Microsoft has potentially set a new precedent for PlayStation trophies by apparently deleting an unobtainable Xbox achievement and adjusting the associated gamer score to reflect the change. The achievement in question is “You Can’t Be Too Prepared” in the farming sim Homestead Arcana.
Should Sony delete unobtainable PlayStation trophies?
As reported by TrueAchievements, following Homestead Arcana’s addition to Xbox Game Pass, players quickly discovered that they couldn’t unlock “You Can’t Be Too Prepared” as it tasked players with crafting every item in the game once. Not only did this turn out to be an excruciating grind, those who spent a significant amount of time attempting to unlock the achievement realized that it was unobtainable because one specific recipe wasn’t available to craft despite being awarded to players.
Players later noticed that the achievement in question was removed from Homestead Arcana, and its 100 gamerscore was redistributed among the remaining achievements. This is a new one, considering developers often fix broken trophies and achievements via patches. It’s unclear if studio Serenity Forge asked Microsoft to remove the achievement or if Microsoft stepped in itself.
The issue of unobtainable PlayStation trophies and achievements tends to spur heated debates in the gaming community. This is especially in case of multiplayer games that aren’t immune to server shutdowns. Players have proposed in the past that Sony should delete unobtainable trophies, but what Xbox has done here seems unlikely to become a norm.
