Remember that Xbox "Career" system we posted about previously? It looked as though Microsoft had been working on an all-new system to showcase gamer dedication beyond Gamerscore, complete with EXP gains, and levels.
Xbox Corporate Vice President Mike Ybarra previously said the system as we described it isn't in active development. Regardless, Redmond recently filed this tell-all patent, showcasing many of the Career features we described. As always, patents don't necessarily mean products, and indeed, these patents seem to be pretty old, using Fable Legends and Forza Motorsport 6 as examples.
However, the documents showcase pretty cool features and accurately depict the information we've seen previously, which seemed to be in active development as recently as the first quarter of 2018.
Xbox Career system patents
The patent describes how modern-day Achievement tallies don't paint an accurate picture of a gamer's overall performance. These systems would apparently seek to rectify that.
From the patent:
Current displays of statistics and gaming context are severely limited and fail to provide a contextual picture of player performance. Thus, there is ample opportunity for improvements in technologies related to user interfaces.
Microsoft's current Xbox profiles do this to some degree if you can find them, buried away in the Achievements menu. This system, however, would place your in-game Achievement stats front and center.
The patent describes new features for Xbox user profiles in the Guide, showcasing a new level right next to your Gamerpic, sitting alongside your Gamerscore. You would be able to view at a glance a user's stats in the current game they're playing and select them for a more in-depth drill down. The profile example shows a tally called "Xbox Points" that sits next to the amount of Gamerscore earned in a game. To speculate, it could be similar to EXP, contributing to a player's overall level in the proposed system.
The patent also describes ways of making statistics specific to a game viewable from a gamer's profile, allowing users to find gamers that match their skill set.
Will we ever get it?
Ybarra said these features aren't in active development anymore, but we keep hearing that Microsoft is at least actively exploring ways to improve how gamers are represented on Xbox Live, beyond Gamerscore. We'll just have to wait and see whether any of this comes to fruition.
Would you like to see something like this on Xbox to compliment Gamerscore? Let us know in the comments.
