Nearly a year ago, Microsoft announced plans to test out a new Home page design for its Xbox consoles. Some members of the Xbox Insider program got to try out this new Home design over a period of several months.
However, in April 2023, Microsoft announced that it was pausing the testing for the new Home experience. At the time, Microsoft said that testers felt the design "did not leave enough space for you to enjoy your backgrounds and that it felt crowded."
Today, Microsoft officially revealed the new Xbox Home experience which was based on the feedback the company got from those early Insider testers. Some of the features that are included in this update are a new quick-access menu for a faster way to go to your game library, the Microsoft Store, Xbox Game Pass, Search, and Settings.
The new Home experience now places recent Xbox games, apps, and other content on the bottom of the Home screen. This allows more space for the Home screen background, which can now be customized to show which games you are playing at the moment.
Some of the other new Home features include:
- Improves game discovery by introducing lists of games curated and personalized for you.
- Allows you to customize your experience by pinning your favorite games, curated groups, and system groups like Quick Resume to Home.
- Helps you find what’s going on in your community through the updated Friends & Community Updates row
- Shows you what media apps and content are available to you via a Watch & Listen spotlight and list of entertainment apps
Microsoft says the new Home experience will begin rolling out today to a small subset of Xbox console owners. The new Home screen should be available for all Xbox console owners sometime in the next few weeks.
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