It's quite exciting times at Xbox right now.
Xbox has a new CEO and a new mandate, joining Windows 11 in prioritizing user feedback. Microsoft all up has been neglecting its customers for some time, arguably distracted by partially the big Activision-Blizzard acquisition, and now artificial intelligence. That seemed to end with 2026, as CEO Satya Nadella delegated some business operational roles to "CEO of Commercial Business" Judson Althoff, to give more focus on Microsoft's product ambitions.
We are rocking and rolling on bringing new Xbox console features! What do you all want added?April 9, 2026
Xbox already grabbed a few meaningful updates recently. Xbox is getting a long-awaited Xbox achievement system overhaul, starting with some smaller improvements. The Xbox Ally also grabbed joystick cursor features too this week, and will get its Auto Super Resolution feature soon too on the Xbox Ally X.
Now, Xbox engineer Bill Ridmann asked users on X for their suggestions for how to further improve the Xbox ecosystem. I figured I'd round up some of the best suggestions for your perusal, and also encourage you to drop your suggestion in the comments below too.
The top Xbox feature ideas so far
A big request I get often from fans is Xbox achievement system improvements. My colleague Adam Hales is a big proponent of this, asking Microsoft to add things like Xbox achievements for backward compatible games, split achievements between single player, multiplayer, and DLC packs, and also curate the "easy gamerscore" slop we often see hitting the Xbox store.
The big one I often get asked for is some sort of PlayStation-like "Platinum" achievement system, which rewards users for fully completing all of a game's available achievements.
Achievements for OG Xbox gamesAchievements split between SP, MP, & DLCA PS Platinum equivalentRemove or cap easy GS gamesBring back multitaskingRefocus on social features, avatars, the activity feed, add global leaderboardsXbox used to feel social, now it doesn’tApril 9, 2026
Another popular suggestion is the request to remaster the dashboard to support HDR.
HDR is a bit of an irritant in modern gaming, at least for me. It seems to break Xbox DVR clips if you have it on, washing out the colors and making them incompatible with video editing suites. Additionally, it also makes TVs flicker as they switch between HDR for games and non-HDR for the dashboard. Some TVs don't handle the transition between modes particularly well either.
Dashboard in HDR, so there is no black screen when launching games or switching back to the dashboard.April 9, 2026
A lot of suggestions revolve around the Xbox DVR. The Xbox DVR has long been one of the platform's most neglected features. It's not always stable, and the clips aren't easy to manipulate on your Xbox unless you export them into OneDrive and use dedicated video editing software.
Xbox used to have some rudimentary video editing tools back in the Xbox One days. It also now owns the web-based video editor ClipChamp, although it's probably a bit resource intensive to make its way across to the Xbox Series X|S OS. Some improvements would be welcomed here.
Bring back being able to get our console captures through the PC app.April 9, 2026
Many requests also pertain to Xbox's social features. People often request PlayStation-like screensharing features, allowing you to watch your friends play games directly on the console. People ask for camera tools for party chats, similar to the Nintendo Switch 2 or the OG Skype integration on the Xbox One. The idea of using remote play or cloud features to "inject" multiplayer into local-only multiplayer games is something I see come up from time to time too.
Some big social adds for me would be:- Screenshare/Cam options for Party Chats- A Remote Play Together equivalent that allows users to play local-only multiplayer games via onlineApril 9, 2026
A lot of requests actually pertain to features we used to have on the Xbox One. Many requests come in for a return of the picture-in-picture feature we used to have on the OG Xbox One back in 2013. This allowed you to watch TV, YouTube, and take Skype calls while running games underneath. I suspect the current Xbox Series X|S OS doesn't architecturally support something like this, but I imagine it's something we could see on the Windows-based Xbox Helix down the road.
Allow PiP (picture in picture). I want to be able to watch YouTube videos or discord streams at the same time as playing my game.Also, I know this will never happen, but ultrawide and multi screen support would be cool, even if it will only apply to future games.April 9, 2026
One thing I personally would like to see is a bigger emphasis on text messaging.
I well and truly believe that one of the reasons games like Roblox have become so dominant is the ability to text and socialize really easily from within the game. Xbox does support keyboards, but it doesn't seem to have a unified API layer for easy text chat overlays on games.
Xbox messages should be something you can do on top of the game, picture-in-picture style, similarly to how most modern PC games have a chatlog window in the bottom left these days. I can't imagine playing World of Warcraft without a chat panel in the bottom corner, and it feels anachronistic for consoles to not have this kind of feature in 2026.
I would also LOVE to see the Xbox Ally "Xbox Mode" become more responsive. It's still really sluggish to navigate with a joystick, frustratingly so, and it shouldn't be given how powerful the hardware is.
Finally, it's about time we got a new Xbox Elite controller ... although that's not exactly a platform feature. I'm throwing it in here any way, because it's my article and I can do anything I want, so there. 😤
It's exciting times at Xbox right now
It's been a while since I felt Xbox was really prioritizing what the community wants. Although there are business realities Xbox has had to contend with, and continues to have to contend with. Younger gamers are swerving left on console gaming all up, so it's not unsurprising that Microsoft spent a few years investing heavily in its Xbox PC app and Xbox Cloud Gaming to explore finding new users.
The "Xbox Mode" feature for Xbox PC devices like the Xbox Ally could still use a bit of work, but it has some truly awesome potential. The next-gen Xbox Helix should spawn a new segment of Xbox-styled mini gaming PCs for living room use, unleashed with the full power and openness of Windows.
I've always argued that Xbox shouldn't ignore what it already has while finding new audiences too. It felt like margin pressures stopped them from really being able to invest in both previously, but those constraints now seem to have been eliminated.
Whatever the reason, we're getting cool stuff at a decent clip for the first time in ages. I'm curious to see what else Microsoft comes in with — things that perhaps nobody yet expects.
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