Xbox Announces 2026 Excellence Awards Winners

Xbox is celebrating the standout games of 2025 with the announcement of the 2025 Xbox Excellence Awards, highlighting the titles that captured players’ attention across console, PC, handheld, and cloud platforms. The awards recognize games based on player engagement, ratings, sales, and daily activity, reflecting both popularity and player passion over the past year.

Categories highlight player favorites

The awards are divided into four key categories. Store Rating honors the highest-rated titles across Xbox stores, requiring at least 500 ratings. Player Engagement tracks the games with the most average hours per player in the first six weeks of release.

Meanwhile, Daily Active Users highlights games or expansions that achieved the highest single-day user counts in 2025, including titles updated post-launch. Finally, Units Sold celebrates the top-selling games across Xbox and Microsoft stores.

In total, 55 games made the cut, with 16 available on Xbox Game Pass. The list features contributions from 48 developers across 13 countries, supported by 24 publishers and 19 self-published titles, showcasing the diversity of Xbox’s global gaming ecosystem.

Some of the standout games in these awards include Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Arc Raiders, Borderlands 4, Elden Ring Nightreign, EA Sports FC 26, and Helldivers 2. Other popular entries include Forza Horizon 5 and Minecraft, as well as The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, covering a wide range of genres and platforms.

All that said, the Xbox Excellence Awards provide a snapshot of player engagement trends and highlight the studios that resonated most with gamers.