What are the achievements of Xbox? Beginner’s Guide to Gamerscore

Simply put, an Xbox achievement is an indication that you’ve completed a specific action, or series of actions, while playing an Xbox game. There is usually a list of achievements associated with any game in its final release on the Xbox platform, but this is not always the case.

Games that are in beta or early access usually don’t earn achievements until they reach their full release, although this doesn’t always apply. Achievements can be added after the game launches, but the maximum score a single achievement can get is 200 Gamerscore.

If you sign in to Xbox Live and meet the achievement requirements, you’ll receive a notification. This achievement is now permanently “unlocked” on your profile. On Xbox, it will appear as an expanding pill-shaped square, usually at the bottom of the screen and colored in whatever color you’ve chosen for the dashboard. You’ll see the achievement name, Gamerscore, and description provided by the publisher, as well as a special diamond audio if you unlock a rare audio.

When you unlock an achievement, you earn a Gamerscore. The most common Gamerscore values ​​are 5, 10, 15, 20, 50, and 100, but publishers can set whatever Gamerscore they want – as long as the main menu (excluding downloadable content) adds up to 1,000GB overall at launch.

Microsoft aggregates your total Gamerscore and displays it under your Gamertag in a number of places — on your friends list, in your smartphone app, on your dashboard, and so on.

Achievements lists for modern Xbox games will add at least 1000G. It can hold more than 1,000GB, and games often expand their achievement lists over time as new content is added, either as DLC or free updates, but 1,000GB is the minimum.

Older games from the Xbox 360 era could have as little as 1,000GB – Xbox Live arcade games from that time often had 200 or 400GB, but by the time the Xbox One came along, every game was given equal credit.