Microsoft showed off a “consistent” Xbox UI across handhelds, consoles, and cloud gaming during its Xbox keynote at the Game Developers Conference in March. At the time it was difficult to see if there was anything new about the UI from the videos and photos captured during the event, but Microsoft has now given us a closer look at it thanks to a new video of the keynote that was published earlier today.
Jason Ronald, VP of next generation at Xbox, showed off the UI while mentioning that players had been noticing “a lot of fragmentation within the experience” across devices, and an overall lack of consistency. “What the team has been doing behind the scenes is doing a lot of work to deliver a consistent experience, so it feels very familiar and very distinctly Xbox no matter where you’re choosing to play,” says Ronald.
At first glance the UI, pictured above, doesn’t look wildly different to what exists today, but there are some subtle differences across different devices. The Xbox console homescreen is slightly different, with the user profile in the top right and three ad slots along the bottom instead of the usual four. The same interface can be found on the handheld in the image, but the PC app on the right-hand side looks a lot more like the new Xbox Cloud Gaming interface.
When Microsoft first started testing the new Xbox Cloud Gaming UI, I wrote that it was more console-like than ever before, thanks to a variety of new animations, a new library section, and a rounded design. Microsoft’s slide hints that this same interface could be coming to the Xbox PC app. Ronald says the UI won’t be identical across all Xbox devices though, “because we think about things like screen size, or things like input modalities.”
Later in the Xbox game dev update video, Microsoft also shows off what looks like a new Xbox store on Windows. I’ve asked Microsoft to comment on this new Xbox UI and the store changes, and if I hear back I’ll update you accordingly.
In the mean time, if you’re interested in Ronald’s full GDC keynote then I’d recommend watching it, below. Microsoft’s whole Xbox game dev update video is nearly 90 minutes long, but the embed below will start at Ronald’s keynote.