New Xbox 360 Achievement Rules Explained

For all hardcore gamers, the kind guys who watch their points increase in their Xbox Live profile as they play more games and as they unlock more Achievements, February 2007 was a landmark moment, with an announcement that shaped the way they saw their universe and played their videogames. It's the moment when Microsoft said that all the titles release on the Xbox 360 would have a limit of 1,000 points, with another 250 coming via downloadable content.

The fact that the rules changed somewhat was clear when gamers saw the release of titles like Halo 3, Fallout 3, Fable 2 or The Orange Box, which broke the limits in all kinds of ways, from the number of Gamer Points awarded to that of Achievements listed.

Microsoft did not make any new announcement regarding a change in policy, so a group of gamers took it upon themselves to find out what's the new policy and show gamers what they can expect from fresh titles as far as Achievements are concerned.

Xbox360Achievements.org has gotten word from a very credible source that the new games governing points and Achievements are as follows: each videogame released on the Xbox 360 can get at the most 1,750 Gamer Points during its lifetime, with no more than 80 Achievements attached to it; if the developer wants to make DLC for the game, they need to make sure that they only add 250 points and 10 Achievements for the duration of one quarter.

The source is saying that the new rules are making sure that developers are not trying to attract more gamers by releasing DLC with big chunks of Achievements closely after the release date.

Interestingly, Sony has not announced any similar set of rules related to the videogames released for the PlayStation 3, which now support Trophies. The Trophy fever has probably not quite caught with PS3 gamers, yet.