We didn't see this one coming! It's just been announced that Xbox achievements are getting multiple new improvements, including a brand-new visual refresh, and these are rolling out to Xbox Insiders starting today.
The most major difference here is that achievements now look different — they feature "updated icons and animations when you unlock classic or rare achievements", and you can see an example of a rare achievement up above.
"We’ve refreshed achievement notifications with a new look and feel, including updated icons and animations when you unlock classic or rare achievements. Notifications will also match your custom color, making each unlock feel more personal. Happy achievement hunting!"
Another major thing is the ability to highlight games you've 100% completed. These will appear highlighted by default, and you'll also be able to sort by 100% completions if you want to, while Xbox says that it's "continuing to explore new ways to recognize completion and milestone moments over time".
"When you’ve earned all available Gamerscore for a title, you’ll now see it highlighted in your achievements list, so your hard work is easy to spot. This gives you a quick, at-a-glance way to celebrate full completion."
Finally, you'll now be able to hide games from your Xbox achievements list if you wish as well. Xbox says this "has been one of the most requested features from Xbox Insiders", allowing you to have "more control over how your accomplishments are presented", and it's a feature that will be rolling out later this month.
"Whether you want a cleaner look or just want to highlight what matters most to you, this puts your profile in your hands."
All of this will initially be available to members of the Xbox Insider program alone, followed by a public rollout for all Xbox users at some point in the near future (Insider features usually remain exclusive for just a few weeks).
Multiple members of Team Xbox have been mentioning how there are more Xbox achievement improvements to come in the future as well, including Xbox boss Asha Sharma and next-gen exec Jason Ronald:
We'll leave you with some images below that are part of the new Xbox achievement refresh:
Excited for this? What else are you hoping to see in the future? Tell us down in the comments.
Comments 61
I couldn't care less about trophies, but this is excellent for those that do.
Asha is off to a good start.
The only thing I really wish they would do is move or at least give the option to move the achievement pop up notification to the top left of the screen like Sony does. I hate it when you are in game especially during a cutscene or QTE and the achievement pops up at the bottom of the screen and covers up text. So annoying.
They finally allow us to hide games! New visuals look cool however I’d have liked a separate list for DLC and a special achievement for 100% a game (a platinum trophy equivalent).
Most importantly it really seems new leadership at Xbox is really listening and finally doing things the last administration neglected for whatever reason.
@Tasuki You can set up all notifications to appear on any corner, it’s been an option ever since the Xbox One days.
@IOI Really, I never knew that, I will have check that out. Thanks.
First thing I'm seeing that sparks my curiosity. Lets see how this moves forward.
Hope they dont forget about doing something for earning achievements while playing xbox games on pc because the notification for those is very sad.
@Tasuki though do bear in mind that some games do override this setting.
I hope hiding games is the first step for deleting titles we don't want in our profiles. I really want to curate my history.
Being able to hide games with earned achievements is a nice addition. I’ve got a few on my list from trying stuff out on Game Pass, and I’ve wished I could remove those I know I won’t go back to.
It's a very basic update, but since they haven't paid any attention to achievements for so many years, any improvement is welcome.
Good, but not good enough. What achievement hunters really want is a way to permanently remove games with partially completed gamerscore from our achievement lists. Not ‘hide’ like what’s included in this update, but actually Remove the games from our lists. If platform holders like Sony or Microsoft won’t enforce stricter guidelines as to what is acceptable achievement criteria and what is not, then this would act as a catch-all to defuse a number of potentially anti-achievement hunter practices.
Whether a developer decides to include an achievement that is far too difficult or time consuming for the average player, or if the achievement itself is bugged, or in the event of an abrupt server shutdown that would render 100% completion impossible, the ability to simply erase the incomplete game from existence would preserve an achievement hunter’s hard fought, hard earned account without staining it with a game which would remain forever incomplete.
TL;DR, Either get devs in line and make sure the criteria is acceptable across the board, or give the end user the option to bypass any potential issues.
Fully expected the AI to generate a certificate now and congrats me with a poem or something… seems so millennial to just get a pop up….
One thing I'd like to have is a way to get a previously unlocked achievement (without receiving gamerscore points, obviously). Sometimes I'd wanna feel like playing a game for the first time.
It's funny because people swore up and down Phil and Sarah cared about the console and console gamers, yet in 1 month Asha Sharma has done more updates and features than those two did in the past 2 years!
I'm not sold on Xbox just yet, really depends on if they bring back exclusive games, but at least they are acting like console gamers exist again.
I'd be absolutely shocked if this is Sharma's doing, @TheGameThrifter. These improvements have probably been in the works for a few months.
It's likely to be 2 or 3 years before we really see Sharma's vision for Xbox. Until then, most of what happens, maybe everything that happens, will just be things she can take credit for without actually being the one that implemented it in the first place.
Xbox is like a huge tanker, set on a particular course, with it taking months or even years to change direction, and steering the ship in a different direction takes time to take effect...
As I’m about to reach one million GS, with just under 1000 GS needed, this update although is a welcome one it is also too little too late for me.
When I’ve reached a million GS I’ll just be unlocking achievements in certain games I really like and actually want to go out of my way to unlock. One million is the ultimate milestone imo, after that two million, three million etc just isn’t the same. It’ll of took me nearly 21 years reaching one million!
@Tasuki You can already do this.
Yet more great stuff for Xbox owners under Asha's tenure. I already loved my Xbox but now I'm becoming proud of the brand
There seems to be lots of little things happening at Xbox that make me certain for the future of the brand.
Hopefully the achievement notifications on the pc app are updated as well. I was seeing a glitch where they were taking up 40% of the screen. Sometimes they are super delayed or i dont get an onscreen notification but it did unlock. There seems to be some stability issues there.
What was Phil even doing? Asha has achieved more in a month than he did in years. I like the direction this is going.
If these are all coming from Asha then I think she's already doing a good job.
There are certain games that have online achievements that are no longer obtainable. I guess I could just mark them as complete when I've obtained every currently obtainable one, but it would be nice if that process was automated too.
@Fiendish-Beaver I agree with you to a point. I do think she is having an effect maybe phil was to nice and she's just ill sick my ai terminators on you if you don't agree.
Or Sarah was the devil a PlayStation mole that tried her hardest to ruin Xbox.
@Fiendish-Beaver @VisitingComet1 for my take, I wonder if MS have a developer repository where ideas that devs have worked on / created are sat in a dead zone that have just never implemented. If thats the case then Asha could be pushing roll out of work that was just sat doing nothing which would still be a success, but also could explain some of the timeframe questions.
Either way the end result are good for the players, and i guess thats all that matters in the end.
@ilyn honestly I don't care who is making it happen. I think Xbox became dangerously close to zune levels of extinction and they seem like their righting the ship.
@we will really never know * hope they continue on the new course.
Honestly, @Cakefish & @Coletrain, I'd be shocked if Sharma had much to do with any of the recent improvements. She is just at the helm when these things are being revealed, and is understandably being credited with them because she is in place when they are being seen. The most likely scenario here is that these improvements were always intended to be released during the course of 2026 to coincide with the 25th anniversary of Xbox. It just so happens that the leadership has changed. All these small improvements (and they are genuinely improvements), will have taken time to sort out, and are highly unlikely to have been rushed out the door inside a month. Sharma was put in charge of Xbox because it has much bigger problems than the way its achievement system works!
I honestly like the fact that I think she is more PR savvy than Spencer was, and she knows how to make a splash. That is definitely something that Xbox needs, but just as with the Helix she cannot be credited with the creation of this device. It was conceived long before she even joined Microsoft! And so it is, I think, with the achievement overhaul. Conceived prior to her becoming boss, but only now being revealed...
I think there is a strong possibility that this was long planned to be part of the 25th anniversary celebrations, @ilyn. I honestly cannot see Sharma seeing this as a priority now that she is boss. She may have decided when it was revealed, but the likelihood is that it was ready to go for release at some point in 2026...
I was playing Towerborne with my daughter and when she got an achievement the notification was pink. Kinda neat but not an Xbox is saved" moment, lol.
@Fiendish-Beaver I have no doubt that these things would have been in some form of development prior to her taking the helm, but I have strong doubts that all this positive console stuff would have seen the light of day under Sarah Bond. She just seemed so blinkered by the PC and cloud side of the ecosystem.
But whatever the behind the scenes stuff is, it doesn't matter because the very visible improvements and their delivery has been under Sharma. Even if it's just PR BS, she's bleddy good at it!
Neat. Only other thing I would really like for achievements is to be able to sort my games list based on different criteria. Being able to display games alphabetically, by completion percentage, filtering by games currently installed, etc... would be helpful for finding and completing older titles.
@SMJ make xbox great again
@Balaam_ i have to agree with you on this. First i will say at least we can now hide them. That’s better than what we had. But to your point. I want total control over my achievements and games. I want to be able to delete it like it never happened. I also think you are spot on in saying put some pressure on devs to make better achievements. You may or may not agree with me on this, but i always said 40-50% of achievements should be just finishing the campaign. Then if they want to be stupid with the collect 32,000 hard to see pieces of nothing for 100G, go for it i guess. It gives bragging rights to those that want to hunt every corner of the game to find a worthless gem. I am not saying make 100% a game easy. But respect my time and the game. Make it to where the games natural fun is how you earn them and not killing 1 million rare creatures and such. I am happy today to see some improvements coming and I think now is our time to be loud and say what works from this update and what doesn’t. Maybe they will continue to listen to how we want control over our digital media and achievements.
@Fiendish-Beaver Phil mentioned that Jason’s team was working on upgrades to achievements a while back. A lot of this is starting to roll out and i am sure the new CEO is placing what she thinks will be the most exciting news and how much time that news does or doesn’t get. But i knew for a while now there was something planned for achievements. Happy to learn about it today tho. Xbox is starting to put together a lot of good announcements and that scares me cause isn’t this when they step on the rake most times?
@HonestHick @Fiendish-Beaver again I don't really care who started it or who gets credit. what I do care about is the tone from mcsft towards the box has changed.
I hope they continue down this path.
I'm Xbox through and through starting with the OG. I'll never give up but they need a cognisant long term plan that they are going to follow through on.
I honestly thougt the Xbone marketing at first could never get out done but this is an Xbox raised the bar.
I hope their new long term plan is to kill it in the console division.
@VisitingComet1 i agree with you. I hope they continue to show the console some love and that they do have a plan for it. Like you said stick to it and no backing out all the time and starting over. I think they are going to focus more on Xbox seeing as they want momentum heading into Helix. I loved the Xbox One, i didn’t think much was all that wrong minus the TV TV TV. The console and controller i really enjoyed and played the heck out of it. Most of what it did then the consoles now all do. But going on Stage talking TV was so lame. This is an Xbox was even dumber i must agree with you. Here’s hoping things are going in the right direction as we need all 3 fighting for our dollars.
@HonestHick I liked the one I bought the launch edition and then the scorpio edition.
but the paying to borrow games from your friend and the tv nonsense
@VisitingComet1 yeah i know what you mean, the console itself was good but all the mess they added and said just did it no justice. Still love that controller to this day. I played so much TitanFall at launch.
This is literally one of my most requested features (just see my post comment history). I absolutely love this!
@Tasuki You can.
@MaccaMUFC out of curiousity. How many games have you played?
Being able to delete games with 0 would be nice you could do it on Xbox 360
And to be able to delete games that are live service and are shut down or games with online achievements that servers have been also shut down and can't be completed. Not everyone has the time to go online and like myself don't go online at all anymore
@BIG3 DE4N MUFC has won 35,342 Achievements out of a possible 91,509 (38.62% Completion - 56,167 remaining)
DE4N MUFC has a Gamerscore of 999,035 out of a possible 2,601,090 (38.41% Completion - 1,602,055 remaining)
DE4N MUFC has spent 2 years, 298 days, 20 hours and 47 minutes playing across all platforms.
All that is based on 2,473 games. As you can see I’m no completionist, got no time for that with a job and family but do game on a daily basis.
I'm really pleased to see this.
I really don't care about achievements in the slightest on Xbox, but I'll engage with the trophy system on Playstation.
Anything that gets me to engage with achievements on the Xbox games I play will be welcome, as I've found for a game I love, having some extra tasks to consider can help me extract even more joy from it.
What's really nice about this is that its just another little sign that someone is doing due diligence and making little inexpensive changes to the eco system to help keep us engaged. More of this please!
Good addition. But glad they aren’t allowing people to alter their history, only hide games, seems like the best balance.
@MaccaMUFC whoa! That’s huge dude. I gave up trophy hunting around 1/4 million - and even more on PS - so know what it takes to get that many. Big milestone. Congrats.
Just wondering where you got the stats from. I wouldn’t mind seeing how many games mine is from.
@IOI yes! Would definitely have liked an achievement for 100% a game and splitting off DLC into separate lists. But it’s still a handy step forward for games we want to hide.
@fbnaulin @Balaam_ Why should they allow you to completely remove games from your history? That would just make the history fake and would be too open to abuse. E.g. it would be easy to maintain a 100% completion rate if we just remove those we didn’t complete. This is a better compromise imo.
@themightyant I got your point. There are some games with 1-2 unlocked achievements that I don’t want in my history. I’d like to delete those mainly.
Maybe a good solution would be able to delete titles under certain time played (eg. 2 hours) or achievements unlocked.
@fbnaulin what’s wrong with just hiding them? Then you don’t see them.
There’s plenty of games I tried on Game Pass, have 15/1000 or similar but hiding them is all that’s really needed. Otherwise it opens up too many possible issues imo.
This is a nice improvement for achievement hunters. Glad to see it finally getting a polish.
Avatar: The Burning Earth is my embarrassing one - back in the 360 days we used to pass the disc of it around because you could get all 1,000 achievements in about 2 minutes!
@themightyant In the past I didn't care about achievements, testing random games for a 30-40 minutes, or letting parents launch whatever in my Xbox profile at home.
At some point I became a 'completionist', and avid user of TrueAchievements. In that site you can see your overall completion rate, which it's unlocked vs locked cheevos of every game you have touched.
I'd like to remove some undesired titles from that pool, games I don't plan to play, having a ratio more representative of my current habits. But, I can live with the notion that I can delete them, and that's the way things are.
@fbnaulin I can understand that. I used to be an achievement hunter and used True Achievements a lot. Got to around 250k & 60+ Platinums before realising it was more bad than good for me. Tell me if any of this is familiar... I would keep grinding games I wasn't enjoying just to get a trophy or "complete" it. I'd also stop playing games I was enjoying because the last trophy popped.
Frankly life's too short.
Now I just listen to how I feel about a game, keep playing if I like it and don't if I don't. I still complete a few games and check TA for missables but it's MUCH simpler... and was strangely liberating. And with backlogs getting longer would I rather complete 5 games, or play 10? Which would give me more enjoyment? For me the answer to these sort of questions is so obvious now, but I also accept we all like different things.
I don't think the solution is allowing people to doctor their lists, like life we make choices we have to live by, and we can't change the past, only learn to accept it.
@themightyant I think I've become more selective, and aware of what I'd like to play, but I don't have problem dropping a game if I'm not enjoying it.
I used to play as much as I could, chasing that eternal backlog. At this moment, I'm more inclined to explore fewer games in deep.
@themightyant Those stats I posted are from TrueAchievements, which going by your recent post you’re already familiar with.
There’s been many times over the years I’ve played games whether it’s Game Pass, free-to-play, rented or owned just to unlock achievements, sometimes even going for time consuming ones but like you and because I'm almost at one million GS I’m taking it easy and just playing games I actually want to play and not letting achievements dictate what I play.
I’ll still go for achievements in certain games because sometimes you can get more out of the game and it can be fun to play it in a certain way on the way to unlocking them but I’ll be very selective. Off the top of my head GTA 6, Max Payne remakes, Halo Campaign Evolved, Forza Horizon 6, Hell Let Loose Vietnam are some that I’ll unlock the majority of their achievements since I know I’ll really enjoy my time with those games and spend a significant amount of time playing.
They changed the icons and added a highlight for 100% completion… purely cosmetic. That’s not an improvement to the achievement system. The same flawed logic remains: an unnavigable list of played games with no filtering for completed or uncompleted titles, no sorting by first played, last played, first unlocked, or last unlocked. There’s a lot—A LOT—missing here.
On top of that, Xbox profiles show nothing about your gaming history or habits. They’re completely worthless, even worse than Nintendo’s—and Nintendo isn’t even trying.
Beautiful icons, though.
That’s great news. Further attention to detail like this would be great.
I was always fond of the achievements since the 360 days .. My favorite aspect was that it logged the date you completed it (online at first), once in a while I like to go through my achievement history and see which games I was playing at a particular time
@MaccaMUFC @fbnaulin yes. Totally agree that achievements can sometimes give you more out of a game, give a fun new way to play etc. But I think the games with good achievement lists are actually quite limited. Many are just dull uninspired lists, far too many collectathons that either require a guide to complete or countless hours exploring every corner. It’s not fun gameplay. But again I suppose we all like different things.
@MaccaMUFC Thanks, it’s been so long since I looked at anything other than guides on TA.
But I did look at my stats:
I think most of that was up until around 2019ish, that’s when I slowed down achievement / trophy hunting. I think I’ve only added circa 30 - 40k this gen. My PS Trophy rank works out at around 300k too across 1000 games.
Can I say that I have never 100% a game when it comes to achievements. I wish I had that attention span. I have a friend who does that with Dragon Age games.
@Herna Trophies are on PS
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...