At the core of our mission, we’re all about spreading the joy and camaraderie of gaming to folks everywhere. This year, we’ve seen more screens than ever transform into Xboxes, lighting up with an impressive lineup of games crafted by some truly gifted developers worldwide. These teams are behind those amazing gaming experiences that keep players of all age groups entertained and inspired. As a way to express our gratitude to the masterminds of these games and to spotlight the titles you all adored in 2024, we’re thrilled to announce this year’s recipients of the Xbox Excellence Awards.
With over a thousand games hitting Xbox consoles, PCs, and the cloud each year, you’d think it would be a straightforward decision to just have a dedicated panel make the selections. But the Excellence Awards are all about your interactions with Xbox throughout the year. We’ve honed in on four main categories that reflect your passion and love for these games. Here’s what we looked at:
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Store Rating: We took into account the top-rated content in our stores from 2024, with a requirement of at least 500 ratings.
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Player Engagement: We focused on games that boasted the highest average playtime per player during the first six weeks after launch.
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Daily Active Users: This includes games, expansions, or big updates that saw the most single-day active users in 2024. Some of these might not have been 2024 releases, but they received significant updates last year.
- Units Sold: The best-selling content across Xbox and Microsoft stores was also considered.
The resulting list features a rich collection of titles brought to life by teams of varying sizes across 15 countries. Below, you’ll find the standout titles for each category, presented alphabetically for easy browsing:
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Store Rating
- Balatro
- Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden
- Botany Manor
- Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
- Little Kitty, Big City
- Nobody Wants to Die
- Persona 3 Reload
- Palworld
- Skull and Bones
- Unicorn Overlord
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Player Engagement
- Dragon Age: The Veilguard
- Dragon’s Dogma 2
- EA Sports College Football 25
- EA Sports FC 25
- EA Sports Madden NFL 25
- Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
- Metaphor: ReFantazio
- Phasmophobia
- The Outlast Trials
- Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
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Daily Active Users
- Apex Legends
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
- Dead Island 2
- Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred
- Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero
- Fortnite
- Forza Horizon 5
- Minecraft
- Star Wars Outlaws
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege
- Units Sold
- 7 Days to Die
- Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
- EA Sports FC 25
- Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
- Farming Simulator 25
- NBA 2K25
- NHL 25
- The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria
- Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
Developers and publishers will soon be receiving their well-deserved trophies, so keep an eye out for their celebrations! If you’re thinking about diving into the titles that helped achieve these accolades, check out the collection of games that snagged an Xbox Excellence Award for 2024 over on the Xbox Store.
