Microsoft has announced that the Xbox UI is getting a visual overhaul, with a number of changes planned that will roll out as experiments for Xbox Insiders over the next few months.
Ivy Krislov, senior product manager lead at Xbox Experiences, shared an upcoming look at the new layout for the Xbox homepage, showing a cleaner, slightly more organized look to the page. “Starting this week, a random subset of Xbox Insiders in the Alpha Skip-Ahead ring will see some layout, design, and ease of access changes as we experiment with different approaches,” reads a post announcing the plans on an Xbox Wire blog post.
Some key updates were outlined for the first round of preview of updates. There’s a new “jump back in” row planned, which is designed to give players quick access to their most-recently-played games and apps. System apps like Settings, Store, Search and My Games & Apps will be easier to access as they will have their own tiles on Xbox Home.
There will also be “consistent design and visual identifiers with updated layouts to keep the experience familiar,” and scrolling down will show players “curated categories and recommendations tailored to your gaming preferences.”
The post notes that the rollout will be slow to start, and that Xbox will be iterating throughout the process, but a full launch of the new UI is planned for sometime in 2023. It wasn’t specified whether this would be just for the Xbox Series X|S or if it will apply to the Xbox One as well, though the Insider program is for both generation.
Recently, Microsoft has received some criticism from PlayStation boss Jim Ryan over the handling of the former’s pending acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and how long Call of Duty will still be on PlayStation following the deal.
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