Microsoft Rolls Out the November 2020 Xbox Console Update

Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S owners have a new Dashboard update on the way this week, adding several improvements.

“This month marked the start of the next generation of console gaming on Xbox with the release of Xbox Series X|S, and Team Xbox is excited to continue bringing new ways to make your experience on Xbox even better,” Microsoft’s Jonathan Hildebrandt writes. “Just like we’ve done on Xbox One, we will continue to periodically release software updates designed to improve your Xbox gaming experience based on your feedback, including both delivering you new features and fixing bugs.”

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The November 2020 Xbox Console Update, as it’s called, adds the following new features. Some are only for Xbox Series X|S.

Dynamic background support. On Xbox Series X|S, you can now configure the background of the Dashboard to display dynamic backgrounds with motion and color.

Auto HDR badge. Xbox Series X|S supports a feature called Auto HDR that helps improve the visual quality of pre-HDR games. When this feature is enabled for a particular game, you’ll see a new Auto HDR badge when you open the Guide.

“Optimized for Xbox Series X|S” badge. A new “Optimized for Series X|S” badge will appear on game tiles in My Games and Apps so you know which games are optimized for the new consoles.

Game Activity tab. This new Guide tab will help keep you up-to-date on your achievements progress in the current game.

Xbox Game Pass improvements. Now, you can pre-install games that are coming soon to Xbox Game Pass. To do so, open the Xbox Game Pass app on the console or mobile look for a “Coming soon” section.

Add existing Xbox family members to a new console. If you’ve used the new Xbox Family Settings app on Android and iOS to create child accounts, you can now add family members to your console during setup.

Xbox Insider Program support. Now, the Xbox Series X|S consoles are compatible with the Xbox Insider Program, so you can participate in testing future updates.

Bug fixes and performance enhancements. As always, the new update brings some unspecified bug fixes and performance improvements.

The November Xbox Update is rolling out starting today.

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Conversation 6 comments

  • beckoningeagle

    Premium Member
    01 December, 2020 - 8:09 am

    <p>I don't see any HDR badges in any of my games. Or in the game pass titles. Do you know if it has to be downloaded for the badge to appear? </p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      01 December, 2020 - 8:41 am

      That badge doesn’t appear on the game tile. It appears on-screen when you’re in the game and bring up the Guide (press the Xbox button).

  • thretosix

    01 December, 2020 - 9:52 am

    <p>Interesting, looks like Cyberpunk 2077 is installing in the link. Lucky bastards. I'll likely wait until I build a new gaming PC to buy the game anyways. </p><p><br></p><p>Not sure why, but I thought they removed family settings, seems they must have changed it from the last time I've had to set it up for someone, it became a nuisance for the person managing it so they had me remove it. </p><p><br></p><p>Looking forward to poking through the new dynamic backgrounds, although I spend very little time in the UI. </p>

  • gregsedwards

    Premium Member
    01 December, 2020 - 10:36 am

    <p>Dynamic backgrounds are cool, but honestly, how much time does one spend staring at the Xbox dashboard? I'd much prefer an option to make Bing's image of the day sync to my Xbox. Right now you can do it manually through the Bing app on Xbox, but I'd like to see something automatic. Seems like that should be pretty easy for them to do.</p>

  • deepak kumar

    07 December, 2020 - 12:14 pm

    <p>Nice</p>

  • deepak kumar

    07 December, 2020 - 12:14 pm

    <p>Nice information </p>

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