The Xbox One will see its “biggest update yet” this November with an overhaul of the dashboard and more. Before the New Xbox One Experiences arrives, however, Microsoft will let Xbox One Preview Program members test it out. That pre-release testing period is starting soon, Microsoft has announced.
“Like all features in the Preview Program, this will be a work-in-progress until it launches in early November,” Microsoft’s Mike Ybarra cautions in a post on Xbox Wire.
Due to the size and significance of the update, Microsoft is slowly rolling out the new update, beginning with people who have “historically submitted the most feedback.” It won’t be available for everyone right away. “Our goal is to start with a group, get feedback, then roll out to larger groups for additional feedback over time,” Ybarra explained.
Here’s a rundown of how it will work over the next couple of weeks.
- If you’re a member of the Xbox One Preview Program, you will get an invitation sent to you in an Xbox Live message.
- From the invitation launch the Xbox Preview Dashboard and select the registration option.
- You can then opt-in by selecting “Preview – New Xbox One Experience.”
- If you choose not to participate in this update (you just leave your registration as preview), you will continue to receive “regular” Preview Program updates going forward. This will not remove you from the Xbox Preview Program.
- New builds will regularly roll out over a period of several weeks to those who opt in, and our engineering team will work to improve the features and fix any bugs they identify throughout the preview testing.
Microsoft’s Xbox One Preview Program, overall, recently got more difficult to get into. The company announced last month that it is scaling back the volume of invitations, as the program is reaching a “near-capacity” level.
The New Xbox One Experience includes a long list of changes and new features, perhaps the most notable of which is backwards compatibility for Xbox 360 games. The update completely overhauls the Home screen to make it “faster and easier.” In addition, there will be a new Community section to help make the console “more social.” It also comes with a “revamped OneGuide” that aims to be the one destination you need for TV, movies, and video apps. Finally, the New Xbox One Experience adds optimizations to the Xbox Store to help you find the games and content you want easier.
