Microsoft has revealed that the next major Xbox Home update, for the front user interface for Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, will release sometime in 2023. In a “multi-month series of experiments,” the Xbox team will be adding new features to the UI as requested by the community and asking for feedback from those enrolled in the Xbox Insider program. Those lucky enough to be in the Alpha Skip-Ahead ring in Xbox Insider will be getting sneak previews of these tests starting this week.
New features for the next Xbox Home update
Among the most important changes Xbox plans on evaluating first is a new “Jump back in” row of tiles right on the Xbox dashboard that will give users quick access to their most recently played games and apps. This will likely focus on any game that you have a Quick Resume save for, while giving you a reminder of what games and apps you’ve been putting into your rotation lately.
Xbox also wants to assess the value of having shortcuts on the home page for important system apps like Settings, Store, Search, and My Games & Apps as dedicated tiles. It will be interesting to see if the designers go with something similar to the taskbar notification area in Windows, some place permanent on the UI while not being as intrusive as having giant tiles for each of these system apps. Xbox will experiment as well with having curated categories and recommendations as you scroll down the front page, similar to how Netflix has suggested categories in its app.
These are just the first batch of features Microsoft plans to roll out in the coming months. The designers will continue to add, remove, and change UI elements around with continual updates to the layout to ensure consistency and easy identification. If you want a chance to try out these rolling updates to Xbox Home, you can download the Xbox Insider Hub app on Xbox One or Xbox Series S|X.
In other news, the special Nintendo Switch OLED for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet has been revealed with a release date, and Catherine Keener is joining Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga in the cast for Joker 2.
