Xbox was the first platform to popularize in-game achievements, but Gamerscores aren’t what they once were. An overdue refresh will try to fix that as new boss Asha Sharma works to address fan feedback.
A new update is going live for testing with Xbox Insiders before it rolls out across the platform for everyone else, and it includes three main changes. The first is improved animations and icons for the notifications that pop up once you’ve earned an achievement. The second is the ability to hide certain games from your achievements list. The third is a new list that highlights all the games you’ve reached 100-percent completion in so that they aren’t buried amid the rest of the chaff.
That’s especially good news for people who try out tons of Game Pass games and don’t want it to make their achievement list completely chaotic and unreadable. These small tweaks are the kinds of things devoted Xbox players will be happy to see roll out on a more regular basis moving forward, though they aren’t likely to shift the platform’s momentum all by themselves.
Achievements are heavily predicated on the social cachet they carry, which is in turn tied to the overall vibes of a platform. In the Xbox 360 days, Gamerscore was king. With the domination of the PlayStation 5, Sony’s trophy system has stolen some of its luster. One thing Xbox Achievements still have going for them, however, is that they can help you earn Xbox points which can in turn be redeemed for actual cash on the Xbox store. Sony still hasn’t managed to make a similar program stick on PlayStation.
“We stood up a dedicated team to focus on fan feedback,” recently appointed Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma wrote on X. “Here are a few Achievements updates rolling out today, more coming soon.”