Xbox Series X Reveals New Home Screen and It's So Much Better

By Tyler Fischer

Microsoft has previewed its previously-promised Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S home screen changes, something Xbox fans have been begging for since the release of the consoles. According to Microsoft, the redesign will begin by releasing to Alpha Skip Ahead and Alpha rings this week and takes into account the biggest request: which is to free the screen of all the clutter so the backgrounds are more visible. 

To achieve this, a new quick access menu is being introduced that will provide "easy navigation" to your game library, the Microsoft Store, Xbox Game Pass, search, and settings. This will be at the very top of the home screen. Meanwhile, tiles have been reduced in size and moved to the bottom of the screen to help free up more space to see the background.

If there isn't a background you like, then you may be interested in not using one as Microsoft is also adding a responsive game art feature that will fill the screen as you surf your games. Below, you can check out this feature, courtesy of Twitter user Klobrille:

"As we mentioned when we paused our experiments last month, we heard you tell us that the changes to the top of Home felt crowded and didn't leave enough space for you to enjoy your background," says Xbox of the changes. "So, we designed hundreds of options, then refined with prototypes and finally user-tested in our Research labs until we found one we hope you'll love. It balances the experience, accessibility, function, and the needs of our community."

So far, Xbox fans seem very receptive to the changes unlike the last redesign of the home screen, which made many changes, but very few that actually improved the user experience. Hopefully this will also lead to developers releasing more background screens to us, as there currently is many beyond the ones that released with the consoles. 

Right now, there's no word of when these changes will roll out to the wider public, but it should be in the coming months as the pipeline from Alpha Skip Ahead to broader release is usually not a very long one, as long as no major issues are indentified with the new design in the process. 

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