In an extremely uncommon move, Microsoft has deleted an unobtainable Xbox achievement from a game, allowing users to finally complete Xbox Game Pass newcomer Homestead Arcana.
It’s rare to see Microsoft straight up delete an achievement from a game, but in the case of the Homestead Arcana achievement list, one unobtainable achievement has now been purged, and its Gamerscore reallocated.
Homestead Arcana’s unobtainable achievement deleted by Xbox
The now-deleted unobtainable achievement in question is the You Can’t Be Too Prepared achievement which asked players to make one of every craftable item in the game. If you’ve had a go at unlocking this one, you’ll know how much of a grind it is — there are hundreds of items in Homestead Arcana, and crafting them all is a big time sink.
According to Scarovese’s previous solution for the achievement, one recipe for Green Ankle Boots wasn’t showing as available to craft, despite being awarded to players. It was this one recipe that was seemingly stopping players from unlocking the achievement, making it unobtainable.
However, the unobtainable achievement has now vanished from the Homestead Arcana list, and its 100 Gamerscore has been reallocated to other achievements. Developers do not have the ability to delete achievements once they’re published, and should they want an achievement removed, it is our understanding that they must ask Microsoft to do it for them and provide a good enough reason. Considering You Can’t Be Too Prepared was broken and officially hadn’t been unlocked by any players, we assume that Serenity Forge asked Microsoft to delete the achievement, and Microsoft was happy to oblige.
Now, this begs the question: would Microsoft be willing to delete more unobtainable achievements from games, providing the developer asks? Microsoft has stepped in and deleted unobtainable achievements from some games in the past, so we don’t see why not, but we’d definitely welcome more of this sort of thing rather than leaving games with broken achievements and incomplete lists out there.
What are your thoughts on this one? Let us know down in the comments!
