Just after Xbox canned its Social Clubs last month, I'm left wondering — as TweakTown pointed out — whether Xbox is going through and gutting features that were never really used. I’ll be the first to admit I never really used Social Clubs, but seeing them go is still a bit sad, even if it made sense and they were just "in the way" at times.
With that said, when I think back to what got me hooked on Xbox, it was Halo: Combat Evolved, then Halo 2, and finally Halo 3 on Xbox 360. Those weren’t just games; they were social experiences.
It's those experiences that made Xbox feel like this unstoppable force back in the day, and now, Xbox doesn’t feel social. As much as things are looking brighter thanks to the new CEO, it’s still a shame we’re missing what was once core to the Xbox experience. The removal of Social Clubs feels like another step away from those previously iconic, built-in social experiences.
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Instead, Xbox is pushing players toward other platforms where it has less control, like Discord. For all intents and purposes, Discord has become what Skype and even Social Clubs could have been.
Now, Discord operates at such a massive scale that, despite ongoing concerns around privacy, it’s hard to see it going anywhere anytime soon.
With Xbox Social Clubs on the way out, it does raise a bigger question. What’s next? What other features on Xbox aren’t being used, and could be cut in favor of a more streamlined experience next generation for Project Helix?
It got me thinking. While I’d rather see some of these systems improved, I could just as easily see Microsoft removing them entirely instead. So, in no particular order, here are a few that could potentially be next, based purely on my own speculation:
- Avatars
- Looking for Group
- Activity Feed
It’s not a huge list, I know, but it is food for thought. I could spend the rest of this article asking for these features to stick around, but that wouldn’t be all that constructive. Instead, it’s probably more useful to look at what could be done to make them relevant again.
That feels especially important right now, as Xbox appears to be paying closer attention to feedback than it has in the past. Xbox did pretty much already kill Avatars in 2025 due to "low engagement". However, you can still use them to create a gamerpic, but I suspect that will eventually be phased out entirely.
Turning your Xbox on used to put you right at the fingertips of what your friends were up to, right next to their avatars.
It’s honestly a shame Avatars went the way they did. They added a lot to the social side of the Xbox 360. Turning your Xbox on used to put you right at the fingertips of what your friends were up to, right next to their avatars. Losing that has taken something away from the experience.
So, fully bring Avatars back, but make them matter again. Xbox is one of the biggest publishers in the world, so tie Avatar customization to achievements. Add unlockables, and even a store. Yes, unfortunately, they would need to bring in revenue to be worth the investment, but I am willing to invest if Avatars were more like the Xbox 360 variants over the Xbox One versions that we got, that is.
If Xbox also leaned into something closer to how Steam handles profiles, but built around Avatars, it would at least feel like its own thing rather than a copy.
"Looking for Group" is another interesting one. I still think the feature has value, but it’s hard to ignore how much spam it’s filled with. On top of that, I don’t know many people who actively use it anymore. That’s a shame, because it adds a layer of social interaction that Xbox should be doubling down on. Right now, it feels like an afterthought.
If Xbox gets serious about rebuilding its social layer, Looking for Group needs more visibility on the dashboard. At the same time, it should have the option to be turned off for players who prefer to keep to themselves.
Of course, none of that matters if the service isn’t cleaned up, so addressing spam and moderation has to come first.
Then there’s the Activity Feed. I checked mine recently, and I’m not even sure it works the way it’s supposed to anymore.
I thought it was meant to show what you and your friends are doing, things like achievements, clips, and general activity. Instead, mine just showed my own achievements, and even those weren’t up to date.
That makes it feel like a shell of what it could be. Again, this comes back to visibility and purpose. If Xbox wants to build a more connected experience, the Activity Feed should feel alive. It should update regularly, surface meaningful activity, and actually give you a reason to check it out.
There’s also an opportunity here with broader integration. Since Xbox is moving toward a console and PC hybrid, and we can already connect accounts like Steam, then why not reflect that in the Activity Feed? Let me see what my friends are playing across platforms, not just inside Xbox.
At the same time, it’s hard to ignore what all of this eventually points to. With Xbox moving toward a unified Xbox and Windows experience, features like Social Clubs were never going to survive in the form they were in.
The focus feels more like a shift away from keeping everything inside the Xbox ecosystem, and more toward connecting players across platforms instead. While that does make sense on paper, especially as other services continue to dominate, I worry it leaves little room for Xbox to still be Xbox.
At least for me, giving up on social features that were a big part of what put Xbox on the map in the first place is a real shame, and I hope Xbox realizes that's what made the brand so special back in the day.
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