Last week it surfaced that Microsoft was preparing for a rebrand of the Windows Store – the inbuilt digital storefront for apps, games, movies, and music on Windows 10 devices. As spotted by Windows Insiders in the Release Preview ring, both the store's name and logo had changed, assumedly ahead of a wider rollout in the months ahead.
It now appears that Microsoft is extending this change to the Xbox Store, rebranding the console's marketplace under the same name. Although this means little change in terms of functionality, the new name and icon can already be seen across pre-release versions of the Xbox One dashboard.
Microsoft has used the "Microsoft Store" branding in the past for its online and physical retail stores, where the firm has sold various hardware and software. Following these recent changes, it appears Microsoft is attempting to further unify its marketplaces while phasing out the Windows Store and Xbox Store branding.
In builds of pre-release builds of the upcoming Xbox One update, Microsoft has previously experimented with selling hardware directly through the Xbox dashboard. It wouldn't be surprising to see this to continue in the future, with more hardware available through the native app.
What do you think of the store change? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Matt Brown is a senior editor at Future for Windows Central. Following six years of professional consumer technology and gaming coverage, he’s focused on the world of Xbox and Windows PCs. You can follow him on Twitter @mattjbrown.
