The Xbox Series X might not be out for another few weeks, but Xbox One owners can get a taste of what to expect. That’s because Microsoft is rolling out a user interface update that introduces the “New Xbox Experience” to both the current-gen Xbox and its next-gen counterpart.
The company teased this UI overhaul in August, when it first revealed the Xbox Series X’s dashboard, though at the time it didn’t say when it would be made available. It was assumed the update would drop alongside the launch of the Series X and Series S, but the rollout happening now means users can familiarize themselves with the interface ahead of November, while also benefiting from its changes on the Xbox One.
The changes this UI update brings start with a new sign-in experience that leads to a refreshed home screen. Here, users can find their games arranged above an updated My Games & Apps icon that randomly highlights three titles installed on the console. On top of that, the update also introduces background themes, and makes it so gameplay clips and screenshots immediately go to users’ phones.
All in all, the changes are designed to allow Xbox One and Xbox Series X users to move between their game/media libraries, their friends lists, and more with greater ease. To that end, Microsoft has optimized the UI to perform better than before. Like the company said in August, the new Xbox experience has been streamlined to boot up, load into games, and come back from those games in less time, all while using up to 40 percent less memory than before.
Not all of the new features are available to Xbox One users. Some will utilize a number of the Xbox Series X’s unique features like Quick Resume, and will therefore be exclusive to next-gen consoles. Beyond that, however, Microsoft has stressed that the UI overhaul is a “shared experience across Xbox One and Series X|S consoles,” and that, “Everyone gets to benefit from the improvements we’re making, across generations!”
This is just the latest step in the company’s push towards making Xbox less like a traditional platform based around a single console, and more like an ecosystem designed to be accessed from multiple devices, including PC and mobile thanks to Xbox Game Pass. As such, the new user interface should go a long way towards allowing users to navigate that ecosystem without much fuss, regardless of where they are coming from.
The Xbox Series X and Series S will launch on November 10.