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The Xbox Player Voice website is here, reviving a tradition we've not seen from Xbox in quite some time.
This isn't the first time Xbox has had a feature like this. The Xbox User Voice platform from many moons ago actively solicited feedback from fans and was also used to target specific games for Xbox Backwards Compatibility. The team prioritized the work (both technical and legal) based on what games were being requested the most. We didn't get all of them ... but the vast majority were eventually delivered. Xbox thus has some of the best console-oriented backward compatibility on the market.
20. Remove "ads" from the home screen
I appreciate the sentiment here, but I also kind of personally don't see it as a big deal. I'm in and out of the dashboard in seconds, so I don't even really notice that it even really has "ads." Furthermore, I often actually appreciate the "ads" that are there, because at least in Europe, they're usually for Xbox games and Xbox news, rarely external stuff.
I know that in the United States, the ads can be a bit different, though. I did see a McDonald's ad recently from a U.S. dashboard, which I'm pretty sure we don't get here.
The big problem with Xbox hardware is the lack of raw margin. In fact, given the memory rout right now, I wouldn't be surprised if Xbox hardware is actually a negative margin in the current year. Having ads helps Microsoft keep the hardware business at least vaguely viable, particularly in a universe where more and more gamers than ever are playing titles like Fortnite and Roblox for free, and not actually spending a penny.
Hating ads is the default, but they serve a pretty important role for the Xbox ecosystem, so I'm really in two minds about it here.
19. Add music to the home screen
This is a cool idea, particularly if it integrated YouTube Music or Spotify. Microsoft already has YouTube and Spotify on the box, complete with background audio support, so having the Xbox default to an ambient Spotify Playlist on the homescreen or with a Dynamic Background could be a cool feature and potentially comparatively easy to implement.
18. 100% achievement awards like PlayStation "Platinum" trophies
Xbox has been locking in to new features for Xbox achievements at a decent clip lately. You can now get special icons on your profile for certain gamerscore milestones, but what people really want is completion trophies. An incentive to fully complete a game and all of its achievements in exchange for a special completion award, similar to PlayStation's Platinum Trophy.
I'm not a completionist or an achievement hunter, but this has long been one of the top feedback items I've heard in my community. I don't see why Microsoft shouldn't implement it.
17. Legacy Xbox game achievements
Indeed, a lot of the feedback items in the top trending list are achievement-related. One user asks Microsoft to implement achievements for OG Xbox games. There are technical reasons why this might be impossible for many, if not all of the OG Xbox games, with source code inaccessibility, licensing issues, framework incompatibility, and so on — but it's a nice idea. It's sadly one that I seriously doubt will be implemented, though.
16. Official support for Ukraine
Despite Microsoft's heavy investment in Ukrainian cloud infrastructure and military resilience against the evil Russian regime, Xbox actually has no official presence in the country. Microsoft has been investing in Ukrainian games like Metro and STALKER, and has been contributing to defending Ukrainian tech from Russian aggression.
There are obviously some difficult circumstances with regard to delivering the full Xbox ecosystem in the country right now, technologically and financially. Russia is actively attacking Ukrainian civilians and civilian infrastructure, including cloud pipelines. I hope Microsoft does what it can to bring Xbox to the nation, though. Gaming can be a source of calm amidst chaos, and there are fewer places on Earth enduring more senseless, evil chaos right now.
15. Stream games to YouTube
Microsoft has Twitch integration, but more and more people are streaming games to other platforms, including YouTube and TikTok. It might require Google to play nice with Xbox to actually implement, though, and as we know, Google hates Xbox with a passion.
As such, I doubt we'll see this get implemented any time soon. Google is an anti-competitive company, and would rather see the Xbox ecosystem die out than actually support features like this.
14. Add voice chat clip recording
Here's one Xbox COULD implement, though. I've often wanted to clip funny happenings me and my friends have experienced, but right now, you can only really do that on PC. It would be great if you could also record your mic and party chat members' mic into clips to get full reactions etc., subject of course to a disclaimer for users who had the feature "turned on," so that nobody was being recorded unaware.
In the era of social media and clipping, this seems like an obvious one to implement, technical challenges notwithstanding.
13. Boost FPS boost
The 13 top trending pieces of feedback pertain to FPS Boost, which we haven't really seen much of recently. FPS Boost was implemented in games like Red Dead Redemption 1 and Fallout 3, giving some FPS-locked Xbox 360 back-compatible games a platform-injected coat of new paint. Or, go faster stripes, I guess.
Microsoft implemented FPS Boost on a few games, but the feature then fell by the wayside. I presume Xbox Helix will have some sort of AI-powered frame generation tech to make it easier to implement at a platform level, but it would be cool to see more OG games get modern frame rates.
12. Lower the price of Xbox hardware
Here's one I definitely don't see happening in the short term. The price of memory is a huge, global problem right now. Every manufacturer that uses memory is seeing a price rout, battering margins, and making components hard to even acquire.
Xbox's hardware isn't down due to decreased demand alone; it's down because they've not been purchasing stock. Because the stock is too expensive ... if they can even get the memory in the first place.
Memory prices are supposed to stabilize around 2028, but who knows what other reasons there might be for increased supply chain costs by then ... I wouldn't expect to see Xbox hardware get a price cut any time soon, sadly!
11. Expand Xbox Play Anywhere to older games
Here's one I'd love to see implemented more. Some classic games recently grabbed Xbox Play Anywhere, including Resident Evil Village and Kingdom Come Deliverance. But it's exceedingly, painfully rare that a game gets retroactive Xbox Play Anywhere support.
My biggest lamentation is that my Xbox Ally doesn't get access to 99% of my console library right now. No Dark Souls, no Elden Ring, no classic games of any stripe. Only the few Xbox PC games that Microsoft does a deal with via Xbox Game Pass. The organic uptake of Xbox PC and Xbox Play Anywhere is absolutely miserable, and it needs to change somehow.
10. Change playtime from "days" to "hours"
I'm surprised how popular this piece of feedback was since I never really considered it a huge deal, but if you go to your stats page on your Xbox guide for any game, it shows your playtime in days, hours, and minutes.
It's not hard to calculate the days into hours, but I suppose the obvious play here would be to add some kind of toggle to switch between days, hours, and minutes, to just hours and minutes. Given how popular this piece of feedback is and how simple it would be to implement, this could be an easy win.
9. HDR dashboard support
Here's something that bugged me so much I actually just fully turned off HDR.
The Xbox dashboard is not in HDR, which means your TV set will flicker between display modes on and off when you switch between the game and the dashboard. Some TV sets do this very slowly, making it a pain. It would be ideal if the Xbox could just stay permanently in HDR or non-HDR modes. I've disabled HDR completely to avoid this, although my TV's HDR generally sucks anyway. If you have an expensive TV with good HDR, you might be disproportionately annoyed by this, and rightfully so.
8. Boost support in Brazil
If there's one Xbox fanbase that is arguably among the world's most passionate, if not the most passionate, it's Brazil.
Xbox has enjoyed a strong history in the Americas, North, Central, and South, but global economic complexities have led to disparate support between them. Tariffs and taxes are some of the main reasons Microsoft has pulled back support from many regions across the globe in recent years, but Brazil is arguably among one of the worst hit.
I'm not sure how Microsoft would resolve things here, but it might require some form of governmental intervention. However, the fact that the Xbox Elite Series 3 leaked via the Brazilian regulatory authority might be an indication that Xbox is gearing up to return more support to the region.
7. Bring back Xbox Avatars
I've written before how Xbox is often too focused on telemetry at the expense of fun, and I think Xbox Avatars was definitely a victim of this. You'd think in the social media era, Microsoft would be more willing to do something with this system, alas.
In any case, Xbox 360 Avatars were a fun way to express yourself on Xbox Live in the 360 days, and were even implemented into some games, similar to the Mii's of the Nintendo ecosystem. Microsoft refreshed Avatars during the Xbox One era, to considerable expense, I'm told, but that's where the refresh ended. Microsoft canceled the project and subsequently cut them entirely, not long after.
I think the crux of the issue with the new Avatars is exactly that, really, they were just too expensive. HD assets cost more to make and implement. Microsoft should've just stuck with the retro-styled Avatars and opened them up to content creators to add to and remix instead, creating a low-cost user-generated content layer for the platform.
I'm not sure if Microsoft would bring them back, but this might be one of the few ways "AI" could play a role in creating harmless 3D assets for players to express themselves with. Bring it back and open it up to creators, Microsoft!
6. Disc-based game support for Xbox Helix
This is another problematic one. The reality remains that PlayStation and Xbox consoles are currently the only market for disc drives. Laptops and PCs don't have them anymore, and Blu-ray players have given way to streaming services and digital delivery in recent years.
The industry sees discs as a declining feature. PlayStation just noted it has hit 85% digital delivery, and Xbox is likely even higher.
That being said, I would like to see some kind of option here for disc fans. Either via external drives, or the disc to digital program Microsoft seems to be working on. It would be a shame to see discs fully go away ... but they already did for PC gaming. It's a digital world now, for better or worse.
5. Xbox Game Pass Family Plan support
Here's another painfully canceled project, although I heard this one wasn't actually Microsoft's fault.
Microsoft was testing a Family Plan for Xbox Game Pass, giving up to four users access to the library in exchange for a discount. It even implemented it in Ireland and Colombia as a test run.
I was told EA, who is a long-term contractee within the Xbox Game Pass ecosystem, fully hated the idea. It sucks because EA does the absolute bare minimum with its Game Pass involvement, refusing to put Xbox PC native versions with Play Anywhere or Xbox achievements out.
If the above is indeed true, I would like to see EA get kicked out of the Xbox Game Pass ecosystem in exchange for a revival of the Xbox Game Pass Family Plan, personally. EA barely releases games anymore anyway. EA shouldn't be allowed to hold back Xbox customers, given how anemic its contributions have been.
4. Separate Xbox achievements between base game and DLCs
Here's one I often hear about. Presently, when Xbox games get DLC, the extra achievements are added to the overall pool of the gamerscore for that title.
For users who like "completing" games, this can be a bit frustrating, I'm sure. You spend weeks, or months even, working on 100%'ing a game, only for a DLC to drop in and move the goal posts.
I'm not sure if Microsoft would be able to retroactively separate the base game and DLC achievement scores, but it's certainly something I've seen requested a fair bit, and the fact that it's the fourth-highest trending item is telling.
3. Make online multiplayer fully free
Paying for multiplayer feels like an anachronism in 2026. The rise of Steam has to at least be in part due to the fact that it doesn't request any such paywall. Mobile games, too.
Indeed, an entire cohort of users has grown up expecting access to be free, at least for games. Roblox, Fortnite, and so on. Microsoft would have a huge and powerful message to send if indeed it dropped the multiplayer paywall, leaving Nintendo and Sony as the sole proprietors of the outdated downside. But ... Microsoft would also be putting millions of dollars on the shelf if it did this.
The business for consoles has not changed. You still sell the box at cost, often lower than cost, and then make the money back on the software and services. The "Xbox" people want, that is, simultaneously cheap, has no ads, and no paywall for multiplayer, simply doesn't exist in any fiscal reality that I know of. Either the box needs to be more expensive, to make your margins there, or your services and access need to be expensive, or ads need to be ramped up, rather than down.
Microsoft isn't a charity, and Xbox still has an "accountability margin" it needs to feed back to the mothership in order for people to not lose their jobs. So while dropping the paywall would be a great move ... something else would have to rise up to replace that lost revenue. What would you do?
2. Boost Xbox backwards compatibility
Perhaps Xbox's best "exclusive" feature right now: backwards compatibility.
Xbox and console gamers in general are getting older and more nostalgic. The fact that you can get access to games from decades ago via emulation is fairly unique in the industry for the Xbox console, and it helped force others to build up some of their own offerings on top.
Windows is the ultimate backwards compatibility layer, offering games all the way back to the 1970s if you want to go extreme. But there are some games that simply never launched on PC, which are now only playable via Xbox 360 backwards compatibility.
There are some holdouts still missing. Singularity, the Transformers games, and other Xbox 360 classics — licensing issues prevent some of these, but it would be cool to see Microsoft push some more over those legal hurdles.
1. A return to Xbox exclusive games
Here's the biggest and most problematic one. People want Xbox to have its exclusive games back.
Putting Halo, Gears, Fable, and Forza on PlayStation was a historic capitulation for the Xbox ecosystem and brand, battering trust and desirability for the ecosystem. PlayStation, Steam, and other companies don't want to play nice with Xbox; they want it to die, so for Xbox to surrender like this has not been a popular decision.
But there's a business reality to accept here: Even with exclusive games, there's no guarantee Xbox would find new users, particularly not regular returning users. Someone buying an Xbox console at a 0% margin (at best) and then only playing a couple of games before returning most of their spending to another platform is hardly a progressive business plan.
But at the same time, you might not have a business to plan for at all if everyone leaves. WHY buy an Xbox in 2026 when PlayStation potentially gets ALL of your games, in addition to its own exclusives? Which, by the way, now apparently won't even come to Steam and Windows.
I think it's a foregone conclusion that Xbox will get exclusive games again. I believe Xbox only set up this Player Voice platform to really prove the point to CEO and CFO Satya and Amy in the language only they understand: a data point that shows Xbox customers want exclusive content above all. Something needs to be done, and it's on Xbox CEO Asha Sharma to figure out one of gaming's most difficult fiscal puzzles.
BONUS: Jez's most important feedback ... revive Heroes of the Storm
Since I have free will and this is my article, and I can do whatever I want: Vote on my most important and most epic Xbox Player Voice feedback item, the REVIVAL OF HEROES OF THE STORM.
Heroes of the Storm is the world's best MOBA, and even though many millions have been tricked into thinking games like LoL or DOTA2 are better, there's a clear opportunity here. Bring Heroes of the Storm to Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch. Add other Microsoft properties like DOOM, Fallout, Elder Scrolls, and heck, even Banjo. And BOOM, make a BILLION dollars. Or don't. I dunno.
It's pretty clear what people are eager to see the most ... but how realistic is all of this?
Either way, it's pretty clear that the biggest feedback item by a country mile revolves around exclusive games. I doubt Microsoft can actively pivot on games that have already been costed and projected as including PlayStation's userbase, but what of future titles?
Microsoft shouldn't be working as hard as it has been to deprive consumers and developers of reasons to actually build for Xbox platforms. Microsoft should be doing MORE to bring users to these platforms, and it can only do that with content.
Every platform has exclusive content. To play the biggest Roblox titles, you need to download Roblox. To play Half-Life 3 (if it ever comes out), you will need to use Steam. Spider-Man, God of War, and Mario will NEVER release on Xbox. Hell, even the Steam Controller doesn't work with the Xbox PC app, by design.
These companies do not want to collaborate with Xbox; they want Xbox to die. They want to absorb its customers — many of whom have invested thousands into the Xbox ecosystem.
It's not about gatekeeping content; it's about Microsoft showing it has the guts to actually be competitive for users and developers for the sake of the customers who are effectively locked in. It would be a sad state of affairs if Microsoft set up this entire platform for feedback and then ended up ignoring it.
Will Microsoft blink? Time will tell.
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