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Xbox One Owners Spent 2 Billion Hours Playing Games In First Year

Microsoft releases new statistics and announces plans to give away free content to celebrate Xbox One's first birthday.

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With the Xbox One's first birthday just around the corner, Microsoft today announced some statistics about the system's first year and revealed plans to give away free content for select users.

First, here are some notable statistics for the Xbox One in its first year.

  • Overall, the total community Gamerscore earned on Xbox One is more than 11 billion
  • Fans spent more than 2 billion hours playing games on Xbox One
  • The top four most popular achievements unlocked include:

Microsoft also has announced a range of digital content that it will give away to Xbox One owners "to show our appreciation for your local and continued support." You'll need to meet some requirements to receive the goodies, however. Only Xbox One owners who bought their console before November 11, 2014 in the console's 13 launch markets who are 17 years or old and have played 10+ hours on Xbox One are eligible. If that's you, you'll be able to download the following content starting this Friday.

  • A Year One Gamer Picture
  • New Xbox One backgrounds: A special Year One background as well as an exclusive Day One background for those who unlocked the Day One achievement
  • A Year One background image for use on Twitter, your desktop, etc.
  • A free rental of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn (for a limited time)
  • A free rental of Dragon Ball Z: Battle of the Gods movie and a sampler pack of Dragon Ball Z TV episodes (for a limited time, available in the U.S. and Canada only)

Finally, Microsoft announced that it will select fans at random to receive special gifts. A list of possible goodies, which include consoles, games, and in-game content, is below.

  • Xbox One Limited Edition Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Bundle
  • Xbox One Special Edition Sunset Overdrive Bundle
  • One month membership for Xbox One-exclusive EA Access service
  • Tiger Shark cash card for Grand Theft Auto V, worth $200,000 in-game GTA Online dollars
  • Forza gift pack with Forza RallyCross hat, Lamborghini Huracán 1/24 scale replica, and Xbox One Controller (launch team edition) signed by Tanner Foust, host of Top Gear America, Global RallyCross champion and professional stunt driver
  • Forza Horizon 2 Limited Edition Casio G-Shock Men's Black Multi-Function Digital Sports Watch
  • Grand Theft Auto V gift pack with the Los Santos Sheriff Trucker cap, Michael, Franklin and Trevor Posters, and a Grand Theft Auto V sticker pack
  • Xbox Live Gold 12-month membership digital code
  • Killer Instinct Season 1 Combo Breaker Pack, the retail version of Killer Instinct Xbox One's first season and includes all eight season one characters: Jago, Sabrewulf, Glacius, Thunder, Sadira, Orchid, and Spinal. Also includes Fulgore DLC character.
  • Special limited edition Nissan 370Z, featuring a custom Casio livery for Forza Horizon 2
  • Air Vehicle shortcut for Battlefield 4 for immediate access to all available unlocks for helicopters and jets available in the main Battlefield 4 game
  • Arno's French Rapier for Assassin's Creed Unity to improve your combat skills
  • 75 Platinum in Warframe
  • Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare Costume Pack for Peggle 2
  • Epic Quest Table in Pinball FX2
  • Dance Central Spotlight (full game token)
  • Project Spark Premium--15 days: Grants 2x gain of Spark XP, credits, and champion XP, as well as the ability to purchase new token-only content for earned in-game credits

In addition, if bought an Xbox One in one of the console's original 13 launch markets and have opted in to receive Xbox Marketing emails, you'll receive an email that lists off what you've accomplished on Xbox One since release. If you're not sure if you've opted in, you can sign into your Xbox Live account on Xbox.com, click your Gamertag, then Profile > Privacy Settings > Contact Preferences.

This achievement email will only be sent to people who bought an Xbox One before October 1, 2014, in the console's 13 launch markets who opted in to Xbox Marketing emails prior to November 11, 2014. You'll also need to be 17 years or old and have spent 10+ hours on Xbox One to date.

For its part, Sony has celebrated the PlayStation 4's firth birthday with an open letter from SCEA president Shawn Layden and some impressive statistics about the console.

The PS4 has outsold the Xbox One so far, but Microsoft's console is catching up quickly thanks to its aggressive pricing action and bundles, according to Electronic Arts.

Microsoft has shipped around 10 million Xbox Ones, compared to 13.5 million for the PS4.

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