For eighteen years the argument between Xbox and PlayStation completionists has had a hole in it. PlayStation players finish a game and get a Platinum, a single trophy that says this one is done. Xbox players finish a game and get, mathematically, a larger number. Nothing else happens.
That is about to change. Assets pulled from a new Xbox PC app update point to something called a Mythic Achievement, and from what the files show, it is the Platinum in everything but name. It also arrives with an unlock sound that runs for nearly fifteen seconds, which is either magnificent or excessive depending on how many games you intend to finish.
The short version
- The Mythic Achievement was found in a new Xbox PC app update, with a badge, an unlock animation and a sound file
- It unlocks when you earn every base-game achievement in a title
- DLC achievements do not count, which is the single biggest difference from how people expected this to work
- It is worth zero Gamerscore and is tracked separately from normal achievements
- It counts achievements, not Gamerscore, so a full score total is not the trigger
- The unlock sound is close to 15 seconds long
- Xbox chief Asha Sharma teased “something for later this year” back in August
How Xbox got here
Achievements and Gamerscore arrived with the Xbox 360 in 2005 and were, at the time, the more sophisticated system. A number that follows you across every game you have ever played was a genuinely new idea, and it is still the thing Xbox players point to.
Sony’s trophies came later and copied the concept, but added something Microsoft never did: a single capstone award for clearing a game’s list. The Platinum turned completion into an event with a sound and a badge, rather than a number quietly ticking up. That design choice has aged remarkably well, because a cumulative score is abstract and a Platinum is a thing you can point at.
What the files actually show
Dataminers found the badge art, the unlock animation and the audio in the Windows version of the Xbox app in late September. The symbol is an ornate affair, starred and wrapped in laurels, clearly designed to look heavier than a standard achievement tile.
The rules embedded in the app are more interesting than the artwork, because they settle a debate that had already started. The early assumption, including in the first round of coverage, was that Mythic would require a full 100 percent Gamerscore. It does not. It counts achievements.
The DLC exclusion is the decision that will please the most people. On PlayStation, the Platinum has always ignored add-on trophies, which is why you can Platinum a game on launch day and still have half the trophy list outstanding three expansions later. Xbox copying that behavior means a Mythic stays achievable for games with long post-launch support instead of receding every time a season pass drops.
Zero Gamerscore is the other notable call. It keeps the existing economy intact. Gamerscore remains the cumulative number, and Mythic becomes a separate count displayed on your profile, the same way Platinum counts appear on a PlayStation profile. Nobody’s score gets retroactively inflated, and nobody has to recalculate what a million Gamerscore means.
Mythic against the Platinum
| Xbox Mythic Achievement | PlayStation Platinum Trophy | |
|---|---|---|
| Trigger | All base-game achievements | All base-game trophies |
| DLC | Excluded | Excluded |
| Score value | Zero Gamerscore | Counts toward trophy level |
| Profile display | Tracked separately, shown on profile | Platinum count shown on profile |
| In every game? | Unclear, may depend on developers | Not in smaller titles by design |
| Retroactive | Unconfirmed | Not applicable |
The one genuine divergence is the score value. Sony’s Platinum feeds the trophy level system, so it is both a badge and points. Microsoft’s version is purely symbolic, which fits a platform where the number has always been the point and adding a chunky bonus for completion would distort every leaderboard built over two decades.
The retroactive question is the whole argument
Nothing in the files confirms whether Mythic Achievements will appear on games you already finished. This is not a small detail. There are Xbox players sitting on hundreds of completed achievement lists going back to 2005, and whether those convert into Mythics decides if this feature lands as a celebration or an insult.
There are two plausible implementations. Microsoft could award them automatically from existing achievement data, which it holds and which requires no developer involvement. Or the Mythic could be an item in a game’s achievement list that each developer has to add, which would mean older titles never get one unless somebody patches them.
The zero Gamerscore design quietly favors the first option. If Mythics carried points, retroactive awards would rewrite the all-time Gamerscore leaderboards overnight, and Microsoft would have a mess on its hands. Because they carry nothing, handing out thousands of them retroactively costs the platform nothing except server time. That is a hint, not a confirmation.
If you are planning around this
- Do not rush to finish lists yet. Nothing has shipped, and the retroactive question is still open
- DLC being excluded works in your favor. Games with long expansion roadmaps stay completable
- Your Gamerscore is safe. Mythic adds a separate counter, it does not touch the total
- Watch the Xbox PC app, not the console. That is where the assets landed first, and where the rollout is likeliest to start
The timing is not an accident
Asha Sharma’s August comment about “something for later this year” gave a window, and the calendar does the rest. Grand Theft Auto 6 arrives on November 19, and it will be the largest simultaneous influx of players Xbox sees this generation. Shipping a brand new completion reward just before that is the sort of thing platform teams plan for a year in advance.
It also fits a broader pattern of Xbox reaching for engagement mechanics rather than hardware advantages. The platform has spent the year experimenting with how to keep people in games longer, not all of it well received. A Microsoft patent describing ads served during a game pause went down badly for obvious reasons. Mythic Achievements are the opposite kind of idea: a reward for playing more that costs the player nothing and asks nothing of them beyond what completionists were already doing for free.
There is even a decent argument that it arrives late enough to benefit from the mistake Sony never fixed. Platinum trophies are meaningless in short games where the full list takes ninety minutes, which is why trophy hunters have a whole genre of throwaway titles to farm. If Microsoft sets any bar at all on what qualifies for a Mythic, it will avoid that. If it does not, expect the first wave of Mythic farming games on the store within a month.
What to take from this
- Mythic Achievements are real but unannounced. Everything known comes from files in an Xbox PC app update
- All base-game achievements is the trigger. Not full Gamerscore, and DLC does not count
- Zero Gamerscore, tracked separately. Your existing total is untouched
- The sound is nearly 15 seconds. Prepare to hear it a lot if you finish games regularly
- Retroactivity is the open question. The zero-points design makes retroactive awards easier, but nothing is confirmed
Eighteen years is a long time to wait for a badge that awards nothing. That is also exactly why it will work. The Platinum was never about the points either. It was about having one clean thing to show for finishing something, and Xbox players have spent nearly two decades explaining that a large number means the same thing. Soon they will not have to.
Sources and further reading
- TrueAchievements: Xbox platinum trophy equivalent appears to be called a Mythic achievement
- GameSpot: Xbox’s new Mythic Achievements take 15 seconds to tell you good job
- UNILAD Tech: Xbox gamers rejoice as PlayStation’s best trophy feature is finally coming to Series X
About this article: GeekBlog covers U.S. technology news, AI, phones, smartwatches and gaming. Every story is written and checked under our Editorial Policy. Spotted a mistake or have a story tip? Contact our editors.
