Xbox Windows 10 App Just Got Two Big Improvements

The Windows 10 Xbox app, which is currently in beta, is getting a rather big update today. Not only has Microsoft made some improvements to performance, but it's also given the green light to mod support within the app. The list of games that support mods at this point is definitely a short one, but this is nonetheless good news for PC players who like mods as a way of squeezing more replayability out of their games.

In a new post on Xbox Wire, Microsoft doesn't get too specific on the performance improvements it's made to the Xbox app. Still, it does give us some idea of what's changed, with the company saying that it's rebuilt the app in React Native (previously, the app was built using Electron).

This "streamlined the app experience," according to Microsoft, and though nothing about the design of the Xbox app has changed, there are some big improvements under the hood. Perhaps the biggest is the fact that the Xbox app now uses a third of the memory it used before. Microsoft also says that download speeds should improve for some users, but that ultimately depends on where you live.

Then we have mod support. Microsoft describes the mod support for the Xbox app as a "bring-you-own-mod environment," as it "allows you to look at mods from different mod distribution sites, download the files that are of interest to you, and enable them on the Xbox (Beta) app."

That sounds good, but for the moment, there are only five games that support mods: DiRT Rally 2.0, Farming Simulator 17, FTL: Faster Than Light, Into the Breach, and MudRunner. Hopefully we'll see more games get mod support through the Xbox app soon, but at the very least, you can download this update now and take advantage of those performance improvements.