and literally never had this error box.

you purchased a console that was signed up for the entertainment for all plan is what i sounds like. so the person who signed up for the console did not meet the contract requirments and when that happens microsoft tries to charge the person 250 dollars
for breaking the contract and if the credit card that the console was purchased with is canceled or microsoft cannot get the money from the cx they put a cancel ban on the xbox.

i recommend that you take the console back to where you purchased it.

Hi, I hope you're doing great out there. I am an Independent advisor and I am here to help you with your concern.

If this was purchased directly on Microsoft Store and you did not choose "buy as a gift", there is no code required, the license will be added to your account immediately and you should be able to install the game as long as you're signed in under the account where it was purchased.

Kindly sign in on your Xbox App and make sure that you're signed in under the correct Microsoft account to search and install the game.

Did the game actually show a purchase price before it asked for your card details?

I think microsoft now require some form of payment option on the console,even when the item you need to download is free.