Microsoft has announced a significant overhaul of its digital store for Xbox, and the end result is a much faster browsing experience and more straightforward navigation. “Far more than a typical app update, we’ve rebuilt the experience from the ground up to be faster, safer and easier to use than ever before,” wrote the Xbox team’s Cody Bird in a blog post.
It claims the store is more than twice as quick than in the past and that it loads in under two seconds. You can “easily see” what games your friends are playing and it should be a cinch to find out what sales and discounts are available. The store will let you view trailers inline while you browse and give you the option of turning on autoplay for them.
The revamped Xbox Microsoft Store has been fully optimized for the era of Game Pass, and it now shows more details about a title at the top level as you browse without making you dig deeper. The design does a better job highlighting deals / sale pricing, and makes it easy to compare various editions of a game where applicable to know what you’re getting with each choice.
There’s a focus on parental controls; users must now be signed in to browse the Xbox store, and content filters should ensure younger players in your house don’t see anything inappropriate.
Microsoft will let some Xbox Insiders (aka beta testers) try the new-look store for themselves starting on Wednesday. It’ll gradually roll out the update more broadly and it’ll be live for all users this fall.
