With almost 1.5 years’ worth of free updates and content additions, it stands out as one of the best third-person shooters and Warhammer titles available, either solo or with friends. If you prefer other less stressful co-op titles, there’s Astroneer for PS4 and PS5 and The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria (PS5 only) that offer some survival crafting fun.

EA Sports Madden NFL 26 on PS5 is for the sports fans, while Metal Eden may suit those looking for more fast-paced, first-person shooter action. If that wasn’t enough, PS4 and PS5 players can dive into Persona 5 Royal, which features new additions to the battle system, numerous quality of life improvements and an entire new story act over the original, complete with a new ending (with previous-gen players getting the Ultimate Edition).

Meanwhile, Premium subscribers get exclusive access to none other than Tekken: Dark Resurrection from the PSP era.

The post is a the latest iteration of the Xbox Excellence Awards, which was created last year to celebrate how players engaged with various releases on Xbox. The Store Rating category lists 2025 games with the best ratings on the Microsoft Store, with an added requirement of the title having at least 500 ratings. Player Engagements is about the average number of hours spent on a game by each player within the first six weeks of a game’s release. Daily Active Users celebrates titles, expansions or updates with the highest single-day active users throughout the year. And finally Units Sold is fairly self-explanatory.

Going down the lists, you’ll find many of the biggest releases of the year, from ARC Raiders and Battlefield 6, as well as award-winning RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Indie titles have also been well-represented, with games like Crime Scene Cleaner and Satisfactory making it into the lists. There also doesn’t seem to have been a singular genre to dominate the lists, since everything from sports games like EA Sports Madden NFL 26, to fantasy adventure life sims like Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time, and even fighting games like Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics are well represented.

Curiously, none of the games was present in all four of the categories. At most, we got to see titles like Borderlands 4 being able to make it on to three of them: Player Engagement, Daily Active Users and Units Sold. Even ARC Raiders, which has seen quite a bit of success, is only on the Units Sold and Daily Active Users lists.

Microsoft has also emphasized that the lists represent a diverse collection of games developed by studios of varying sizes. All in all, it represents 48 unique developers based out of 13 countries, with 24 publishers having had a hand in their release. 19 of the games were self-published. “Taken as a whole, it’s an encapsulation of development on Xbox – we want gaming to reach you wherever you are, and for the teams making those games to find you from wherever they are,” wrote the company.

Full list of games:

Store Rating:

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• Crime Scene Cleaner
• Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles 2
• Digimon Story: Time Stranger
• Dreamcore
• Dynasty Warriors: Origins
• Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time
• Final Fantasy XVI
• Lies of P: Overture
• Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
• Little Nightmares III
• Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics
• Minami Lane
• Mullet MadJack
• Poppy Playtime Chapter 4
• Satisfactory
• Silent Hill 2
• Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds
• The First Berserker: Khazan

Player Engagement:

• Borderlands 4
• Digimon Story: Time Stranger
• Dynasty Warriors: Origins
• EA Sports College Football 26
• EA Sports FC 26
• Elden Ring Nightreign
• Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time
• Farm Together 2
• Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles
• Helldivers 2
• Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
• Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
• MLB The Show 25
• Monster Hunter Wilds
• NBA 2K26
• NHL 26
• Rust
• Satisfactory
• The First Berserker: Khazan

Daily Active Users:

• Arc Raiders
• Avowed
• Battlefield 6
• Borderlands 4
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
• DOOM: The Dark Ages
• Elden Ring Nightreign
• Fortnite
• Forza Horizon 5
• Grand Theft Auto V
• Grounded 2
• Helldivers 2
• Marvel Rivals
• Minecraft
• NBA 2K26
• Rematch
• Roblox
• Rocket League
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
• Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege

Units Sold:

• Arc Raiders
• Assassin’s Creed Shadows
• Battlefield 6
• Borderlands 4
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
• EA Sports Madden NFL 26
• EA Sports College Football 26
• EA Sports FC 26
• Elden Ring Nightreign
• Grand Theft Auto V
• Helldivers 2
• Hollow Knight: Silksong
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
• MLB The Show 25
• Monster Hunter Wilds
• NBA 2K26
• PGA Tour 2K25
• Ready or Not
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
• WWE 2K25

Past-gen consoles dropped

Announced on 24th April with a release date of 14th August, Madden NFL 26 will be the first of EA Sports’ American Football sims to release exclusively on current generation consoles alongside PC. So, whilst PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S players get to experience this year’s overhaul at the expense of PS4 and Xbox One owners, included in the current-gen crop – for the first time since Madden NFL 13 – are Nintendo players with a Switch 2 release.

Quicker loading times

Perhaps not the most glamorous of NFL 26’s innovations but it’s something the development team have treated as a top priority: quicker loading times. They acknowledge last year’s loading screens were sluggish, so early on in 26’s development cycle the team placed a lot of effort into tracking loading times, identifying specific issues relating to loading, and fixing them there and then. Again, not the most exciting, but quicker loading screens will certainly be welcome.

Coach Abilities

Amongst Madden NFL 26’s headline additions is a Coach Abilities metagame. Designed to replicate the skills, traits, and characteristics displayed by real-life NFL coaches on a weekly basis, Coach Abilities come in two flavours: Gameday Abilities and Season Abilities. The latter we’ve covered in our ‘15 things you need to know before you buy’ feature, but for Gameday Abilities – of which there are 46 split between offense and defense – these are changes that’ll directly impact your team during games beyond simple attribute boosts.

Opposing Coach DNA and Real-Time Coaching AI

Adding authenticity and unpredictability to every match is NFL 26’s Opposing Coach DNA and Real-Time Coaching AI innovations. The former translates nearly a decade’s worth of real NFL data into predictive systems capable of mirroring strategic calls and plays the sport’s coaches will make in the heat of the moment. Repetitive CPU playcalling is, as EA Sports put it, gone for good. Real-Time Coaching AI boosts authenticity further via providing dynamically evolving strategic experiences. For example, defenses can now mask their intentions, forcing the attacking team to read the post-snap play in real time.

Redesigned weekly strategy

The most substantial drawback of Madden’s weekly strategy in their former guise was that they didn’t place enough emphasis on actual strategy. Now, keeping new Coach Abilities in mind, NFL 26’s weekly strategy has received a major redesign. Staff, Playsheet, and Trainer loadouts offer places to stack abilities, but it’s the matchup panel offering in-depth insight tailored to your next opponents which will inform your loadout decisions. Building the perfect gameplan is now at its most intuitive and satisfying.

Player traits

How AI players behave on-field has received an overhaul in NFL 26 too thanks to re-engineered player traits. Now, these player traits won’t affect the outcome of on-field situations but they do influence how AI athletes respond to specific situations. With over 50 unique player traits at launch, the idea here is to add a true-to-life feel with each and every play. Much like NFL 26’s new Opposing Coach DNA, player traits here are rooted in real-life NFL data.

Dynamic injury status

Building on NFL 26’s redesigned weekly strategy, player injuries now evolve more realistically over time. For instance, they could improve or get worse week-by-week. EA Sports’ intention here is for newfound levels of unpredictability on player availability. However, the cards are still in players’ hands: within Weekly Strategy’s training system, you can opt injured players out of training instead of only being able to adjust training groups based on position. It’s another nod towards deeper, more meaningful strategic calls, with individual player statuses updated in real-time following every training session.

Trainer roles and abilities

NFL 26 boasts more control over player health than ever before. Via another addition to Weekly Strategy, trainer abilities play a crucial role in ensuring whether your team is fighting fit or not each week. Ensuring you have the right training staff and choosing the most appropriate trainer abilities for your team are crucial to protecting your roster, both on game day and during the week’s training sessions.

Expanded gameday experience

One thing the success of EA Sports’ other football game – College Football – has shown us is that players value authentic pre-game presentation and coverage. So, it surely was with great pride that EA Sports announced during their Franchise Deep Dive presentation that primetime broadcast packages for Thursday, Sunday, and Monday games are incoming. Custom broadcast elements specific to each day’s primetime coverage aim to revamp Madden’s game day authenticity. Different looks, sounds – via day-specific commentary teams – and atmospheres attributed to each day should be amongst 26’s most welcome additions.

Halftime reports

Highlights from across the league will now be shown during halftime reports. And, this addition moves beyond CPU highlights to also including your friend’s games’ highlights if you’re each logged into a multi-user online league. Your friend’s customised player cards will appear on-screen during their game’s highlights too. Hosted by the ever enthusiastic Scott Hanson, halftime reports are set to maximise the enjoyment of actually playing Madden. Together with the game’s expanded gameday experience, players are going to feel as though they’re participating in a real-life NFL TV broadcast.

Weekly recaps

Available on-demand in NFL 26’s Franchise hub, weekly recaps give more opportunity to experience highlights from other games for both CPU-controlled and friend’s games if logged into a multi-user online league. Moreover, host Scott Hanson will provide broad overviews of how each team is faring in the league, with updates adjusting depending on how far along into a season you are. Which squads are on a win streak, who’s in line for a postseason spot, who’s already looking ahead to next season – Scott will wrap all there is to know in weekly recaps.

Retooled defensive AI

Yet another new introduction is the ability to customise defensive zones, allowing players to manually adjust where zone defenders will drop before the snap. The idea here is to give players more opportunity to tailor their defensive strategies in real-time to specific offensive plays. Repositioning zones, adjusting zone depth, and areas of responsibility for individual athletes will be the methods players deploy to counter specific offensive plays.

Improved draft logic

To make drafts in Madden 26 feel more realistic than ever, the development team at EA Sports have studied a couple of years’ worth of real-life NFL draft trends to identify patterns which can then be replicated in game. Examples include the tendency for certain teams to double down on certain positions, or how teams are investing heavily on interior defensive lines, or how there’s been a shift in recent years to valuing running backs.

Revamped player logic

Updates to retirement, progression, and regression logic are incoming, with the goal here being to smooth out some of the more unrealistic circumstances that’d happen in-game. For instance, rejigged retirement logic aims to stop veteran players from retiring too early or, conversely, ensure players well past their prime don’t continue playing indefinitely. Player regression will now follow real-life aging curves more closely, with decline rates mirroring actual NFL position data. For regression, players can only drop one development tier during the offseason.

Improved news stories

Delivering the most engaging news stories week-in week-out has been a high priority for EA Sports; understandable given the vastness of updates coming to this year’s iteration. Stories added to franchise central are embellished this year with visual interest, but new stories in the form of weather forecasts and draft prospect top stories will provide easy to understand information on two of NFL 26’s most vital new features.

Those upgrades come in various forms, influencing several key areas of the core gameplay loop on offer in the franchise, and could throw you off your game if you don’t make good use of them. With that in mind, here are a few key things to keep in mind before you go ahead and pick up a copy of the new game.

15. New Playsheets

Playsheets are a new feature in Madden 26, bringing a fresh layer of offensive and defensive strategy to your plays in the game. Designed to replicate the way in which real-life coaches innovate their strategies from game to game, Playsheets let you expand on your team’s capabilities on the field, coming with four upgradeable tiers as you complete specific objectives and goals to get to the next level.

Bringing more than just attribute boosts, these upgrades can allow your players to master specific plays while also replicating real-life scenarios pulled from available NFL data. With seamless integration into your playcalling menu, Playsheets are the first addition in a long list of changes to the Madden formula and an important one at that.

14. Customizable Coaches

While you can choose from among your favorite real-life coaches in the game, each coming with specific abilities and strategies, crafting a coach from scratch has become a whole lot more fun – and perhaps more thrilling to the overall experience in Madden 26. There are 200 new heads, a lot of different gear options, and the addition of three archetypes that cover offense, defense, and development strategies to give your team that extra edge.

You may want to think about creating your own coach considering other additions like Coach Storylines, which can let you truly bring your own unique experience to the game.

13. Ability and Knockout Goals

Expanding on your team’s roster of skills between games and during individual seasons is bringing a very interesting twist – the addition of Ability Goals and Knockout Goals. Just like how Playsheets are upgradeable between four increasing tiers, the abilities you assign to your players also come with upgrades when you manage to achieve the respective Ability Goals during games which let you move up a tier.

However, Knockout Goals serve as an interesting counterbalance to that mechanic, making you drop a tier if you’re unable to use your abilities to their full potential on the field. You will need to be quite careful and choose a skill set that maximizes your team’s potential in order to make the most of this revamped system.

12. Use Season Abilities Wisely

Speaking of abilities, your role as a Coach is also going to be tested in the new game. Season Abilities on your loadouts are locked in for the duration of the season, making choosing between the many options you have hold that much more weight for your team as you take on each new challenge in that timeframe.

It’s a layer of strategy that could very well make or break how your team performs in a season, as choosing an ability that does not work well with your now fairly elaborate playbook and a new opponent AI that is all-set to be quite responsive to your actions can be quite punishing indeed.

11. Improved Coordinator Integration

While your Coach is quite an important part of your team, the new Archetype System might have been restrictive in terms of how they are allowed to shape your team’s playbook. However, EA has been quite insightful in how to better round out a team’s capabilities in Madden 26 with improvements to coordinators that make them quite integral to your success.

A coach that specializes in offensive strategies can now look to the defensive coordinator to shore up that area of your overall strategy. With a lot of options including veterans and younger, less experienced individuals, your staffing choices are now set to carry even more weight in comparison to previous titles.

10. Coach Central Approval Tracking

Crafting your legend as a Coach in Madden 26 is set to become even more immersive!

The Coach Central hub tracks your progress as a coach, and requires you to develop and sustain good relationships with several crucial factions of your team such as the GM, Coaching Staff, your players and even the media. What’s more, each of these factions can play off of each other to affect your rating.

You may find that your players hold meetings without you if they don’t trust you enough, or the Media tearing into any wrong decisions you make in the field if they don’t hold you in high regard. Fame and fortune can be fickle indeed, and Madden 26 ups the realism that the franchise is known for.

9. Your Opponents Adapt to Your Plays

While playing against human opponents is one part of the fun, taking on a CPU controlled opponent is set to bring a fresh layer of nuance and strategy to the table.

EA has made use of real-time NFL data and machine learning patterns to better respond to your actions in the field. You’re going to have to change your plays on the fly, adapting to your opponents and keeping them on their toes. If you’re the type of player to stick to tried and tested strategies play after play, you might be in for a surprising amount of resistance from an opposition that is trained to punish repetition and a lack of innovation.

8. Improved Presentation

Changes and additions to available mascots, motion graphics, field art, uniforms, and so much more make your team’s appearances on the field all the more thrilling while remaining true to their real-world counterparts.

EA has been quick to hype up the reintroduction of Mascots to the franchise in Madden 26, promising that they are a part of pregame runouts, appearing between plays and even cheering on their teams from the sidelines. Stadium Sounds are another area where EA has amped up the immersion, bringing in team-specific sounds to better recreate the atmosphere of a real-life game.

7. Dynamic Weather Changes the Course Of Each Game

In addition to Playsheets, an improved opponent AI, and a revamped approach to player and seasonal abilities, Madden 26 is also bringing a weather system to the table, adding a fresh wrinkle to each game you play.

The weather system adds a further layer of unpredictability to every game that your team appears in, requiring you to adjust to conditions on the field even as your opponent is doing the same. From heavy snow to fog, conditions on the field go beyond adding visual realism, directly impacting your gameplay and making each match you take on quite the challenge.

For instance, teams used to prevailing conditions on the field will have a distinct edge over a team that isn’t, while the tables will be turned if they find themselves playing in conditions they are not used to in their training. It’s quite a step up from previous titles and is one that we’ll be keeping an eye on when we get our hands on the game!

6. Improved Player Movements and Animations

It’s time to dive into the meat of Madden 26 – the on-field action. All of the additions that EA is bringing to the table in this iteration of its popular franchise would not work if the very core of the experience, namely its gameplay loop, is found lacking.

There’s good news on that front, however, and a slew of improvements to crucial animations is all set to bring a very exciting experience to the field this time around. From a revamp to Quarterback throwing animations to improvements in how defensive players approach the ball from varying angles, there’s a lot to discover as you take on the best of the best.

With improvements being made to every type of throw for offenders, and swats from defenders, Madden 26 is primed to be the definitive experience for its players looking to gain an edge over the competition and rise to greatness as a team that has its opponents nervous to take them on.

5. New Passing Mechanics

Improved animations are all set to work well with new passing mechanics that bring a lot of depth to the core gameplay loop.

Star players come with signature off-platform throws along with three new arm slots for throwing that include overhead, three-fourth high, and three-fourth low throws that directly impact how the ball is kept in play when you try to retain control of it.

Quarterbacks who adjust their styles in the real-world will be reflected in-game, allowing a select few stars to dynamically adjust their angles while in the field. It’s quite deep, and is sure to be very rewarding when Madden 26 hits the shelves.

4. QB DNA

Quarterbacks are probably one of the most significant improvements in the new game. Their on-field behaviour is seeing several changes that make them better reflect their real-world inspirations and a new Trait system is all-set to make them quite distinct from each other as you go from one game to another.

A new Trait system that applies to coaches as well can make every individual QB a very distinct presence on the field, with some traits even influencing who they decide to pass to in the event that they are being controlled by the CPU. It’s a system that could translate to a lot of unpredictable outcomes as a game progresses, just as a game of football would be like off-screen.

3. Adaptive Counters

In line with improvements to opponent AI, CPU coaches also get a refreshing upgrade that allows them to dynamically switch up their strategies in response to your actions.

Once again, the use of real-world data from the NFL’s long history is being used to create a more responsive gameplay loop that can see your opponents switch things up in order to sway the momentum of a game that seems to be going in your favor.

That could very well make Madden 26 an experience that could be both challenging to play, and very rewarding to master.

2. An Improved Wear and Tear System

Just like College Football 26, a new Wear and Tear system is being added to Madden 26, tracking player fatigue, injuries from previous games, and more in order to make things look and feel more real on the field.

Players who are not at their best might find themselves at a disadvantage against opponents who are better rested, while the talents that they are famous for might seem out of their grasp unless their injuries are better managed by you, their coach.

It’s a system that could work very well with all of the other additions in the game, making your role as a coach carry that much more weight in every game or season that you bring your team to.

1. Superstar Career Chapters

EA’s latest revamp of the Superstar portion of Madden is going to be quite the makeover with the addition of Superstar Career Chapters – a pathway to true NFL stardom that could be quite different for each player looking to climb up the ranks in their own way.

Quite similar to Coach Central in its structure, fostering your Superstar Career involves more than just performing like a pro every time you take the field. You will need to hone your relationships with teammates, staff, the media, and even your fans in order to ensure that you come out on top of the table from season to season.

With clear goals to achieve, and a lot of work involved, you will need to put your best foot forward in order to consistently improve your standing – or find yourself falling backward if you fail to do so!

These are some of the most important things to keep in mind before you pick up your copy of EA Sports Madden NFL 26. We’d love to hear about the things that have you most excited to dive into when it drops next month.