Here's What's Included In The Xbox November 2025 Update

Are they improving consoles at all? Seems like 100% focus on PC and Cloud.

I used Gaming Copilot for a little bit and I like it. It will definitely get a great deal of use from me.

As we mentioned PCs I bumped into the young crowed at work today 6 of them about 26 years old.
Asked about their gaming, all doing some battlefield multiplayer.
Anyway asked what consoles, no they said we are all PC.
My point about fives years ago asking the same demographic of youngsters at work they would have named whatever console.

Are things slowly moving to PC?
I know a very small group but surprised me.

@OldGamer999 I have a much younger brother in his mid 20s, him and his mates have been exclusively PC gamers since they were about 12/13. Could be the way the market is going, enough industry bods seem to think so anyway

@TheGameThrifter only thing that seems to get a liiiitle bit better on series x is UE5 titles, and that's probably more down to Epic updating it than anything MS has done

@Coletrain
Doesn’t surprise me, even my 10 year old nephew has started chatting wanting a gaming PC.

Then again and being honest, the console companies only have their selves to blame, especially this generation.
There has been a lot of anti- consumer stuff, increasing prices, trying to monopolise the market and mixed messaging and increased profits but charging more.

@OldGamer999 Unfortunately for 'console' based gamers, that is true. If you go back 20 yrs ago, a Gaming PC capable of playing games - even at 'Console' like Quality/Performance, the cost was extremely high.

Nowadays, you have such a range of PC's that you can play at console like settings and on 1080-1440p displays too. They may not be '4k' on a LARGE TV across the room but then they often play at higher Frame rates than Consoles 'Capped' limits.

The Steam Machine seems like the logical next step for nany 'young' kids today who maybe have a Steamdeck as their first console - instead of Switch for example and can be cheaper for Parents to purchase and a LOT of households have a PC that Kids grow up using too.

Console gaming, like Purchasing Games etc are not really the Gen Z way of gaming. Its the older gamers that still hold on to those 'traditional' gaming Purchasing. The rise of F2P (Fortnite, Roblox, PUBG, Warzone etc), sub services (afterall they've moved to Sub services for all their other media, TV, film, music etc) and grew up in a PC Computer dominated age. When I started gaming, very few homes had a Computer and IBM was extremely 'expensive' business hardware and PC's were more 'work/business' devices. My Kids grew up with access to a PC (and my Consoles) but none now game on Console as they prefer PC's.

The Gen Z gamers grew up around PC's and very Computer Literate and whilst it maybe higher upfront cost initially, they also know they don't thave to buy a Sub to play games with their friends which adds to the 'Console' cost - its not $500 - its $500 + $10 every month, $120 a yearwhich over 5yrs is $600 (more than the Hardware) and games are generally cheaper, more numerous and of course offer Mods, emulation etc and being very comfortable on PC, makes most sense.

Of course there are still Gen Z console gamers but maybe as a 2nd System or suits their Budget, lifestyle better etc but in general PC's capable of gaming are a LOT cheaper than 20yrs ago, Consoles and Subs aren't as cheap anymore, and kids grow up around computers are very computer literate so don't 'fear' gaming on PC.

@BAMozzy
Very well put now you mention the Gen Z.
also no subs to play online on PC
Is that correct?

@TheGameThrifter I haven’t had an insider update for a while. I’m on beta ring. The last one was on the 6th November and before that 17th October. This time last year was way more active for October and November. There is a definite slow down in console OS development right now, they are being neglected. I hope the console updates pick up again next year.

@Medic_alert I’d love that too.

@OldGamer999 Yep - no subs required to play online with your friends.

If you want to play Battlefield or CoD for example on console for a 'year' its $70 + 1 yr of Essential/Core tier Subscription to unlock online Social Gaming - No PC game requires Game Pass Core, PS+ Essential or Nintendo Online (or equivalent) to play. You just buy the game and have access to EVERYTHING (and maybe even find it cheaper Digitally on PC due to more competition). So it only costs up to $70 and can play it for years and years if you want.

If you stop paying for GP or PS+, you can't play a LOT of games or content/modes on that Hardware - even if you do 'own' a License to play as you bought the game. Most AAA games with Online modes etc - even if Single Player - require a Subscription on Console but not on PC.

As much as I love the ease of use and convenience of a Console, I've had enough of being 'Blackmailed', Held to ransom by Console Manufacturers who 'demand' payment to play Games with friends/family - something they 'promote' and make games specifically to do, but unless you pay them, games you bought, paid money for a Licence to access, are 'blocked'. You've paid EA to play Battlefield, but now you have to pay MS/Sony to play it on their Hardware that you 'bought' and paid them to play games on in the first place...

That's a BIG reason why a LOT of GenZ's aren't buying Consoles.

@Cakefish What 'updates' do you think they are or should be working on? Other than stability fixes, I think after many, many years of Console building, there isn't really anything that is missing or lacking.

I can obviously understand why their PC platform is getting the most attention as it was neglected for years and years as they focused on building up their Console base. Now the 'Xbox' OS team are working with the Windows team to bring what 'Gamers want/expect' to that OS. Its the platform that needs the most attention to catch up with Consoles and even Steam. The Series Hardware are pretty much done and complete so at most, its only getting minor updates.

They could surprise us with a new look (instead of the tiles) but realistically, their other platforms (PC & Cloud) need to 'catch-up' so need the most work/updates. Their Console is pretty much feature complete, stable and as 'optimised' as it can be with Fixed 5yr Old hardware inside so don't 'need' updates like their others..

@BAMozzy Quite a lot on my wishlist. Firstly fixing the annoying store bug where it keeps repeatedly asking ‘do you want us to give you notifications?’ pop-up everytime you open the store app. I tick ‘yes’ and the ‘don’t ask me again’ boxes and it just ignores this and asks again on every console boot! Secondly, implement the ability to custom sort the store wishlist as you can on Steam. If I want to reorder my wishlist right now my only option is to remove and re-add games manually. It’s so clunky! Thirdly, add the ability to replace ugly game icons with custom artwork as you can on Steam. Fourthly, add the ability to pin more than two custom groups to the dashboard as you used to be able to and let these be the first things that show up when you scroll below the Home Screen. Those are just the low-hanging fruit! There’s always room for improvement.

@Cakefish I've never had that bug but the rest are merely minor cosmetic tweaks that the vast majority maybe wouldn't even use or care about and whilst I will agree that you can 'endlessly tweak until EVERY possible option and/or customisable option can be configured 'Personally' to EVERONE's ideal/perfect' configuration because otherwise, there is always something 'minor' to adjust tweak to suit that 'individuals' unique preferences.

What I am referring to is the MAJOR updates that bring New modes or features - increasing the 'functionality' of more so than tweaking the existing OS for stability, optimisation or 'minor' Cosmetic variations. The Console is already in a Strong place and its more about bringing their other Platforms up to an 'equivalent' state - bring features like Quick Resume for example and try and get the their two Hardware Platforms more in sync, more feature Parity etc.

Maybe when they do achieve Parity, they will look at ways to 'evolve' but that doesn't mean they'll 'change' things you (or any other individual) specifically want/hope unless they think it will be beneficial to the majority and/or simple/cheap to implement without taking anything away from other areas...

@BAMozzy I’d say these niche features are important. Not everyone will use each individual one, but when you add enough you start to please a wide audience. Look at Steam. They have a cult following on PC, they are so widely beloved precisely because Valve cares about these little quality of life features. The customisation and personalisation options are far beyond any other competitor. It shows in Steam’s domination of the PC market.

I agree the PC app needs a lot of improvement. It’s woefully behind XSX let alone Steam. It doesn’t have to be an either/or situation though. Microsoft is big company and the Xbox division alone is much larger than Valve. They have enough resources to show consoles TLC as well as PC.

@Cakefish I'm not denying they maybe 'useful' to a small percentage of the user base and of course minor QoL tweaks are always 'welcome' whether you use them or NOT. However, they need to work on bringing their OTHER platform up to their 'Console' and working on both their PC OS/UI and streaming Quality to at least that standard before they consider 'minor' Updates.

It kind of does have to be an 'either/or' situation because they need to bring those other platforms up, spend the time, money and resources on bringing their PC more in line with their Series OS/UI etc instead of increasing that 'gap' by focusing on 'minor' little things that few will appreciate or even use.

Steam has had years now on refining their PC experience and is 'consistent' because its basically the samewherever you access 'Steam' - but MS neglected their PC for decades and allowed Steam to not only establish, but also cater 'specifically' to Gamers - all whilst Windows and Windows team were focusing on Multi-tasking. Only really in the last few years has MS turned more attention to their 'PC' OS/UI.

You could say its 'arrogance' that MS didn't do much with their PC platform - believing that games built for Windows would be reason enough to play on their Platform as those games rely on MS DirectX so Windows and DX are 'essential' for PC Gaming - but because they neglected it, its now the most urgent in need, its where they 'need' to put their efforts and work into to bring it up to standard - especially if Windows (as expected) will be the OS in the next Xbox.

They have maybe a year or two to try and get Xbox PC to parity with Xbox Console UI and features, find a way to bring their Console Library to their Windows platform for Backwards Compatibility and bring it up to at least be competitive with Steam. Even if they do let you arrange the Wishlist - (for example date added or Alphabetically), they'll always be someone who would want more options (genre, avg game length, price or whatever their preference is) despite being just Cosmetic anyway - same with game icons.

Of course these may also tak up resources on UI/OS that impact the amopunt of resources they can allocate for gaming and of course the amount of 'space' it takes up on the internal storage.

All I'm saying is that the console is in a 'good' place and its OS/UI is more than adequate as it is for the vast majority. It doesn't get in the way of playing games or affecting how games run - therefore it makes most sense to push as much resources into their other Platforms first to bring them up to parity before looking at 'everything' holistically and making minor tweaks, adding some Cosmetic customisation options etc...

@OldGamer999 I will forever despise pc gaming. Zero desire in constantly buying new cards, memory, motherboards, or whatever other nonsense just to play new game.

Console, put disc in, install disc (which still bothers me), then play the game, never have worry about getting new console for about 10 years.

Simple. Easy. And it works. No need for second mortgage get new graphic cards to play game that just came out.

@GuyinPA75
I used to think like your good self, and yes I have the consoles, but I’m more open now to something new.
Been gaming for decades on consoles and fancy something different, something maybe PC where I can upgrade if I wish and play PC games, Xbox games and now Sony games.
Like I said it’s probably my decades of consoles, that are now getting rinse and repeat, look at the cross generation games this generation, the slow drag to new generation games. Console gaming is getting sort of dull and unfortunately rinse and repeat like, with a small return on the last generation for what now is getting expensive for very little in return.

I mean put last of us 2 or uncharted 4 on a very good TV with a PS4 Pro and it almost matches today’s new generation console best games. And let’s not forget PS4 Pro Horizon forbidden west.
Then we have the Xbox one and some of those best games.
Very diminishing returns this generation.

When the resolution selection (wish more did this per resolution or connection target, even remote play on other platforms I question if they have resolution selection, the consoles have 480p to 4K, why can't the remote play have it? Always confused me, Vita had 360p/540p yet Portal I have no idea if it does, they never say, never used the Xbox app or Steam Link so no clue, they don't advertise it) and full screen OS to more devices are the only interesting and gaming co-pilot isn't the most compelling no matter it's limits or features, but more locations is a fair benefit.

Yeah this is pretty nice to have features but also pretty eh.

I used to use Steam on a gaming PC when that was the only option to get 60fps versions of consoles style games. The problem of bad ports still seems to exist. I use a Mac desktop now and a series X/Switch 2. The things that really annoy me don’t seem to happen on Series X (Slowdown/framerate drops (probably VRR is so good that I just don’t notice it)/jagged lines/flickering). I try to avoid anything that uses Unreal/Unity on Switch because it nearly always ends up annoying me regardless of whether it’s a good game or not. I am not bothered for the really cinematic games that are 30fps with loads of cutscenes. It’s a bit annoying this site doesn’t seem to bother reviewing the games I want (Have to use the Nintendo Life reviews and make a guess as to whether it will be okay on Xbox.) I think most of the sales of what I like are on Switch/PC so I don’t know how long the situation can continue. I could tolerate a mini PC as long as it’s silent and everything works well but afaict there is no hdmi 2.1 in amdgpu so I doubt I will get as good an experience with a Steam Machine as I have now on Series X. (Maybe 4k/120 can work with hdmi 2.0b for it but I am not sure if it can).