Surprise! Here's a quick look at Xbox's new PC app, potentially set to go live to Xbox Insiders before the end of the year.
Over the summer, Microsoft began testing a new Xbox Cloud Gaming interface codenamed Bastion, which aimed to bring the user experience closer to the Xbox Series X|S console. The Xbox PC app looks a lot different from this general ident at present, and has a variety of performance concerns, particularly when loading into large libraries or the general Xbox PC game store.
This week, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma noted her intention to elevate Microsoft's gaming offering on PC, and here's an early glimpse at at least part of what that looks like.
Microsoft is preparing to ship the below interface, codenamed Garrison, some time in the near future. I got access to an early version of the app this evening, and thought I'd give you a quick run through.
In the video above, I give you a quick tour guide of the new app's interfacing on PC, which includes designs for both mouse and keyboard and controller. You can set this app as your default home screen when loading into Windows 11's new "Game Mode" setting, and it will default to the controller scaling — ideal for devices like the Xbox Ally.
First impressions revolve around performance for me. This is a lot faster than the previous app, particularly when it comes to loading in my large 1400+ library of Xbox titles from across the years. It's a lot easier to see when something is actually installable now, or just stream-capable from Xbox Cloud Gaming.
The navigation between game listings is also a lot more streamlined. There's no longer two separate pages for games, and both the store listing and game listing now share a single interface.
For the most part, there isn't a ton of new functionality on offer just yet. This seems to be about boosting performance and usability first and foremost.
Xbox's PC offering has diverged immensely from Steam, as Steam offers a lot more community tooling, developer dialogue systems, and more visible reviews. Steam arguably has better curation too, and while the store pages on this version of the app aren't fully implemented yet, I'm eager to discover if Microsoft has improved visibility for developers through this app. It would be good if developers end up with more tools to communicate with their audiences on the Xbox PC app too, and Microsoft has an opportunity to integrate Minecraft and its other live service games more deeply to boost its community-building chops potentially.
I suspect this version of the app could go live to Xbox Insiders on PC in the coming weeks given that it's already getting bundled into Windows 11 builds now.
Microsoft has been on a bit of a tear over the summer, restructuring its business, divesting studios, and re-focusing its efforts on Xbox Series X|S consoles. It's encouraging to see Microsoft hasn't left its Xbox PC efforts fall by the wayside either. This week, it announced a huge partnership with NVIDIA for their new RTX Spark Arm laptop line, which includes the Surface Laptop Ultra — which is a gaming powerhouse in its own right. Microsoft also announced Xbox XP this week, focused on building player retention and community outside of its traditional console channels. I wonder if the Xbox PC app will play a role here too.
In any case, let me know what you think of the new Xbox PC app in the comments, and what you'd like to see added to Xbox PC in the future!
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