Today, Microsoft announced a new Microsoft Store experience coming for Xbox One consoles. Of course, it seems like it will still be branded as the Xbox Store, as seen in the screenshot above. It"s meant to be faster, safer, and easier to use.
Codenamed Mercury, Microsoft says that the new Store loads in under two seconds, which is more than twice as fast as it was previously. It"s also meant to make it easy to find what you want, letting you watch trailers in search results and showing discounts and such. But don"t worry, trailers in search results will only play automatically if you turn on autoplay.
The navigation has been redesigned, showing different categories in a sidebar and promising to make it easier to filter results. The Wish List has been redesigned, as has the shopping cart, making it easier to add games to either one. Microsoft also said that it made it easier to find games "across four generations", meaning new Xbox One and Xbox Series X games, along with Xbox and Xbox 360 games.
In the "safer" department, you"ll now have to be signed in just to browse content. This is meant to provide more parental controls, so kids can"t sign out to view content that they shouldn"t. This also allows Microsoft to filter out content that"s rated above the age of the person signed in, and those filters still apply if multiple users are signed in.
The new Microsoft Store will start rolling out to Xbox Insiders starting on Wednesday, August 5.