New Friends App and Multiplayer Features for Xbox Live on Xbox One

Xbox Live has always been about building an amazing community. When we first launched the service back in 2002, our vision was to create a premium online place where friends could come together to play games. With your support we’ve created the world’s largest, most-active gaming and entertainment community and now, as we look ahead to the launch of Xbox One on Nov. 22, we want to pause for a moment to celebrate our community and tell you about what we are doing to make it even better. With that in mind throughout the upcoming days in this “Week of Xbox Live,” we will share more news and information about what is coming to Xbox Live.

First, we want to thank you for choosing and for spending more time with us. In the last 12 months, we delivered more than 20 billion hours of gaming and entertainment on Xbox, over 17% growth over the previous year. We’re proud and humbled to be the top online gaming service – according to NPD’s August 2013 Online Gaming report, close to 50% more online console gamers use the Xbox 360 for playing online than the PlayStation 3.

With your increasing engagement with and growing community, we’re able invest in new features and future innovations that bring more amazing experiences to you and the community on Xbox Live.

Your New Friends App on Xbox One
Designed around you and your friends, Xbox One will have plenty of room for all your favorite people in the brand new Friends system on Xbox One. Your Xbox 360 friends will automatically be added to your Friends list. With Xbox One you can have 1,000 friends, connect with people instantly by following them and have infinite followers yourself. You can also see all of your Xbox One and Xbox 360 friends and their activity in your Activity Feed.

Similar to the other social media networks, Xbox One allows you to share the latest in games and entertainment with fellow gamers, friends and family, or even celebrities and gaming personalities by following people. For example, on Xbox One you can search for me by my gamertag (Major Nelson) and follow me to see what I share publicly, such as my latest game scores and achievements.

On your Xbox One, there are now more ways to connect than simply sending a friend invite. For example, the one-way follow model of Xbox One allows Xbox Live members to connect with the people they care about in an easier way than ever before.

Friends and Followers
So what’s the difference between a friend and a follower? They are all considered your friends on Xbox One, but the levels of privacy between the two are different. You can follow anyone you want and it’s completely up to them if they follow you back. You can also decide what information your followers can see about you.

When you and another gamer mutually follow each other, it creates a more interactive relationship that unlocks the ability for you both …read more