The Xbox 360 launch in November 2005 coincided with the introduction of a new feature that has profoundly affected the way some gamers play. It is actually on the Xbox 360 that Microsoft introduced the Achievements. These little virtual rewards have become addicting for gamers. And their referendum was so big that the concept was quickly picked up by other platform managers. Today Microsoft is considering new ways to develop its successes.
Microsoft is currently considering integrating a Platinum Trophy equivalent for PlayStation games on Xbox. At least that’s what Microsoft’s Jason Ronald suggested recently. The director responsible for project management at Xbox recently attended the Iron Lords Podcast. And during the latter, the future of the achievements was discussed.
Success, serious business
More precisely, Jason Ronald was named after the possible arrival of a “Achievement equivalent to Sony’s Platinum Trophy.“The podcast host says he’s talking about one”Recognition from the game“when the latter is completely finished. According to the Microsoft representative, the Xbox team is aware that there is a demand at this level:
We clearly heard the feedback (from the players) about it. Achievement is an interesting topic because not all people play the same way. So we wonder how we can reward people for playing the way they want and how they want it.
Some players just prefer to play multiplayer. What do we do to reward them or highlight their progress? Other people like to play a lot of different games. How do you respect your investment? And besides, there are people like me who are completers and literally want to finish everything in one game.
So a balance has to be found. And that’s really something we’ve gotten some feedback on. We have nothing to announce today, but it is clearly something that is high on our list when we think of the future.
To intelligent successes?
The possibility of a platinum trophy equivalent ending up on Xbox isn’t the only interesting element here. Unlocking an achievement or trophy in a game sometimes requires performing actions that the player would not naturally have taken without these rewards. Such as completing all side quests or winning a certain number of online matches.
So it’s fascinating to see Jason Ronald talk about an achievement system that is adapted to everyone’s gaming habits. Is Microsoft considering an intelligent system for unlocking achievements with rewards that change from player to player based on gaming practice? Impossible to say at the moment.
However, setting up such a system would make it difficult for third party publishers. In addition, such a system would not necessarily be well received by all actors. Those who find it too cumbersome to achieve achievements might find a new way to unlock them. But those who like to use Achievements to compare themselves with other players and to show their commitment would certainly not welcome a system that allows two players to unlock achievements differently in the same game.
Successes against trophies
Finally, remember that Achievements were introduced with the release of the Xbox 360. Each achievement has an associated number of game score points. The latter is higher or lower depending on how difficult it is to obtain. For most major games, unlocking all achievements earns you 1,000 Gamerscore points.
The achievements were immediately adopted by Xbox players. Some are even addicted to achievements (to freshen up the concept, Microsoft introduced a rare achievement system on Xbox One in 2016).
Given the popularity of this system, both Valve and Sony responded. Valve integrated the management of achievements on Steam in 2007. Sony for its part added trophies to PS3 games in 2008 (the first PS3 games therefore had no trophies).
On PlayStation consoles, the trophies do not correspond to a specific score. However, they are associated with a precious metal. The more difficult it is to get the trophy or the more investments are required of the player, the more valuable his metal is. The platinum trophy for a game is obtained automatically when all other trophies have been unlocked. Note that in multi-platform games, the lists of achievement trophies are the same.
What do you think of these statements from Jason Ronald? How about a platinum achievement on Xbox consoles? And what do you think of a success system that adapts to player practices? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
