Xbox enters the 'faster PC launcher' arms race, its app loads faster now too

Xbox has joined the 'faster launcher load times' arms race, announcing that its updated Xbox PC app, available now to Xbox Insiders, launches up to 60% faster, and has also been overhauled to offer "simpler navigation, updated filters, and new ways to organize your games."

Along with the faster launch time, Xbox said the home, store, and Game Pass pages in the updated app load up to 50% faster, while in-app windows open up to 65% faster—depending upon factors including device, internet connection, system configuration, and usage, of course. Library navigation has been simplified, search has been improved, and friends and social features are now part of the main navigational window.

Credit where it's due: That change to friends and social features is welcome. I don't use the Xbox App much—to be blunt, it's pretty much exclusively for Sea of Thieves. But after a long stretch away from it, I recently jumped back in for some high seas adventures with the crew, and I'll tell you this: Figuring out how to connect with my fellow online swashbucklers was kind of a headache compared to the super-simplicity of Steam. It worked fine, it just wasn't smooth and easy, so anything that helps with that, I'm happy to take.

I'm less excited about the faster loading times. Not that I'm going to complain about performance improvements, I'm just not sure it matters in the grand scheme of things. When the Epic Games Store promised that its "vibe coded" launcher was faster than Steam, a common reaction was mockery: Much of that was sparked by Epic's insistent banging of the 'AI is inevitable' drum, but there was also a lot of 'who cares?' in the reactions, too. I think the Xbox PC app may face the same: Faster is good, sure, but is it going to convince many PC gamers to use it instead of Steam when they don't have to? Of this, I have doubts.

(Steam also recently dropped a performance update that promises to improve loading times as well, blunting the impact of both the Epic and Xbox boosts even further.)

If you want to check out the updated app for yourself, you'll need to be in the Xbox Insiders program—for that, you'll need to install the Xbox Insider Hub. A "refreshed Xbox web experience" is also on the way, with an improved library tab, more efficient use of screen space, and light, dark, and high-contrast visual modes.