Microsoft is making changes to the popular and long-running Achievements on Xbox, and people can start testing the changes today, April 8. Xbox Insiders can test these changes first, and you can sign up for the free program on the Xbox Insider website. The changes will roll out to everyone else later.
To begin with, Achievement notifications are getting a “visual refresh,” including updated icons and animations, while the “Achievement unlocked” pop-up will now display in the custom color of your choosing. Microsoft said the aim here was to make each Achievement notification feel “more personal.” Beyond that, there are going to be separate Achievement pop-up graphics for standard Achievements and “Rare” Achievements, the latter of which will be marked with a diamond.
Additionally, players will be able to hide games from their public Achievement history page on their profile. Players might want to hide Achievements for any number of reasons, and soon you’ll be able to. Microsoft stressed that this only impacts how Achievements appear on your profile; games hidden from the Achievement page will still add to your overall Gamerscore tally.
What’s more, players will be able to highlight games that they’ve reached 100% completion on. You can see an example of what this looks like in the image below.
Finally, Microsoft said these changes to Xbox Achievements are representative of a “small but meaningful step” in the company’s plans for a “broader set of improvements” coming to Achievements in the future. No specifics have been announced about future changes, but Microsoft said it is looking into how it can come up with new ways to “recognize completion and milestone moments over time.”
Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma said the changes to Achievements are part of an effort to “focus on fan feedback.” To that end, Sharma said she “stood up a dedicated team” to help respond to fan feedback, and more updates will be announced soon.
Sharma took over for Phil Spencer as Microsoft Gaming CEO in February, and one of her first decisions was to kill off the “This is an Xbox” marketing campaign that proved to be divisive. She’s also leading Xbox into its next generation for hardware, which will include the Project Helix hybrid console/PC platform.