Xbox Is Getting Its Own Platinum Trophy, But What Will Make It Different? – Talking Point

Since the PS3 era, fully completing a game on PlayStation hardware earns you an additional Platinum Trophy, signalling you’ve collected every Trophy and seen everything the game has to offer. Socially, you now possess the power to brag like a complete arse (if you that’s what you fancy), but mostly Plats are an easy talking point, and a way to share your passion.

Now, as lovely as it is to watch my gamerscore rack up to a fairly impressive six-digit total (a number so big, I once put it on my CV), I sorta stopped paying attention after passing 100,000. These days, I scroll through the Achievement leaderboard page for games I’ve ‘100%’ and wanting for something else to track.

Basically, I want to a way to say I’ve “Platinumed” the Xbox console exclusive Gears of War: E-Day shortly after it launches in October. I want to be on it, share it, and have everyone know that I’m a proper Gears saddo.

Of course, Xbox could simply add an additional completion Achievement like Trophies do, but I reckon there’s room to do something better. Currently, Xbox categorises Achievements as either Common or Rare, using community unlock percentages to determine their status.

Earning a Rare cheevo feels like you’ve gone the extra mile, pushed a little further than most, and been rewarded with that shiny diamond-coated pop. It’s a proper serotonin hit.

My suggestion for Xbox would be to extend that same percentage-based system to a final completion achievement, like Common and Rare awards based on community completion rates. Games could be sorted into rarity categories too. Since writing this piece, I’ve taken to calling a full completion as a “Diamond Achievement”, or to “Diamond” a game. And I know, it all sounds very similar to Sony’s Platinum counterpart, but Xbox already uses the diamond icon for its Rare cheevos, so why not lean into that, eh?

What constitutes a Diamond Achievement is something to consider too. If Asha Sharma and the Xbox squad are really cooking their own system, like she teased they are, then how will they handle older games we’ve already earned Achievements for? Should you earn a Diamond Achievement if you’ve earned all of the launch cheevos, or is that now only attainable if you’ve earned the additional DLC ones? Personally, I reckon you’d have to base it off the Achievements at launch.

I’m curious to know what you think Xbox should do with “Diamond Achievements”, and are you a fan of percentage-based rarity for those final completion Achievements too? Think you can come up with a better idea? Oh, and most importantly, what should they be called? Talk to us about it in the comments section below.