Microsoft has reworked its Xbox Home user interface to better accommodate background images and simplify access to key areas of the Xbox dashboard. The software giant stopped testing an upcoming Xbox Home UI last month to rework it, and the result looks like a big improvement for Xbox owners.
The new Xbox Home UI moves the tiles of apps and games further down, so there’s a lot more room to see a wallpaper. Tile sizes have also been reduced, and there’s new responsive game art that updates the background when you hover over certain games and apps.
At the top, there’s a new floating UI that provides quick access to the game and app library, Microsoft Store, Xbox Game Pass, search, and settings. This quick access menu means you don’t even have to navigate to the usual areas of the Xbox dashboard to quickly get to your full game library.
Microsoft is testing this new Xbox Home UI this week with Alpha Skip-Ahead and Alpha Xbox Insider test rings and will likely roll it out to Xbox consoles in the coming months. “We designed hundreds of options, then refined them with prototypes, and finally user-tested them in our research labs until we found one that we hope you’ll like,” said Ivy Krislov, senior product manager for Xbox Experiences. “It balances the experience, accessibility, function and the needs of our community.”