Microsoft Unveils New Xbox User Interface - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 01 September 2020 / 3,149 Views
Microsoft in an Xbox Wire post has unveiled the new Xbox user interface that will launch this holiday season for the Xbox Series X, Xbox One, and Xbox Game Pass for PC.
View a video on the new user interface below:
Read the information below:
We Believe in Gamer Choice
A critical part of growing any ecosystem is ensuring that it works as players expect in every situation; on Xbox, that means the way you manage your hardware and games, the way you find what you want to play next, and the way you communicate and share with friends. Whichever device you use, we aspire to deliver an amazing Xbox experience – one that keeps you connected to games and friends throughout your day. Your feedback has been invaluable in pursuit of this vision, and today we’re sharing a glimpse of how everything will fit together this holiday. In addition to this blog, check out the video we created, which goes more in-depth on what’s to come.
Feel Instantly Welcome, However You Choose to Play
All the ways you experience Xbox should feel inviting and familiar, whether you’re on the couch playing on your console, rallying a group of friends together from your PC, or sneaking in a quick session on your Android device via cloud gaming. The new Xbox look and feel is designed to be faster to use, more approachable and visually appealing. This holiday it will be shared across all Xbox mobile apps, Xbox Game Pass on PC, and of course Xbox One and Xbox Series X consoles. Text is more readable, elements on screen are easier to understand at a glance, and accomplishing your tasks is faster than ever. This includes tile shape, fonts, an updated illustration style, and more. The overall layout of most of the console pages remains familiar, just faster and more focused.
We’re also there to support your gaming questions, no matter the place or time.From Xbox Assist on your console, to Xbox Support on the web, to Xbox Game Pass on your phone or PC, you can get any help you need and be back to gaming as quickly as possible.
Xbox is Ready to Go When You Are
Xbox Series X will set a new bar for speed when it launches this November, and we’re taking the same approach to accelerate experiences across Xbox. The Xbox Velocity Architecture and Quick Resume technology make games quicker to launch, and we knew we also wanted to make them faster to discover, talk about, and download – even while you’re away from your console. Your phone, PC, or console – all working together. Any time you have available to spend gaming is valuable, and we wanted to ensure it was time spent playing, not waiting. The Home screen will load more than 50 percent faster when you boot your Xbox, and is almost 30 percent faster to load when you’re returning from a game. Furthermore, these improvements use 40 percent less memory than what was previously required.
Earlier this month we unveiled the new Microsoft Store on the console, rebuilt with your feedback in mind – and it’s fast! We’ve cut the app launch time to about two seconds, and updated navigation makes it quicker and easier to find what you’re looking for. It’s easy to understand at a glance what’s included or discounted with any memberships you have, like Xbox Game Pass.
A United Platform for Communities to Gather
We’ve got a new Xbox mobile app in the works, and we’re better integrating your phone into the social experiences on Xbox, letting you share and connect with your existing network of friends more easily.For example, when you choose to share an update or game clip from your console, it will also automatically be sent to your Xbox mobile app, so you can share it on the social networks of your choice.
Using the new mobile app, Xbox friends can quickly send messages or launch parties to keep conversations going even when they’re on the go. We’ve also consolidated notifications, which will reflect activity across mobile, PC, and console. We combined related activities like Parties and Chats into a single tab in the Xbox console Guide, so it’s easier to know what’s going on with your friends and communities.
If some of these updates look familiar, it’s because you helped us build them over the past year through our Xbox Insider program, or when you noticed them hidden in plain sight (like when the new illustration style found its way into the Game Bar welcome screen, or a light theme was tested in the Family Settings App preview). We’ll begin to roll them out in the coming weeks, and come November we’ll celebrate a milestone in our user experience journey alongside the launch of Xbox Series X.
The work won’t stop there, though. We’ll continue to listen to your feedback and build together with you. Our vision is that, even though you’ll have more choice than ever in where to play, when to play and who to play with—you’ll know you’re on Xbox.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Woot :) I really like the Xbox app UI on PC. While I like the Xbox console UI already, I believe this one is a step up!
Amazing job Microsoft!
The technical tidbit is the UI is 40% less demanding on memory usage.
Good stuff, but the video could be more streamlined.
Yeah, definitely looks like they're trying to streamline and have uniformity across platforms. There's only a step or two away from an actual home console not being part of the infrastructure and not much being lost. No wonder it doesn't seem like they're even trying very hard with the Series X.
Slimmer and fitter, although still not exactly tasteful. :)
