In June of 2006 I got my Xbox 360, and my first achievement.
Roughly 20 years later, I just hit 100,000 achievement points. This isn’t a massive accomplishment or anything (I have friends with two or three times that amount), but it feels like a milestone to me, and a time to reflect on my history and future with the platform.
Let’s start with some celebrations. First of all, I’m still alive! As I get older, I’m grateful for every milestone, significant or trivial. And if you’re reading this, you’re still alive too, nice! Go us!
More specifically related to the achievements, I’m proud that all of them are from *real* games. There are plenty of achievement / trophy boosting “games” out there these days, but I don’t mess with any of that stuff. I got here with blood, sweat, and Bullet Witch.
Despite everything, I still enjoy Xbox’s achievement system. PlayStation trophies and Steam achievements are cool, but they’re just not as satisfying for me. Maybe it’s nostalgia, but I still just prefer the meta numeric approach of Xbox. So my next goal will be 200,000, yeah? Well, probably not.
When I first got my 360, I was in college, and had plenty of free time and patience for arbitrary accomplishments in games. 20 years later, it takes me a year to finish an RPG. I have less free time, and infinitely more options in how to spend it. And then there’s the elephant in the room: the question of Xbox itself. Will the brand even exist in 20 years from now? Will servers still be up?
Xbox has been an inconsistent mess for the past decade and a half, give or take. There have been some good moves and some great games, but a whole lot of stepping on rakes and confusing choices regarding everything from exclusives to GamePass. I’m not convinced that Helix will have mass market or even niche appeal (Why buy a new platform when the games can be played elsewhere? Why use Xbox’s limited PC app when Steam is right there? etc.). While the new leadership has made some good calls (lowering the price of GamePass, adding new UI features), the future still seems uncertain.
And there’s the issue of Microsoft itself, which is a much bigger and more serious discussion that doesn’t really belong in a post about achievement points. But at the end of the day, unless the division goes completely independent, Microsoft will continue to be an albatross around the neck of Xbox.
So back to the subject at hand: will I continue to get achievement points? I mean, yeah, probably. I have a massive collection of (many unplayed) 360 games and five(!) 360 consoles (it’s maybe my favorite system of all time). I was the weirdo buying physical Xbox One discs during that generation, so I’ve got a bunch of those still as well. I’ve had a Series X since launch and it’s my preferred console thanks to quick resume, free cloud saves, and backwards compatibility. The Xbox PC app still isn’t great, but it’s getting better, and Play Anywhere is a nice feature.
So yeah, I’ll continue to get achievement points. 200K tho? Doesn’t feel likely.
But who knows? Check back here in 2046 I guess.
You can read more about my earliest achievements here.
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