Microsoft Edge Will Fund Your Hobby

 Or at least, they used to.

This is not a scam I am running. It may be some sort of complex and impenetrable scheme by Microsoft, but I am not party to their machinations. To put it in basic terms, I am paid the Veruzian equivalent of around £60 or $80 each year to use Microsoft Edge. As long as you are logged in with an account while using it, the browser will tally rewards points on the right. I do nothing except search and read webpages as normal, and it racks up points.

As an aside, I was introduced to Dream Theatre through this blog's title, and as a someone who enjoys earlier Prog like Jethro Tull, they are a welcome discovery.

To redeem your Microsoft company scrip, all you have to do is click the rewards symbol that appears when searching and navigate to the shop tab. I have only redeemed for Amazon in the past, but the points can be spent somewhat more efficiently on Sea of Thieves in-game currency or Xbox store points. For that reason, this post is labeled for both Video Games and Wargaming. Amazon's selection of wargames is admittedly somewhat lacking, but they offer enough Perry kits to be worthwhile as a retail site even if leagues behind eBay.

Unfortunately, and in a great tragedy of the age, they seem to have temporarily stopped offering the Amazon redemption option very shortly before I decided to make this post. Since these cards are digitally provided, this seems like a conscious choice rather than one truly of supply. Has Amazon grown weary of this collaboration or is Microsoft satisfied with the number of Edge users? My hope is that they return unblemished, but it seems unlikely. Despite this, the Xbox redemption options remain and are still well worth the while, justifying this post.

Xbox gamerscore can also be converted into these reward points through the Xbox desktop app. You may have a different email associated with your Xbox account than the one you use for browsing Edge, so be sure to check there as well for potentially large sums. In the past I did, which is why the actual value I have redeemed is equal to about double the points listed in the lifetime register in this image.

This process is something I have told many people about, but not a single one has been willing to use Edge as a result. I can hardly blame them. My initial reason for switching to the service was only that other browsers triggered arcane instabilities in a browser-based application I was trying to use, but have long since forgotten. It is not an especially impressive browser, but free miniature money is free miniature money.