It appears Xbox is beginning its rollout of Xbox Mode on the Xbox app, as users have noticed the app now says Xbox Mode in the top right corner instead of Xbox Full Screen.
Xbox Mode, first announced at GDC and set to arrive on Windows 11 in April, is Microsoft’s answer to Steam Big Picture Mode and is a rebrand of the Xbox Fullscreen Experience that has been around since last year.
Xbox Mode gives users an Xbox-like interface designed for controller use, making it easier to access Xbox PC games and titles installed through Steam, Epic, and other launchers while avoiding the usual friction of standard Windows 11, at least for gamers.
Microsoft has now rebranded its Xbox Full Screen Experience to just Xbox mode in the latest update for the Xbox app on PC
— @tomwarren.co.uk (@tomwarren.co.uk.bsky.social) 2026-03-24T18:47:28.801Z
Xbox Mode definitely feels like a better name than Xbox Full Screen Experience and certainly rolls off the tongue better than Steam Big Picture Mode, but for me, there are still too many annoyances with the Xbox app itself that Xbox Mode relies on, which leads me to look elsewhere, such as apps like Winhanced.
Over on the console side of things, users in the Alpha Skip Ahead ring can now start seeing whether their game’s cloud save data has synced within the Game Card menu.
New Feature | Game CardUsers can now see the status of the game's cloud save sync for titles you've played on the console when viewing the Game Card. You can view more details by navigating to a game's artwork.Currently for Alpha Skip Ahead | Alpha Rings pic.twitter.com/fuMzN39tcrMarch 23, 2026
I believe this is a feature already available on the Xbox App so seeing it head to consoles is great, especially considering efforts from Microsoft to unify their platforms, as Xbox and PC are set to merge with Project Helix.
Do you like these changes?
It seems Xbox and Windows teams are hard at work on changes, with one Xbox engineer saying it has not felt this energized in a long time. Windows has also recently announced efforts to polish the user experience, and to me, this signals we could be in for a turnaround for Microsoft, or at least I hope so.
With that said, let me know your thoughts on these changes. Do you prefer Xbox Mode, and what do you think of the cloud save sync updates? Leave us a comment and take part in our poll below:
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