Announcing the Xbox Excellence Awards: Celebrating the Studios Behind Your Favorite Games of 2024

Creating remarkable games is what drives our initiative to spread the joy and camaraderie of gaming to people everywhere. Nowadays, virtually any screen can function as an Xbox, showcasing a vast library of games crafted by brilliant developers from all corners of the globe. These creative minds are responsible for producing memorable gaming experiences that captivate and move players, regardless of age. As a gesture of gratitude to these creators and to highlight the standout games that players cherished in 2024, we’re thrilled to announce the winners of the 2024 Xbox Excellence Awards today.

Each year, Xbox consoles, PCs, and the cloud see the launch of over a thousand new games. While it might seem tempting to leave the decision to a select panel, the Excellence Awards are truly about you and how you’ve interacted with Xbox over the past year. We’ve concentrated on four main categories that reflect players’ enthusiasm, commitment, and admiration for these games. The categories we’re focusing on are:

Store Rating: This looks at content released in 2024 with at least 500 ratings, identifying those that scored the highest across our stores.

Player Engagement: Recognizes games that achieved the highest average playtime per player within the initial six weeks of their release.

Daily Active Users: Highlights games, expansions, or significant updates that saw the most single-day active users in 2024. Some titles might not have launched this year but received noteworthy updates last year.

Units Sold: Celebrates the top-selling content on Xbox and Microsoft stores.

The final lineup showcases an impressive variety of games, crafted by teams ranging from a handful to thousands of developers based in 15 different countries worldwide. Below, you’ll find the games that stood out in each category, listed alphabetically.

Store Rating | Player Engagement | Daily Active Users | Units Sold
Balatro | Dragon Age: The Veilguard | Apex Legends | 7 Days to Die
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden | Dragon’s Dogma 2 | Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 | Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
Botany Manor | EA Sports College Football 25 | Dead Island 2 | Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth | EA Sports FC 25 | Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred | Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Little Kitty, Big City | F1 Manager 2024 | Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero | EA Sports College Football 25
Lollipop Chainsaw RePop | Farming Simulator 25 | EA Sports FC 25 | Dragon’s Dogma 2
Metaphor: ReFantazio | Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail | Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree | EA Sports College Football 25
Nobody Wants to Die | House Flipper 2 | Fallout 4 | EA Sports FC 25
Persona 3 Reload | Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth | Fortnite | Farming Simulator 25
Poppy Playtime: Chapter 1, 2, 3 | Metaphor: ReFantazio | Forza Horizon 5 | Grand Theft Auto Online
Return to Grace | MLB The Show 24 | NBA 2K25 | Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024
Rounds | Indiana Jones and the Great Circle | Marvel Rivals | New World: Aeternum
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II | NBA 2K25 | NHL 25 | Minecraft
Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance | Path of Exile 2 | MLB The Show 24 | Palworld
Still Wakes the Deep | Palworld | Phasmophobia | Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance
The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria | Skull and Bones | Roblox | Star Wars Outlaws
The Outlast Trials | Rocket League | The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria | Unicorn Overlord
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 | S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Heart of Chornobyl | Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 | WWE 2K24
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege | WWE 2K24

Developers and publishers will soon receive their well-deserved trophies, so keep an eye out for their celebrations! And if you’re thinking about diving into the world of these award-winning games, check out our Xbox Store collection of 2024’s Xbox Excellence Award recipients.