Microsoft Is Not Launching Its Xbox Game Streaming Console Keystone Anytime Soon; New Xbox Home UI Gets Lukewarm Reception

Microsoft’s Xbox game streaming console Keystone is not going to hit shelves anytime soon, as CEO Phil Spencer recently revealed that it is “years away.” Spencer talked about the console at The Wall Street Journal’s Tech Live conference (via The Verge) on October 26:

“Keystone was the codename of something we were incubating internally, which was a streaming console, so there’s no local gameplay, low-cost, plug it into a TV, and you’d be able to stream Xbox games. In the late spring, we pivoted to working with Samsung. We put an app on Samsung TVs that let you play Xbox games, and I still have the prototype; it sits on the shelf behind my computer.”

Spencer went on to say that the company might make a streaming device in the future, but you would have to wait if you want to get your hands on it:

“Will we do a streaming device at some point? I suspect we will, but I think it’s years away”.

New Xbox Home UI not received well

We have received a first look at the new Xbox Home UI, and its online reception is not that great.

The Verge’s Tom Warren uploaded a video on YouTube showing the new Xbox Home UI, which is set to come out in 2023. At first glance, it doesn’t look too different from the current home screen UI. The six most recent games you’ve played or apps you’ve used will show up in the same size on the home screen, instead of the most recent one having the largest tile.

Next, there’s a My games and apps shortcut and the Microsoft Store pinned alongside the achievements tile, with two app slots at the end. When you scroll down, you will be greeted with a section that shows recently added games to the Game Pass. Then there’s a pins section where you can pin your favorite apps to quickly access them, but Warren notes that there is no way to move it up or down.

Moving further down, there’s a section for top free games and another for most popular games from Game Pass. They are followed by an entire row that’s only for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 content.

Players don’t seem particularly excited about the new UI. “They are literally just implementing the entire Xbox Store and GamePass library to the Home screen,” one commenter noted. “The workers at Microsoft probably come together and ask ‘how can we make the Xbox UI worse than it already is’ each time,” another said.

What’s the point of a new dash when we can’t even see our background ? ????????‍♂️ its funny that the xbox community can make a better dash than the team at xbox ???? pic.twitter.com/Det40woe9X

— سيكو (@cTc_Syco) October 27, 2022

@xbox this shouldn’t be the final product guys. Ignoring that having ads in our faces on the UI is bad in itself, the UI is really cluttered and it’s just a bunch of tiles.

What’s the point of having dynamic backgrounds if no one can see what they show?

This needs a redesign

— (ES) Ozymandias (@Ozymandias88_) October 27, 2022

Image credit: Tom Warren’s YouTube channel