The seemingly unremarkable indie game Vampire Survivors became an absolute hit in 2022. Among the enthusiastic fans is Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox. He has now demonstrated his perseverance and proudly shared his latest achievement: a rare Achievement.
Which game is it about? Vampire Survivors is an indie game developed by “poncle” and describes itself as a “Gothic Horror Casual Game”. The simple game mechanics delighted thousands of players in 2022: In a sort of reversed “Bullet Hell”, players mow down countless monsters approaching from all sides with a barrage of automatically generated bullets.
As head of Xbox, Phil Spencer is responsible for the planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft. Nevertheless, he somehow found the time in recent months to invest hundreds of hours into the indie game and obtain all the sought-after achievements.
If you somehow missed the hype around Vampire Survivors in 2022, you can take a look at the game here:
Xbox chief doesn’t shy away from the grind
What exactly has Phil Spencer achieved? On his official Twitter account, Phil Spencer shared a screenshot on February 26 showing that he has just unlocked the achievement “Victory Sword”. To achieve this, 100,000 monsters must be defeated in a single run using the character Queen Sigma.
Only 4.7% of Xbox players have managed to do this so far. Phil Spencer’s collection is thus currently complete, as he writes that he has now obtained all currently available achievements: a total of 162, including the DLCs. The rarest achievement, “EXTRA: Chaos Malachite”, is owned by only 1.8% of Xbox players – on Steam, the numbers are slightly higher at 8.7% and 2.7%.
Data from the achievement tracking site Exophase not only shows that Spencer has indeed unlocked all 162 achievements, but also that he has spent nearly 260 hours with the game (via Exophase).
According to the website Steam Hunters, achievement hunters on Steam typically need 57 hours for 100%. Therefore, Phil Spencer has also found great enjoyment in Vampire Survivors beyond just collecting achievements.
Gamers cheer: “Damn legend”
How is this received? Quite well. Phil Spencer’s tweet has already been viewed nearly 685,000 times, collected 6,900 likes, and numerous comments. Other players also proudly share their achievements or feel inspired to take on the grind.
Why is this so special? Xbox fans seem to feel validated in their choice of console: Because the head is “one of them”, a “real gamer”, and a “damn legend”. In comments, it’s said that one simply does not have this passion for gaming with the competition from Nintendo or Sony.
At a time when criticism frequently arises that modern releases are soulless cash grabs, it seems to be well received that an important decision-maker actually cares about games.
A boss who shares a passion for gaming sounds enticing to many gamers. However, it was revealed that Microsoft employee tricked Bill Gates, the Microsoft chief, to break his obsession with Minesweeper.
Bill Gates was so obsessed with Minesweeper that a Microsoft employee had to trick him to get off it
