That's cool of them, but I'm sure some people will still do the hate thing. Nothing for me and I've been a gold member forever, but congrats to everyone who won. Enjoy.

Am I wrong in remembering that KI is going F2P anyway? Or was that a rumour going around E3 at the time, I'm confused. Because if it is F2P then surely it would be free for everyone..? Or is this the full version with all the characters or..?

Same here. No email and no worries.

It's the internet, expect the sony fans to come running. Hating on Microsoft even when it's good news.

Look at it this way: the people who are deep into xbox for things like Madden, CoD, Battlefield, etc. probably don't have very high gamer scores, but they will probably transfer over to X1 because that is their platform of choice. No need to do anything beyond their normal marketing practices towards that audience. Now the people with really high gamerscores probably also spend a lot of money on games. Now lets assume that those rumours of how poorly pre-orders for X1 were going were true, and that amongst people who play a lot of games (such as people with a really high gamerscore) the X1 wasn't tracking well. Obviously they are going to want to maintain the audience that spends a lot within the Xbox ecosystem, so they throw a promotional bone out to them, hoping to maybe entice them in with a free game and keep spending their gaming money with xbox. They're targeting the whales

I assumed I had been sent one since I cancelled my Gold last month after 6+ years and it was a way to get me to come back. Not getting a One for at least 6 months though, so it's a waste.

I don't live in North America so Microsoft probably doesn't care about my existence.

@razielcuts: Jago is free, all the modes are too but that's it: its $20 for the whole launch roster I think and $40 you get the game, more dlc characters and original KI?

Damn did not get one. Give me that shit MS.

I really hate MS, I may sound bitter. But it's only because I am. I got xbox live day one at retail. I have the exact same account that I grew up with, never had any infractions on it. I am currently prepaid for gold status to the year 2015, this time last year MS decided to stick a finger right in my eye with that whole 10 year anniversary limited console, of course I never received it. The only individuals with a sustained active sub above mine would be beta participants. So of course as my gamer card gets ready to roll over on the 15th from 10 to 11 years of active gold I still see promotions and giveaways that simply overlook me for no apparent reason. I am sitting on 2 broken 360s right now. I have a Japanese 360 because a few years ago I was a huge fan of everything microsoft. That console still functions but due to region locking it is largely stagnant. I thought I had gotten over this, but I really am angry. That limited edition console would have been a godsend as my NA units have crapped out just outside of warranty, now apparently I am not valued enough to even consider for the 20$ giveaway.

EDIT: realize my post is kind of dramatic, I’ve had a bad day so that's not helping, but still can't help but feel somewhat miffed about the continual oversight when it comes to my eligibility for these promotions.

@killercombo: Ah, that seems alright then. You can just buy everything for the price of a full price/ slightly discounted game. I thought it might've been a buy per character deal and that couldn't gone horribly wrong, $100's and upwards type scenarios.

Ha, your name is funny with all things considered talking about KI.

I'm in America, in the exact same boat as you (XBL since launch on original X-Box and everything) - and I did not get it. Just because someone else gets something for free doesn't mean that you should too - it's cool that they are doing this for some people but they aren't doing it for everyone. Be happy for those that got something free randomly - you shouldn't be upset about it.

76000 and nunthin. I'm not amused

Would be surprised if it had to do witH gamerscore and years I've got like 9 years and 140000 gamerscore and jack shit.

Three Red Ringed Xbox 360s should be enough for them to send me a code.

This is flat out BAD PR. . . it makes the majority of gamers who did not get the email feel LESS loyal.

Microsoft DID email a code for a free Forza 5 car which didn't work. So at least I got something.

No because as we have often seen with, especially recently with both Microsoft and Sony, the PR guys don't know what is really going on just write up things to keep things going. They aren't lying or misleading but they also don't know what is going or what the plan is either.

Or another way to think about it: Why doesn't Microsoft use the official XBox Twitter to say "Hey we are sending games out for free. Look for details by email!" instead? That is clearly easier to "authenticate" than an email out of the blue and going to a support Twitter.

It's not purely based on gamerscore, they have a algorithm that doles it out randomly, this is worldwide thing as well. Haven't received any messages myself though.

If they indicated that this happened randomly i would agree with you, but they didn't. Instead they said that they were sending it out to "LOYAL" users. What am I, chopped liver?

Are people in this thread genuinely complaining because they weren't given something for free? I hate the internet.

@tajasaurus said:

I think you are missing the overall point. The free content was given to "Loyal" customers, and I believe there are many people who consider themselves loyal who did not get the email. It wasn't a contest or a first come first serve thing. It was microsoft saying that some people were worthy and others not, and not disclosing why.

@razielcuts: I have never played any KI before a few weeks ago when I went to an event (I will be doing the same for PS4 next week - I wrote some words and put it in a thread if you want to read it) but I liked it. I am getting Forza and KI free so I might buy the full thing but I played about a full hour of the game and I only played Jago.

Yeah I got it too. Been gold for 6+ years and 120000+ gamerscore

@killercombo: I had Killer Instinct on the SNES and really liked it at the time. Seeing some of those characters in HD does twinge a sense of nostalgia in me. I'm not getting an XB1 at launch though (if at all) so I probably won't play it until a few months after. Have fun with it though, I liked Orchid, Glacius and Cinder as a kid so if they're in the game I'd say try them out.

I found this btw going over the pricing structure -

Makes me wonder what the Seasons are, probably a pack of more characters, skins and accessory packs.

that's nice, but that makes me question what is the free to play about it again?

I didn't get nothing like that. All I got was an email from United Nations that says APPROVAL and Nigeria wants to get some money to me.

Seems legit.

@sooty: had no idea they'd been going that far, I haven't been paying any attention to all of the resolution drama beyond getting an idea of what's better where. Disappointing because I thought they'd been handling things pretty well the last few months.

Can I have it then? lol

Doesn't it feature a bunch of DLC characters anyway? It's not exactly a gift. I mean it's a nice gesture, but it's basically free-to-play anyway.

LOL come on you guys dont fall for this

It includes all the character DLC.

There will be a rotating free character (don't think they've said the time line) starting with Jago. You can play every mode of the game/etc with that character for free. It's something like the LoL system when you play it as a F2P game. You can pay $20 to unlock every character and never have to worry about that aspect until Season 2 which will likely add another bath of characters/etc.

Peoples sense of entitlement to free stuff is amazing and ridiculous - microsoft do a random cool thing giving people free stuff by a seemingly random method and theres those that feel angry that they didnt get free stuff?

Really?

@isomeri: I live in France and I received this email so it's not a US thing only. Anyway that's great to have a free game for my future XBox One.

As soon as I saw this email, the guy behind me at work offered to buy if off me. I hope it's a code!

@canteu: Email says it will only be valid with the gamertag associated with the email address it was sent to.

If possible, I'm sure there would be a pile of them floating around the internet in a few weeks.

@AndyMc1888

People still not getting the frustration. The point is MS has said the criteria for selection was based on loyalty. But then all of us loyal subscribers who hold the longest active membership with gold status don't even get an email, so maybe you should check the post before attacking everyone frustrated with how MS handled this. Because in their own email they say this promotion is based on loyalty.

They gave it to me and I am pissed. but then again I also beta tested xbox live and have an old ass account they give me free junk all the time beta test for junk shows up in the mail or account that is how I got a kinect. (and how I found out kinect is worthless)

I also do not want their craptasic new killer instinct game the game is garbage I played it at places like PAX.

I used to be a huge KI fan not anymore I can not even call this crap a KI game. I was not going to buy it or support it with any money I did not even want to play it again.

but it shows up as owned on my account and I can not make it go away. it better not auto download if I log into a new xbox because I don't want it. I do not want to be near it or look at it. the art work is the worst I have ever seen in a fighting game looks nothing like KI anyway and it looks like a xbox 360 game.

I will not be playing it Hell I don't even think I want the new xbox anymore. I want to change it for crimson dragon Microsoft must be despratfe enough to give this trashy new KI game away since it sees it is not going anywhere.

Microsoft giving this game away is like giving tainted spoiling e coli broccoli out for free that may in fact make you vomit or die when you consume it. it is not a nice thing they are doing.

Or like xbox sending you an email letting you know you now have HIV because you got it on with one of their infected kinect/metro dashboard xbox 360s that it got from screwing with a xbone. New killer instinct is the aids of the xbox world.

Wow, so jealous of the duders who got the email! I've been with Live for seven years now, played over 300 games and no dice! :(

Oh well, good on you guys! Hope you enjoy it! :D

@cubical: Maybe I should be happy I just got the Forza car then.

I played it at a good amount at the Madcatz event @PAX and really liked it.

I have over 80,000 GS and own between 500 and 600 disc based games and not sure maybe 300 downloadable games I have bought 3 xbox 360s over the years.

I am a bit pissed off but not just because of this killer instinct stuff but because of their rewards thing they do.

Has anyone actually got enough Microsoft points from the rewards program to actually even buy a game ?

The rewards program which says It rewards loyal users its utter shite and this is a similar shite thing !

and to make it even worse ive continued to be a loyal user and will get my xbox one with 5 games ! on Friday.

Also got a ps4 pre ordered for when it comes out here (29th) with only 2 games.

i got 2 forza cars

Boo fuckin' hoo. They aren't going to give a free game to the millions of people with long subscriptions. There are millions of people that you would consider "loyal". They pick randomly from those people, not every fucking one. Stop crying because you didn't get a free fucking game and other people did. Shit.

No killer instinct for me :(

Wow a free fighting game. Maybe next they'll leave a paper bag on my doorstop.

The amount of bullshit whining in here is why we cant have nice things. A lot of you sound like entitled, selfish four year old children.

Some people got some stuff you didn't and they may not have been Live members as long as you, oh the fucking humanity!

Would you prefer no giveaways ever? would you prefer to take your ball and go home?

I think a free launch game is a little better than a bag? What would satisfy you? If they sent you Battlefield 4 and AC4 and a bouquet of flowers?

Some specific criteria from Microsoft would be really nice. This just seems extremely random.

At Best Buy they had a 1 yr Xbox live card that said Killer Instinct free with purchase. For those that got the email did you renew recently?