I've begun examining data from TrueAchievements (TA), a large and active community that tracks extensive gaming data. I believe this data can offer valuable insights into the performance and engagement levels of recent games (among other metrics).
In the table below, I've teased out a few things that I will describe:
1. Release Date: I'm focusing on games released within approximately the last calendar year (to capture a period I believe highlights the current struggles for Xbox).
2. Max Achievement: This metric tracks the highest number of times a single Xbox achievement has been earned in a game. Since the first achievement is often earned minutes into the game (e.g., "Welcome to the Game"), it serves as a proxy for the total number of people who started the game. While it doesn't provide precise sales figures, it allows for strong comparative analysis against older titles.
3. Total Achievement: This is the raw sum of every achievement claimed by the community for a specific game. This figure is a good indicator of overall community engagement and playtime.
4. Ratio: The Ratio is calculated as: Total Achievements / Max Achievement. The higher the resulting ratio, the more deeply the game was played by those who started it (indicating high retention and engagement).
Let's look at the list. Highlighted in Green are all the figures that look good matched up against other Xbox games going back to the Xbox 360.
| Game | Release Date | Max Achievement | Total Achievements | Ratio |
| Star Wars Outlaws | 8/30/2024 | 43,784 | 717,299 | 16.4 |
| Dragon Age: The Veilguard | 10/31/2024 | 47,797 | 1,048,202 | 21.9 |
| Indiana Jones and the Great Circle | 12/9/2024 | 273,130 | 4,175,585 | 15.3 |
| Avowed | 2/18/2025 | 172,661 | 1,416,366 | 8.2 |
| Assassin's Creed: Shadows | 3/20/2025 | 71,321 | 1,359,660 | 19.1 |
| Atomfall | 3/27/2025 | 81,173 | 564,700 | 7.0 |
| South of Midnight | 4/8/2025 | 91,587 | 1,213,973 | 13.3 |
| DOOM: The Dark Ages | 5/15/2025 | 180,634 | 1,038,104 | 5.7 |
| Mafia: The Old Country | 8/8/2025 | 16,233 | 462,906 | 28.5 |
| The Outer Worlds 2 | 10/29/2025 | 14,323 | 46,136 | 3.2 |
Yep, just two in green.
The Success Stories
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle performed exceptionally well on the Xbox platform. For comparative context, its performance metrics are close to established titles like Battlefield: Hardline, Dishonored, and Dragon Age: Inquisition.
The only other stand-out "Green" performer is Mafia: The Old Country. While the Max Achievement count (total players who started the game) is not high, the players who did engage with it absolutely loved it. A remarkable Ratio score of 28.5 places its long-term engagement on par with classics like Assassin's Creed II, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and Gears of War 2.
The Failures
Games fail for various, and often multi-layered, reasons, and the scale of failure differs. Unfortunately, almost all the remaining games listed here are weak performers compared to a broad selection of other Xbox titles.
Star Wars Outlaws: This is the worst offender. Despite a multi-platform release across all consoles and PC, it flopped on Xbox. Consoles need these major "tentpole" games to drive system sales. Given that Star Wars is one of the biggest IPs in existence, its failure on this platform is significant.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard: This is another major, well-known, and respected gaming IP. The data shows that people simply didn't pick it up in high numbers. In its defense, the players who did start the game must have found it moderately engaging, as its completion metrics are decent.
Assassin's Creed Shadows: Assassin's Creed games traditionally sell massive volumes. Earlier entries like AC I and II, Odyssey, and Black Flag (IV) all have Max Achievement figures in the 400,000 range. In comparison, AC Shadows is a clear flop. Xbox needed a tentpole game of this caliber to drive console adoption, but it clearly failed to do so. This underperformance might even be considered a major turning point: shortly after its release, its publisher, Ubisoft, was restructured, and a short time later, the Microsoft mothership took control of operations.
Avowed, Doom: The Dark Ages, and Atomfall. Avowed came hot out of the gates in terms of initial starts (high Max Achievement count) but completely failed in the playtime metric, registering a disastrous Ratio of 8.2. This indicates that players largely gave up on it, likely through Game Pass. Doom: The Dark Ages and Atomfall are in this same category. Gamers gave these titles a shot, but quickly uninstalled them. This widespread low engagement suggests a significant quality and retention problem, which is very bad news for any subscription-driven service.
Outer Worlds 2: Off to a terrible start.
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Commentary and Analysis on Game Failures
I chose to start with Star Wars Outlaws because it involves such a massive IP. Its poor performance can be attributed to several bad decisions by Ubisoft, primarily an unengaging main character and the fact that the game was clearly shipped unfinished. When you bring in a vast, dedicated fanbase like Star Wars, you have to deliver your "A-game." Ubisoft did not, and the resulting flop put a magnifying glass on the rest of the titles on my "failures" list.
The Political Headwinds
Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Assassin's Creed Shadows, and Avowed all suffered from very bad press leading up to their release, particularly concerning modern political sensitivities within their narrative or character design.
This suggests a lesson that publishers seem to forget every few generations: while video games have historically contained a wide array of controversial or "crazy" elements, the recent batch crossed a line for many consumers.
Adding to the problem, employees working on these games were publicly lashing out on social media. Publishers absolutely need to control this type of communication, regardless of the political leaning. Such external friction only compounds the negative perception of the game itself.
The Xbox Console
It is genuinely unfortunate that this series of events has coincided with a challenging period for the Xbox console. I love my Series X, and it had to earn that appreciation after coming right after one of my favorite consoles of all time, the PlayStation 4. While the Series X will remain a valuable machine for years to come, especially for its backwards compatibility, it's genuinely sad to think we won't see a proper follow-up console from Microsoft in the future.
