As it is December, it is time to look back at how much of our lives have been spent in front of a console or PC over the past 12 months. Luckily for us, the days of manually logging hours are over, and thanks to us sending our data to multi-billion companies like Xbox through those terms and conditions that we never read, we know those exact numbers.
Starting things off for the 2024 wrap-ups is Xbox, with their Year in Review page available to view now. Those of you who are interested in doing this exercise in data collection and distribution can access the page here. By logging into your Xbox account on this page, you will get the following pages.
First off is your “Game of the Year”, or the game that you have played most in 2024.
Yes, for those of you who remember my review for WWE 2K24 and all the bad things I had to say about it, to see this as my most-played game of the year on Xbox would come as a bit of a shock. To be honest, most of the time I spent in this game was for review, then coming back to download the Community Creations by WhatsTheStatus or grabbing the MyFaction locker codes. It’s not like I played the game after reviewing it…
Following your game of the year, you are met with the overall highlights of what you played during 2024.
As you can see in the image above, I spent most of my time playing games on my Xbox Series X console, with a total of 98 hours over the year being mostly on the console… PC only got 15 minutes because I played a little of Resident Evil 3 remake through PC Game Pass and about 30 seconds of Call of Duty 6 before it crashed.
This list is further broken down by what type of games you played during the year. My breakdown is mostly sports due to WWE 2K24, with Shooter following it up for some reason… Also, I play more fighting games on PlayStation than I did on Xbox, which is something that I might look at changing in 2025.
Want to know how you stack up against other Xbox or Game Pass owners? Then the next section will tell you exactly how you fair against the world by placing you in a specific percentile of total players. For me, getting into the top 25% for total time played is rookie numbers, same with Gamerscore, but the top 15% for achievements when I don’t even bother with them shows how easy achievements have become to get with modern gaming. Give me a challenge!!
Now we get a breakdown of the games you have played in 2024, well, a Top 15 anyway.
You get in-depth information for your top 3 games in 2024, with the breakdown consisting of time played, Gamerscore earned, achievements unlocked, your Top achievement, some community stats, and your place in the overall active player base.
Since WWE 2K24 was my top game on Xbox, that’s the one with the most information. Following that up were Saints Row 3 and Saints Row 4, which are two games that I have on everything from PS3/Xbox 360 all the way through to modern consoles and PC. I play through these two games at least once a year when I have nothing else going on, or I just want to cause some chaos and mayhem.
While not giving anything in-depth about the rest of your year in gaming, the Xbox Year in Review will let you know what your top 15 games were overall no matter how you get access to them.
A lot of my Xbox 2024 was done with review code games like Hypercharge Unboxed and Street Fighter 6. Otherwise, I played a fair bit of older games like Tekken 6 and Tekken 7, which I was playing to remind myself how to play before Tekken 8 came out, and there is also my love for all things Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, with both the Cowabunga Collection and Shredder’s Revenge making the list.
Of course, this wouldn’t be Xbox without finding some way to pimp Game Pass. So you get a lovely breakdown of your stats when it comes to paying for something that gives you a bunch of games and online access for a monthly fee.
I don’t spend lots of time with Game Pass games, as I prefer to own the games that I play. But I don’t have a digital copy of the Resident Evil 3 remake (I do own the physical version though), so I downloaded it back in October to play something kinda horror-related during spooky season. As always, the game only takes me under 2 hours to complete, which is why I only have 2 hours listed with the game.
You get other stats relating to Game Pass, such as how long you have been subscribed to the platform this year (December excluded as my renewal hasn’t happened yet) as well as your lifetime subscription rate (67 months at AU$19 per month… Almost AU$1300!), how long you have played in minutes to make it look more impressive, and how many games you played on the Game Pass system that year and lifetime… As I said, mine is very low.
Who ever does anything with Xbox points anymore? As this image shows, I earned 258 points this year, and my console reminds me that I’ve earned enough over my lifetime with an Xbox account to get a whole $5 off coupon… How I redeem the points for this discount is never made clear, so the points keep piling up. Maybe one day I’ll be able to afford a whole game if I play nothing but Xbox games for the next 100 years…
Once you are done exploring your own Xbox experience, you are met with a video of Phil Spencer thanking you for making his pockets a little bit fuller this year by playing games on Xbox over other consoles. Once it’s all done you can see the overall Xbox year of 2024 where more information awaits. If you want to see what that looks like, you can access that page here too.
