Microsoft has announced a new Home screen for the Xbox app on Windows. This is currently only available for Xbox Insiders and should make it easier to find games.
Microsoft is calling this new home screen a “Home experience,” combining content from the Game Pass and Microsoft Store tabs. One of the features of the Home experience that Microsoft highlighted was the Featured Content section. This gives a quick overview of game releases, new events, content available with Game Pass, sales, and more. This will make it feel less like an app that only holds players’ game libraries and more like an app they can use dedicated to Xbox gameplay. The standout feature is “Jump Back In,” which lets players in Compact Mode find the last game they were playing quickly without having to look through the gaming library.
Another feature is the Deals and Discounts section, which tells buyers the most recent deals and savings. That feature could pair well with the Curated Collections and Recommendations section, which is made to help users find games that match their preferences. This seems focused on giving the Xbox App a landing page because the app now opens to Game Pass. It seems more like a store app that’s less detailed than Epic Games and Steam.
Microsoft said in its announcement, “We’ve listened to your feedback and have been testing different designs internally over the last several months. Our goal is to create a unified Home experience that combines the best and latest content from both the Game Pass and Microsoft Store tabs, so you can easily find what you love without having to jump between tabs.”
The new Home experience is currently only available to Xbox Insiders enrolled in the PC Gaming Preview. Any Xbox player can enroll in the Xbox Insiders program with PC Gaming Preview through downloading the Hub app and agreeing to everything that comes with being an insider.
Source: Microsoft
