All Xbox home screens are getting a PS5-style makeover starting today

The Xbox home screen is getting a face-lift. Starting today, Microsoft will begin rolling out a freshly redesigned Xbox home interface across Xbox One, Series S, and Series X consoles. If you’re an Xbox owner, you’re probably used to the consoles’ current design that features a row of recently used apps at the top of the screen and a list of widgets below. Microsoft says it looked at user data and feedback from the Xbox community to create a redesigned experience that’s more focused on discovery. The biggest change is that Xboxes will now feature a quick access menu right at the top of the screen. This allows users to quickly access their apps, the Xbox store, Game Pass, and more. The recently used apps row is still present, but with some major changes. It’s been moved down toward the bottom of the screen, leaving a space for a gap where users’ system theme displays more prominently. Hovering over certain apps will trigger a dynamic theme for certain games like Starfield and Forza Motorsport. It’s similar to how the PlayStation 5’s home interface functions, but with the themed background displaying above apps instead of below them. Underneath that, Xbox created a more discovery-based experience, complete with a personalized list of game recommendations, community updates, and a Watch & Listen module for new streaming app content. Users can further customize that part of the screen by pinning games and groups to the screen. It’s a sleeker redesign that should leave more room for personalization. The new design will begin rolling out to select users today and will be available to all Xbox owners in the next few weeks. Xbox has confirmed that another Developer_Direct will take place later this month, offering use new looks at games like Doom: The Dark Ages, South of Midnight, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Plus, we’ll see a “brand new game” from a mystery studio sometime during the showcase. January 2025’s Developer_Direct will take place on official Xbox social media channels at 10 a.m. PT on January 23. It’s the latest iteration of a type of showcase that Xbox began in 2023, which is meant to give us a deeper look at upcoming Xbox games and the studios behind them. Hi-Fi Rush famously shadow-dropped after the first Developer_Direct, and previous shows have also featured games like Indiana Jones and the Great Ciricle, Minecraft Legends, Forza Motorsport, Redfall, Avowed, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, Visions of Mana, and Ara: History Untold. Hyperkin unveiled a new Xbox controller called The Competitor at CES 2025. The twist with this officially licensed third-party peripheral is that The Competitor’s stick placement and general design looks a lot like that of the DualSense, the PlayStation 5’s controller. The Xbox Wireless Controller typically features offset control sticks, a hybrid D-pad, and face buttons where the letters on each button are colored. Hyperkin’s new controller radically changes the stick placement and D-pad to match what the DualSense offers. Both control sticks are now located next to each other on the bottom part of the controller, while the D-pad has moved to the upper-left side of the controller, and each direction is an individual button. 2024 was a year of metamorphosis for Xbox. The long-gestating acquisition of Activision Blizzard finally finished toward the end of last year, and in 2024, we saw the fallout of the biggest gaming company acquisition of all time. A year of high peaks and low valleys for Microsoft’s gaming brand followed. Microsoft laid off thousands of game developers at different points this year. It shut down studios like Arkane Austin, Mighty Dog, and Roundhouse Studios, and sold off Hi-Fi Rush and its developer, Tango Gameworks, after attempting to shut them down. Xbox Game Pass confusingly split into several tiers, getting more expensive for those who want to play new games on the service day one. Xbox Game Studios Publishing’s Ara: History Untold and Towerborne were PC exclusives at launch this year, which alludes to a significant shift in Xbox’s strategy.