With the introduction of the Xbox Excellence Awards, Microsoft distinguishes the studios behind the most popular games in 2024.
Microsoft quits the introduction of the Xbox Excellence Awards to honor the developer studios behind the most popular games in 2024.
These awards appreciate outstanding achievements in four different categories and underline the importance of the creative work of the studios for the gaming community.
These four categories are:
- Store rating: The top rated content in our stores, which was published in 2024, with at least 500 reviews.
- Player loyalty: play with the highest average hours per player within the first six weeks after publication.
- Daily active users: games, extensions or larger updates with most active users on one day in 2024. Games that were not published in 2024 are included in this list because they received a larger update last year.
- Sold units: the best -selling content in the Xbox and Microsoft Stores.
The Xbox Excellence Awards were launched to celebrate the studios who found special recognition with their games in 2024. This initiative aims to honor the hard work and the commitment of the developers who are behind the players' favorite games.
The final list represents a diverse collection of titles that studios produced with ten to thousands of developers in 15 different countries worldwide.
You can find the titles for each category – arranged alphabetically – here:
| Store rating | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Balatro | |||
| Banisher: Ghosts of New Eden | |||
| Botanic Herrhaus | |||
| Like a dragon: infinite wealth | |||
| Little cat, big city | |||
| Lollipop Chainsaw Repop | |||
| Metaphor: Refantasia | |||
| Nobody wants to die | |||
| Persona 3 Reload | |||
| Poppy Playtime: Chapter 1, 2, 3 | |||
| Return back to Grace | |||
| Round | |||
| Senuas Saga: Hellblade II | |||
| Shin megami tensei V: revenge | |||
| Sonic X Shadow Generations | |||
| Still wakes up the depth | |||
| The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria | |||
| The outlast tests | |||
| Unicorn overlord | |||
| Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 |
| Player commitment |
|---|
| Dragon Age: The Schleierwächter |
| Dragon's Dogma 2 |
| EA Sports College Football 25 |
| EA Sports FC 25 |
| F1 Manager 2024 |
| Agricultural simulator 25 |
| Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail |
| Hausflipper 2 |
| Like a dragon: infinite wealth |
| Metaphor: Refantasia |
| MLB the show 24 |
| NBA 2K25 |
| New world: eternal |
| NHL 25 |
| Path of Exile 2 |
| Shin megami tensei V: revenge |
| Skulls and bones |
| Star Wars Outlaws |
| Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 |
| WWE 2K24 |
| Daily active users |
|---|
| Apex legends |
| Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 |
| Dead island 2 |
| Diablo IV: Vessel of Hasses |
| EA Sports College Football 25 |
| EA Sports FC 25 |
| Elden ring shadow of the earth tree |
| Fallout 4 |
| Fortnite |
| Forza Horizon 5 |
| Grand Theft Auto Online |
| Indiana Jones and the large circle |
| Marvel rival |
| Minecraft |
| MLB the show 24 |
| Palworld |
| Roblox |
| Rocket League |
| Stalker 2 Heart of Chernobyl |
| Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege |
| Sold units sold |
|---|
| 7 days to die |
| Avatar: Limits of Pandora |
| Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 |
| Dragon Age: The Schleierwächter |
| Dragon Ball: Spark! Zero |
| Dragon's Dogma 2 |
| EA Sports College Football 25 |
| EA Sports FC 25 |
| EA Sports Madden NFL 25 |
| Agricultural simulator 25 |
| Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 |
| MLB the show 24 |
| NBA 2K25 |
| NHL 25 |
| Palworld |
| Phasmophobia |
| Star Wars Outlaws |
| The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria |
| Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 |
| WWE 2K24 |
Some studios have already received their awards and expressed their thanks on social media. The team behind The Texas Chain Saw Massacre shared their joy on the preservation of the awards on Twitter and thanked the players for their support.
With the Xbox Excellence Awards, Xbox sets a sign of recognition for the creative minds behind the most successful games and strengthens the relationship between the platform and the developer studios. These awards underline the importance of the developer community for continuous growth and diversity in the gaming area.



