Xbox Unveils The 'Excellence Awards' And Reveals All The 2024 Winners

Image: Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden

Today, we're being formally introduced to the Xbox Excellence Awards, which seeks to highlight the games that fans "loved most" in the previous year - with trophies being sent to the devs and publishers who created them.

"These teams create unforgettable gaming experiences that engage and inspire players of all ages. As a thank you to the creators of those games, and to shine a light on the games that players loved in 2024, today we’re announcing the recipients of the 2024 Xbox Excellence Awards."

For 2024, the Xbox Excellence Awards have been determined based on four categories:

• Store Rating: "Highest-rated content across our stores released in 2024, with a minimum of 500
  ratings."

• Player Engagement: "Games with the highest average hours per player within the first six weeks of its release."

• Daily Active Users: "Games, expansions, or major updates with the highest single-day active
  users in 2024. You may notice games that weren’t released in 2024 in this list – that’s because
  they got a significant update last year."

• Units Sold: "Top-selling content across Xbox and Microsoft stores."

The team says the categories are "indicators of players’ passion, engagement, and love for these games", and the final list is a diverse lineup that includes everything from indies to AAA releases, made up of dev studios from 15 countries.

So, let's take a look at which games won! There are a lot of titles per-category here, so we're going to split everything up to make things easier to read. We'll start with "Store Rating" and finish with "Units Sold".

Here's the full list of winners for the Xbox Excellence Awards 2024:

Xbox Excellence Awards 2024: Store Rating

Image: Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

• Balatro
• Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden
• Botany Manor
• Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth
• Little Kitty, Big City
• Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP
• Metaphor: ReFantazio
• Nobody Wants to Die
• Persona 3 Reload
• Poppy Playtime
• Return to Grace
• Rounds
• Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2
• Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance
• Sonic X Shadow Generations
• Still Wakes The Deep
• The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria
• The Outlast Trials
• Unicorn Overlord
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2

Xbox Excellence Awards 2024: Player Engagement

Image: Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2

• Dragon Age: The Veilguard
• Dragon's Dogma 2
• EA Sports College Football 25
• EA Sports FC 25
• F1 Manager 2024
• Farming Simulator 25
• Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail
• House Flipper 2
• Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth
• Metaphor: ReFantazio
• MLB The Show 24
• NBA 2K25
• New World: Aeternum
• NHL 25
• Path of Exile 2
• Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance
• Skull and Bones
• Star Wars Outlaws
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
• WWE 2K24

Xbox Excellence Awards 2024: Daily Active Users

Image: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

• Apex Legends
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
• Dead Island 2
• Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred
• EA Sports College Football 25
• EA Sports FC 25
• Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
• Fallout 4
• Fortnite
• Forza Horizon 5
• Grand Theft Auto Online
• Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
• Marvel Rivals
• Minecraft
• MLB The Show 24
• Palworld
• ROBLOX
• Rocket League
• Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege

Xbox Excellence Awards 2024: Units Sold

Image: Dragon's Dogma 2

• 7 Days to Die
• Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
• Dragon Age: The Veilguard
• Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero
• Dragon's Dogma 2
• EA Sports College Football 25
• EA Sports FC 25
• EA Sports Madden NFL 25
• Farming Simulator 25
• Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024
• MLB The Show 24
• NBA 2K25
• NHL 25
• Palworld
• Phasmophobia
• Star Wars Outlaws
• The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
• WWE 2K24

If you're wondering about the trophies, Xbox says that they'll be received by developers and publishers very shortly, so it's likely we'll see them being shown off on social media over the coming weeks. Celebrate your successes, folks!