Microsoft has announced that Xbox One owners will be able to organize their Xbox Live friends list a bit more soon, but not before Xbox Insider Alpha members. The new feature will allow players to categorize their friends via certain titles that they play together with each other.
Essentially, instead of seeing the list of players on your friend’s list in order of the alphabet, players will instead see them grouped by what game they are currently playing. The announcement came from well-known Xbox spokesperson and programmer Larry Hyb, better known as Major Nelson. Nelson revealed on Twitter that as of Monday, friends could be grouped by game Guide and Home for Xbox Insider members.
Starting today for Xbox Insiders: Friends grouped by game in Guide and Home. Keep the feedback coming. pic.twitter.com/pmKiHM3yXx
— Larry Hryb, Gamer Emeritus ⌨️🖱️🎮 (@majornelson) September 25, 2017
The Xbox Insider Program allows fans the opportunity to test out System updates, as well as features and games still in development on the both the Xbox One console and Windows 10 PCs. The program works similar to Alpha and Beta testing in games, giving players access to specific tiers based on activity. The level of involvement is all dependent on the user, with the tiers listed below.
- Alpha – Open on an “invite only” basis and receives updates at the earliest point in the preview window.
- Beta – Open to Xbox Insiders with a Program tenure of 3 or more months and an Xbox Insider XP Level of 4 or higher. This ring receives updates shortly after Alpha.
- Delta – Open to any Xbox Insider with a tenure of 1 or more months that has reached Xbox Insider Level 2 or higher. Depending on certain edge cases where further attention is required from Alpha or Beta rings, Delta Insiders may receive system updates before Beta, though this is not a common scenario. Additionally, while early system updates are not guaranteed across the Delta ring, all Delta Insiders will receive the update prior to GA.
- Omega – Open to anyone and receives system updates shortly before the GA (General Availability) release.
For those enrolled in the alpha portion of the program already, simply go to the “People” tab, below traditional friends list sorting, and change it. The next few rings of the program will likely be granted access in the coming weeks.
The friend’s list update has been one of many to be introduced to the Xbox One in its next Fall update – including overhauled user interface, new light theme, and reworked Home menu are among the biggest changes – after Xbox Insiders help improve it.