The Xbox home screen is getting a big update promising "a more personalized experience" folding in "top trends and fan requests," and an early version is rolling out this week ahead of a final 2023 launch.
Senior product manager lead Ivy Krislov outlined the home screen update in a new blog post. A "random subset" of Xbox Insiders in the program's Alpha Skip-Ahead ring will soon see a selection of "layout, design, and ease of access changes" as part of a "multi-month series of experiments." Once these experiments draw to a close, Xbox hopes to launch "this new, better Home experience in 2023."
The home screen draft coming this week adds a "Jump back in" row featuring recently played games and apps. The update will also add curated categories and recommendations at the bottom of your home screen, along with shortcuts for system apps like "Settings, Store, Search and My Games & App" via Xbox Home. With these changes, Xbox says it will maintain "consistent design and visual identifiers with updated layouts to keep the experience familiar."
It's unclear how many of these new features will make it into the final home screen revision, or how they may be changed or moved in the months ahead, but this early draft does give us some inkling of what Xbox is looking to tweak.
"We are also exploring options for new game channels and collections when you scroll down that include content that’s curated for you based on things like the games you’ve played or how to make the most out of your Game Pass subscription," Krislov says.
In other quality of life news, Xbox party chat can finally filter out your heavy breathing, button-mashing, and extremely loud fan.
