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.
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.
