The Division 2 – unless it’s on Nintendo Switch, every game has an achievements list nowadays (pic: Ubisoft)



Fans of achievements and trophies have defended their inclusion after a Ubisoft employee said they have made video games worse.



It may be hard for younger gamers to believe but achievements are a relatively new concept for video games, having only being introduced in the Xbox 360 era – initially by Microsoft and then quickly copied by Sony.



Nowadays, every Xbox , PlayStation, and PC game comes with an achievement or trophy list, with Nintendo’s platform being the only outlier – although even then many of their games have their own specific achievement system.



Compared to other aspects of the modern games industry, like microtransactions and overly expensive collector’s editions, achievements seem fairly harmless. However, a Ubisoft developer recently sparked debate when they described achievements as being ‘bad for gaming.’



Fredrik Thylander , who currently works at Ubisoft’s Massive Entertainment (the studio behind The Division and an upcoming Star Wars game ), took to Twitter to express the self-admitted unpopular opinion.



His argument is that the addition of an achievements ‘narrows games down, it disrupts and diverts attention, and it eats resources that could have made the game better.’



He adds, ‘I just think games should have the reward mechanisms most suited for them, and the one-size-fits-all mandate from platform holders to make reward systems that benefit the platform makes games worse.’





Unpopular opinion : achievements/trophies have been bad for gaming. It narrows games down, it disrupts and diverts attention, and it eats resources that could have made the game better. — Fredrik Thylander (@Thylander) January 7, 2023






This view is my own. Doesn’t represent Ubisoft in any way. I just think games should have the reward mechanisms most suited for them, and the one-size-fits-all mandate from platform holders to make reward systems that benefit the platform makes games worse. — Fredrik Thylander (@Thylander) January 9, 2023




Unsurprisingly, Thylander has received plenty of pushback, but judging by the responses, it thankfully hasn’t descended into needless vitriol.



Instead, people have defended achievements as something that has encouraged them to check out parts of a game they never would have otherwise. One user cites the speed run and time trial achievements from Mirror’s Edge (which Thylander also worked on during his time at DICE) as an example of this.



Others simply say that the inclusion of achievements encourages them to do multiple playthroughs rather than just play a game once and never touch it again.



Games that I quit after 1 playthrough I now play 4-5 times to get 100%. How is that bad for gaming? It’s my game that I paid for. I enjoy playing it a lot.
—