American Express rewarding Xbox Achievements with real-world prizes

American Express is venturing into video game territory with the launch of its Card Sync Technology with Xbox, which allows players to earn real rewards from the financial services corporation when they earn Achievements in a game.

While banks and credit card providers have been known to reward users for spending, this is the first time a company like American Express has joined forces with a gaming platform to reward players for their in-game activities.

Under the rewards program, players would sync their American Express card to their Xbox Live account, which will entitle them to free coupons that will be delivered to their American Express statement credit. Earning in-game Achievements will also unlock special offers like additional coupons and monetary credit.

The card sync technology will be available to American Express cardholders in the U.S. and U.K. and will apply to Halo 4 on its release. One of the rewards associated with the game is is "Lone Wolf Legend" Achievement, where if a player is one of the first 25 people in the U.S. or one of the first five people in the U.K. to complete the Halo 4 campaign solo on Legendary Difficulty, they will "unlock" a trip to the industry trade show E3 in 2013 with travel, accommodation and event access paid for by American Express.

We have reached out to American Express to find out if the technology will be expanding to other games.