What you need to know
- The Xbox ecosystem enjoys regular updates with feature drops, quality-of-life improvements, and more.
- On Wednesday, the Xbox October Update began rolling out to players across Xbox, PC, and mobile devices.
- The suite of updates brings TV audio controls to Xbox, game clip trimming to mobile devices, and more.
- There are also firmware updates for modern wireless Xbox controllers.
As we enter the waning half of spooky month, Xbox has begun releasing a series of appreciated features and community-requested changes across its ecosystem. Players can expect updates for Xbox consoles, the Xbox Game Bar on PC, the Xbox app on mobile devices, and for Xbox's wireless controllers and gamepads.
The Xbox October Update is here, and brings with it some nice additions, such as the ability to control your TV's audio directly from the Xbox, the ability to trim game clips from your phone, and more. This month's suite of updates isn't as exciting as the Xbox September Update, but there's still plenty to get players excited. Players can begin enjoying the new features starting today.
The Xbox October Update for 2022 includes:
- A persistent search bar on the Xbox Dashboard. Search is always a button press away on the Xbox Dashboard, but now a search bar will always be present on the Xbox Dashboard to help players find and utilize the helpful feature.
- TV audio control through HDMI-CEC. TVs with HDMI-CEC connectivity are capable of talking to connected devices, and today's update is improving that functionality on Xbox Series X and S consoles. Players will be able to control the volume of their TVs directly from the "Audio & music" section of the Xbox Guide.
- Muting start-up audio. The sound of an Xbox console first starting up is unforgettable, but many players prefer a more quiet experience. With the October Update, players will be able to mute this start-up audio.
- Quality-of-life improvements. Other miscellaneous improvements coming to Xbox consoles include:
- Improve set-up experience for designating your Xbox Home console
- Tweaked naming and descriptions for Xbox power modes
- Changed name for Xbox passkey to Xbox PIN
- Game clip trimming from mobile app. The Xbox mobile app isn't drastically changing this month, but it is getting one notable new feature. Players will now be able to trim and edit their game clips straight from the app before sharing, reducing the reliability on Xbox's inconsistent built-in trimmer.
- Share to Medal.tv with Xbox Game Bar. PC gamers who take advantage of the powerful Xbox Game Bar tool will now be able to quickly share their game captures to Medal.tv, where they can be edited and posted.
- Controller firmware updates. Finally, Xbox is rolling out a series of firmware updates for its suite of Xbox wireless controllers, featuring bug fixes for USB flight sticks attached to the Xbox Adaptive Controller and beyond. The following controllers are getting firmware updates, which can be applied either wirelessly or via a USB cable:
- Xbox Series X|S Wireless Controllers
- Xbox One Wireless Controllers (Bluetooth)
- Xbox Elite Wireless Controllers Series 2
- Xbox Adaptive Controllers
The Xbox October Update is heading to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC, and mobile devices over the coming days. With it, it'll be easier for players to control their TV's audio while playing — or edit and share the clips from — their favorite Xbox games. Xbox is constantly working on new features and improvements for the Xbox ecosystem, so more updates are bound to arrive in the future.
