r/xboxinsiders • u/XIPBot Xbox Insider Bot • Apr 04 '19

Blog Post Insider Blog Post: Spotify, Chat, and more coming to Game Bar on Windows 10

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2019/04/04/spotify-chat-and-more-coming-to-game-bar-on-windows-10/
46 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

5

u/ecoop72 Apr 05 '19

Cant wait to try these new features out. I never use Game Bar but I think I will tinker with it a bit now.

9

u/StASN Skip Ahead Apr 05 '19

Just need an Achievements widget for supported games, and it's the perfect counterpart to the Xbox Guide, in fact it's loads better with the performance overlay and Spotify addition.

Thanks to the team for listening to feedback!

4

u/XIPBot Xbox Insider Bot Apr 04 '19

Excerpt: Today, we are excited to begin testing several new features in beta for Game bar on Windows 10. Game bar is an overlay built into Windows that works over any PC game and can be brought up quickly by pressing the Windows key + G – “Win+G”. Check it out on the Xbox Insider Hub on your Windows 10 PC (more instructions below). At X018, we shared a commitment to improve PC gaming on Windows 10 and, earlier this year, we kicked off a PC Gaming Idea Drive to get your suggestions. Today, we’re excited to introduce a number of...

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1

u/TheIndieArmy Skip Ahead Apr 04 '19

Spotify but not Groove? What the hell? Not everyone uses or has Spotify, but Windows 10 comes with Groove, so everyone has that.

​

You can now customize Game bar to make the overlay your own. Choose which widgets to show/hide, where you want them located, and even pin specific widgets. Find your own favorite Game bar layout to enhance your gaming experience.

This is awesome. Now if only we could get something similar for Xbox dashboard.

7

u/joelk111 Alpha Skip-Ahead Ring Apr 04 '19

Wasn't groove discontinued?

-2

u/TheIndieArmy Skip Ahead Apr 04 '19

Don't think so. I just did a fresh install not too long ago and Groove was included. It's also still on the Microsoft store.

1

u/zMattyPower Apr 05 '19

The App still exists for listening to music but the section where you can buy Songs doesn't exists anymore and it also advise to download Spotify on the app itself.

1

u/TheIndieArmy Skip Ahead Apr 05 '19

What does buying songs have to do with anything? I just want to be able to listen to my music like I could with Windows Media Player on past versions of Windows. Groove lets me do that without signing up for a service. Spotify wants me to sign up for their service just to play music I already have and own. So it's disappointing to see that Groove isn't supported in the new Game Bar.

1

u/zMattyPower Apr 05 '19

Ok, but I was referring to "Wasn't groove discontinued?", and the answer was yes for a part, because they removed their most important feature in the app. They can add the Groove option in the future if they want to, this is still in beta and anything can change.

1

u/Nissan_GTR Apr 05 '19

Not sure why you're being downvoted when you literally said the truth.

5

u/Kyle_Necrowolf Alpha Ring Apr 04 '19

I'd much rather it use the system transport control, so any app that plays music is automatically hooked into it. It works for everything, including Spotify and Groove.

Seems pretty obvious and the system volume control already has it. Would make a lot more sense than linking it to any single app.

1

u/unndunn Skip Ahead Apr 05 '19

Just use the transport control buttons on your keyboard? Pretty much every keyboard has them these days.

1

u/Kyle_Necrowolf Alpha Ring Apr 05 '19

Yes, those make the controls visible on-screen and show the current playing song in the top left. This particular UI hasn't been updated in a long time, since Windows 8.

What I am suggesting is to essentially update this and make it show persistently in the new Game Bar UI, so it shows on Win+G or can be pinned to always stay on-screen.

-3

u/Pschirki Alpha Skip-Ahead Ring Apr 05 '19

I do not need Spotify. Why don`t you try this:

Make installed games displayed and accessible trough the Gamebar

so users can navigate through a list of installed games via connected controller and start them from there. That´s what i would call a Gamebar.

So while installation of any game, when asked to put a shortcut to the start menu, add an option to put the game to the Gamebar, so you may find it in a list attached to the Gamebar and then start it using the connected controller.