The ways in which Xbox as a company operates can be said to have completely changed in recent years, with the unheard of level of success coming from the popular Xbox Game Pass service changing how games are played and received among players. While Xbox Game Pass has grown exponentially in recent times, Microsoft is of course still looking for ways to grow and promote the platform.
Recently, Xbox began to roll out trials of a fresh look for the core dashboard UI of Xbox consoles, with the aim of improving accessibility for players in relation to their favorite games. With this in mind, when it releases in 2023, the new Xbox UI could be used by Microsoft to further enhance the appeal of the Game Pass service.
The Success of the Xbox Game Pass Service
Xbox Game Pass was first introduced in 2017 as a monthly subscription service that allows subscribers unmitigated access to an attractive roster of titles. As the service grew and developed, a plethora of perks and benefits were added. The serviced is now hailed by fans for the value for money that it possesses. Today, the service is split at its lowest price point into either a console or PC subscription, or players can combine the two at a higher price point with the popular Game Pass Ultimate tier of subscription. With Game Pass Ultimate, subscribers also receive access to EA Play games, day one Game Pass releases, cloud gaming across an array of devices, and much more in-game perks and benefits.
More recently, Microsoft announced its plans to introduce a Friends and Family tier of subscription to Xbox Game Pass, meaning up to five players will soon be able to enjoy Game Pass Ultimate under a single monthly payment. Considering that the Game Pass service is reported to have over 30 million active subscribers, the platform has completely revolutionized how Xbox operates, a factor that could very well be present within Microsoft's plans for an updated Xbox dashboard UI.
The New Xbox UI
While Xbox's core dashboard user interface has remained largely the same for some time, Microsoft have recently revealed plans to bring some interesting changes to it. The proposed new update for the Xbox UI appears to be largely centered around making getting into gameplay more accessible and instantaneous, with early preview versions of the update adding a new "jump back in" section for a player's recently played "quick resume" titles.
The new Xbox UI update also appears to add a quickly accessible tile for "my games and apps" as well as the store, which is a feature that fans have been wanting for some time. Screenshots of the new update appear to have a tile related to Xbox Game Pass, but the new update's ability to boost the subscription service's popularity could go far beyond this.
For example, the new update could introduce a play tile for Xbox Games Studios title releases on the first day of their respective launches, with these titles being playable as day-one releases via Game Pass. Microsoft's cloud gaming system allows Game Pass subscribers to play these games instantaneously without downloads, and a dedicated spot on the dashboard to showcase these games would bring a lot more attention to certain Game Pass titles.
As well as this, a consistent and ever-changing spot to showcase different Game Pass titles would further pique the curiosity of non-subscribers, which could introduce a new wave of Xbox users to the attractive benefits of the Game Pass service. While the new Xbox UI update may appear rather basic at face value, the benefits it could potentially provide for Xbox Game Pass are more than present.