
For the second year in a row, we've been treated to the Xbox Excellence Awards today — a celebration that aims to highlight the games fans "loved most" in the previous year, with trophies being sent to the developers and publishers who created them.
"2025 was an incredible year for gaming and, before we run full-tilt into 2026, we wanted to take a moment to celebrate the titles that Xbox players made a part of their year, across all devices – from console, to PC, to handheld, to cloud. Today, we’re announcing the recipients of the 2025 Xbox Excellence Awards."
Just like last year, the Xbox Excellence Awards have been determined based on four categories:
- Store Rating: "The highest-rated content across our stores released in 2025, with a minimum of 500 ratings."
- Player Engagement: "The games with the highest average hours per-player within the first six weeks of release."
- Daily Active Users: "Games, expansions, or major updates with the highest single-day active users in 2025. You may notice games that weren’t released in 2025 in this list – that’s because they got a significant update last year."
- Units Sold: "Top-selling content across Xbox and Microsoft stores."
This year, we've got 55 games in the list (16 of which are Xbox Game Pass titles), made up of "48 unique developers hailing from 13 countries", and 19 of the games are self-published.
So, let's take a look at the winners for 2025! We'll start with "Store Rating" and finish with "Units Sold".
Here's the full list of winners for the Xbox Excellence Awards 2025:
Xbox Excellence Awards 2025: Store Rating

- Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Crime Scene Cleaner
- Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles 2
- Digimon Story: Time Stranger
- Dreamcore
- Dynasty Warriors: Origins
- Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time
- Final Fantasy XVI
- Lies of P: Overture
- Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
- Little Nightmares 3
- Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics
- Minami Lane
- Mullet MadJack
- Poppy Playtime Chapter 4
- Satisfactory
- Silent Hill 2
- Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds
- The First Berserker: Khazan
Xbox Excellence Awards 2025: Player Engagement

- Borderlands 4
- Digimon Story: Time Stranger
- Dynasty Warriors: Origins
- EA Sports College Football 26
- EA Sports FC 26
- Elden Ring Nightreign
- Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time
- Farm Together 2
- Final Fantasy Tactics - The Ivalice Chronicles
- Helldivers 2
- Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
- Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
- MLB The Show 25
- Monster Hunter Wilds
- NBA 2K26
- NHL 26
- Rust
- Satisfactory
- The First Berserker: Khazan
Xbox Excellence Awards 2025: Daily Active Users

- ARC Raiders
- Avowed
- Battlefield 6
- Borderlands 4
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
- DOOM: The Dark Ages
- Elden Ring Nightreign
- Fortnite
- Forza Horizon 5
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Grounded 2
- Helldivers 2
- Marvel Rivals
- Minecraft
- NBA 2K26
- Rematch
- ROBLOX
- Rocket League
- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
- Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege
Xbox Excellence Awards 2025: Units Sold

- ARC Raiders
- Assassin's Creed Shadows
- Battlefield 6
- Borderlands 4
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
- EA Sports Madden NFL 26
- EA Sports College Football 26
- EA Sports FC 26
- Elden Ring Nightreign
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Helldivers 2
- Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
- MLB The Show 25
- Monster Hunter Wilds
- NBA 2K26
- PGA Tour 2K25
- Ready Or Not
- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
- WWE 2K25