This is how you'll likely earn EXP in the new Xbox Career system (Updated)

By Jez Corden
last updated

Microsoft is working on an all new "career" system for Xbox, which will sit alongside Gamerscore to showcase player's dedication to gaming.

Update April 20th, 2018: Xbox platform chief Mike Ybarra recently tweeted that the Xbox Career system isn't in active development. I've seen the systems in question running live on Xbox One, and felt that it represented features which were in active development. Apologies for getting it wrong.

Original article:

The new Xbox Career system will sit alongside Gamerscore to tally a player's achievements across the Xbox platform, but how will this system work? It's been teased by Xbox platform chief Mike Ybarra, who noted to us in an interview last year how Microsoft planned to do more to showcase player activity and success beyond the current Achievement system. Now, we have a few more details about how it will work.

The career system will come with a visible player level, which sits next to Gamerscore.

As usual, these features are in active development and testing, and some of them may not make it to launch. Microsoft might be tying the Career system to lootcrate-like rewards for the new Avatar system, which will bring vibrant and updated customizable character models for players on Xbox Live. With the latest details, we now have reason to Redmond might also be tying the Career system into Microsoft Rewards, which rewards users across the ecosystem for their activity on the Microsoft platform. Whether or not integration with Microsoft Rewards or Avatar "lootcrates" makes it to launch remains to be seen. At the very least, though, we know that the career system will come with a visible player level, which sits next to Gamerscore on your profile.

We now have an idea of some of the ways Microsoft is testing how you will be able accrue EXP when the system goes live, probably in the coming months.

Earning EXP will occur similarly to earning achievements, triggered by certain conditions. Some of those conditions Microsoft is testing includes the following:

  • Total playtime across all games, to be updated at specific milestones.
  • EXP level milestones.
  • The number of games you have played.
  • Simply playing a set number of games per day.
  • Competing on Xbox Live, although it's not clear in what context, whether as part of Tournaments or general multiplayer games.
  • Creating content on Xbox Live, perhaps by sharing game clips and so on or streaming.
  • Earning regular Gamerscore achievements.

Also, rather than spamming you with notifications each time you earn EXP, it seems as though Xbox Live will simply tally your earnings at a specific time during the day and notify you of how you earned EXP. It will also reset "daily quests" such as the milestone to play a specific number of games per day.

We've seen evidence that the new Career system could come with cosmetic rewards for the new Avatar system.

We've seen evidence that the new Career system could come with cosmetic rewards for the new Avatar system.

It's really early days for the Xbox Career system, but there really is no limit on ways Microsoft can reward players for engaging with content on Xbox Live. Whether this system comes with more tangible rewards, such as Avatar clothes and props, or points as part of the Microsoft Rewards system remains to be seen. If it does however, it could really boost engagement across Xbox Live, and give players an extra incentive to get involved with the Microsoft ecosystem across Windows 10, Xbox One, and beyond.

As usual, just be warned that plans can change. We expect Microsoft to showcase the new Career system at E3 2018 this June, so stay tuned.

More: Leaked video shows off new Xbox Avatars

Jez Corden
Jez Corden
Co-Managing Editor

Jez Corden a Managing Editor at Windows Central, focusing primarily on all things Xbox and gaming. Jez is known for breaking exclusive news and analysis as relates to the Microsoft ecosystem while being powered by caffeine. Follow on Twitter @JezCorden and listen to his Xbox Two podcast, all about, you guessed it, Xbox!

11 Comments
  • Interesting to learn hopefully we get to try this before E3
  • What is the source of this?
    In general it is mostly what I want. But I'd like to see bonus XP for completing games and getting rare achievements.
  • "the Career system to lootcrate-like rewards for the new Avatar system"
    I've already talked about how worrying this is. They are clearly going for that engagement numbers, but it's not just that. It's also made to make people more thant what they are currently playing. It's kind of tempting gamers to change or modify what they would do just so they can pay more money. The daily quest could be "get that cool limited edition Master Chief headgear if you play Halo 6 on day one", all this to make you pay full price for it. Achievements and gamerscore is actually good because it's actually related to gaming and the games you play (even though they had the day one achievement). But this looks like it's purely marketing. ofc what's stopping them from actually asking money for limited cosmetic stuff? Also, I really hope they don't waste their time at E3 on this thing. For me, this would really be a bad sign if they end up wasting time on this. For me, the E3 conference should be about games. Announce as many games and console exclusives as you possibly can.
    If they want to talk of this they can use their xbox inside thing to talk about this...
  • Unfortunately, I don't think these kinds of incentives are going to go away. It's not much different than the preorder bonuses companies have been using for years.
  • And, as a gamer, you can totally choose to ignore it. I never care about my gamer score or achievement. Engagement... similar to those electronics retailers or restaurants giving us points or rewards. It's just how today's business work. Establish a connection so consumers won't go away or make it harder for'em to jump ship (e.g. Facebook, AppStore, PlayStore, Google's cloud apps, e-sports, Office365, music business, Netflix, Marzia's subscription box, etc) and sustain it with community engagement (ps: hot topic these days).
    It's not illegal, and, die or adapt. As a game programmer, this is the kinda system I'd build into my games, but as a consumer... don't care, don't have time for this. I'm the one who will just let go of my benefits or rewards (e.g points I earned from buying games or movies), just let it expire cause I'm lazy to keep tracking these things.
  • As a gamer I would rather want MS to focus on making ... GAMES!!
    As a programmer I focus on user experience first. The program I'm making is sold upfront. I'm not trying to focus on how to make more money from my customers.
    And as a consumer, ofc I care. 1) I want to them to focus on making games and on gaming, and 2) I don't want to be tempted into spending money. It's about not wanting it. Not just not caring for it. Too many people keep saying it doesn't affect me, but indirectly or directly it does.
  • Well, the way I see it is...1) as a programmer...just kidding. I like the idea of getting some type of rewards or acknowledgement for the things I do, such as spend an insane number of hours in games appreciating the lengths devs go to to immerse others in games. I spent many hours in original Halo looking at reactions of when bullets hit trees & if bark was displaced. Also, whether or not the bullets hitting water make splashes, & things of that nature, when many probably would never notice these things. Since those don't get me achievements, I'd like some recognition for the amount of time I spend in games. On the other hand, I see companies run rampant once given "permission" so to speak by gamers to have something like this in their general everyday user space that can be monetized. One example is microtransactions in Destiny, which I spent hundreds of hours of gameplay in both 360, & again on X1. They were not intrusive, and werw handled decently there. Destiny 2 on the other hand took that reception by gamers to mean they could build an entire game around it, and be the most egregious offender known to gamers in regards to microtransactions. So, they will go to far, given the opportunity, sadly. This makes me torn... Also, the article should point out what the update actually means. Does the fact it is not in "active" development mean it's not happening any time soon?
  • Sounds kind of stupid. We don't need a dumb leveling system along side gamerscore. Gamerscore is it's own leveling system and having "quests" sounds even more stupid. Leveling is something Sony implemented to compete with the achievement system since trophies were lame as F at first. What we need is a way to showcase our 100% completed games. Why has this not been done yet considering the ultimate goal of earning achievements is to earn them all for a given game. Even the 360 had a completed games page. Also there needs to be a way to highlight the very hard completions over all the ultra easy shovelware games people play to pad their gamerscore. Some sort of bronze through platinum completion achievements or badges you earn for completing games based on completion difficulty that way the guys who spend tons of time completing stuff like gears or Halo mcc but maybe have smaller gamer scores get the credit they deserve and the people who play nothing but shovelware for easy completions and gamerscore get shown for the bottom feeders they are. At the very least we need a fu**ing completed games page like we had on the 360, I simply can't fathom why this is not part of the achievement system yet.
  • I have my reservations especially about loot crates and playing a set number of games per day. That would set off alarm bells for many parents.
  • I hope it does involve reward points and avatar rewards
  • great article jez about the career achievements