Xbox Launches Mythic Achievements, Finally Scratching That Decade-Long Platinum Trophy Itch

Once you've 100%'d a game, a new "heroic frame" now shows up on screen—that's the visual payoff Xbox's freshly launched Mythic Achievements gives players, and it's the most immediately noticeable change in Microsoft's new approach. For years, PlayStation players have been able to flaunt their platinum trophies on their profiles, while Xbox never really had an equivalent sense of ceremony. Now, that gap is finally being filled.

According to Xbox, Mythic Achievements unlock once a player has "completed every original achievement" in a game, serving as proof that someone truly saw a title through to the end. Notably, achievements added later via DLC or updates won't affect a game's Mythic status—Xbox's stance is "it's yours to keep," meaning players won't suddenly face new requirements just because a game gets expanded down the road.

What's more practical is the retroactive rollout. Xbox senior product manager Alex Charters wrote on the official blog: "The next time you visit your profile, you might find that some of your favorite games have already achieved Mythic status." This backward compatibility stretches all the way to Xbox 360-era titles, meaning players won't need to replay old games to earn the badge—if you already unlocked every achievement back in the day, the system will retroactively grant it.

This data shows up in a new Gaming tab added to player profiles, listing out various milestones, with each Mythic Achievement displaying its own exclusive heroic frame design. Every game's achievement list also gets a progress bar showing how close a player is to reaching Mythic status. The tab has a social element too—players can check out their friends' Gaming tabs to see whether they've also fully completed a title, like Gears of War 2, for instance.

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma had teased this plan earlier this year, and now it's officially here. Microsoft's console achievement system has been around for ages, but it's always lacked a tiered prestige mechanic like the platinum trophy—Mythic Achievements is exactly what fills that void.

Right now, this feature is only rolling out to members of the Xbox Insider program for testing—regular players can't access it directly just yet. Xbox Insider lets users get early hands-on access to system updates, apps, features, and games before they officially launch, and signing up is free. Alongside this rollout, Microsoft is also testing a service that converts physical games into digital copies, as well as a free, ad-supported cloud gaming platform.